‘Conclave’ wins best picture as ‘The Brutalist’ takes directing and acting prizes

Adrien Brody poses with the leading actor award for ‘The Brutalist’

Papal thriller “ Conclave ” won four prizes including best picture yesterday [Macau time] at the 78th British Academy Film Awards, where genre-bending musical “ Emilia Pérez ” proved that it’s still an awards contender despite a multipronged backlash that looked to have dented its chances.

At a ceremony where no film dominated, “The Brutalist” equaled the awards tally of “Conclave,” scooping four trophies, including best director for Brady Corbet and best actor for Adrien Brody. Mikey Madison won the best actress prize for Brooklyn tragicomedy “Anora.”

“Conclave,” which stars Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal corralling conniving clergy as they elect a new pope, beat “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “Emilia Pérez” and Bob Dylan biopic “ A Complete Unknown « to the top prize. «Conclave” was also named outstanding British film and took trophies for editing and adapted screenplay.

Supporting performer prizes went to Kieran Culkin for “A Real Pain” and Zoe Saldaña for “Emilia Pérez,” which also won the award for best film not in the English language.

Karla Sofía Gascón, who stars as the titular transgender ex-cartel boss in “Emilia Pérez,” was a best-actress nominee but did not attend the ceremony. Gascón has withdrawn from promoting the film, which has 13 Oscar nominations, amid controversy over her social media posts disparaging Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars.

The film’s director, Jacques Audiard, has condemned those comments, but in an acceptance speech thanked Gascón along with her co-stars Saldaña and Selena Gomez.

“I am deeply proud of what we have all achieved together,” he said.

Stars including Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant, Ariana Grande, Lupita Nyong’o, Timothée Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan walked the red carpet at London’s Royal Festival Hall for the awards, known as BAFTAs. The British prizes often provide clues about who will triumph at Hollywood’s Academy Awards on March 2, in an unusually hard-to-call awards season.

They also have a distinctly British accent. The ceremony kicked off with its kilt-wearing host, Scottish actor David Tennant, leading the audience in a rousing singalong of The Proclaimers’ anthem “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).”

Madison won the female acting trophy for her powerhouse performance as an exotic dancer entangled with a Russian oligarch’s son in “Anora.” She beat Gascón, Demi Moore for body-horror film “ The Substance,” Ronan for “The Outrun,” Erivo for “Wicked” and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for “Hard Truths.”

In her acceptance speech, Madison sent a message to the sex worker community.

“You deserve respect and human decency. I will always be a friend and an ally and I implore others to do the same,” she said.

Brody beat competition from Fiennes, Chalamet, who plays the young Dylan in “A Complete Unknown,” Grant for the horror film “ Heretic,” Colman Domingo for prison drama “ Sing Sing ” and Sebastian Stan for his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in “ The Apprentice.”

Brody, who plays a Hungarian-Jewish architect in the postwar United States, said “The Brutalist” carried a powerful message for our divided times.

“It speaks to the need for all of us to share in the responsibility of how we want others to be treated and how we want to be treated by others,” he said. “There’s no place any more for antisemitism. There’s no place for racism.” MDt/AP