Oscars: 12 Years A Slave best picture, but Gravity pulls in most gongs

ALFONSO CUARON'S space thriller Gravity landed seven Academy Awards last night but failed to win the coveted Best Picture gong – that accolade went to Steve McQueen's historical drama 12 Years A Slave.

So did the prizes end up in the right hands?

Some critics were "mystified" by the success of Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity. It may be a "superlative piece of entertainment, with state-of-the-art digital effects cunningly yoked to some old-fashioned hokey melodrama", writes Peter Bradshaw for The Guardian's film blog, but "I must express my reservations." Rather than being a great picture, he says, Gravity is merely a "technical achievement".

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In effect, the competition between 12 Years A Slave and Gravity was "a battle between art and science", says Kate Muir in The Times. In the end, though, the Academy "chose wisely", rewarding Gravity for its "technical genius" but reserving the best picture award for its rival.

Controversy followed a number of nominees on the night, including Best Actress winner Cate Blanchett, who thanked director Woody Allen for casting her in Blue Jasmine. Many critics felt the acknowledgment was contentious due to recent child abuse allegations levelled against Allen, but most agreed that Blanchett's performance was a worthy winner. "Her Jasmine was one of the great female roles of the year," Muir says.

Best Actor went to Matthew McConaughey for his role in Dallas Buyers Club, "a movie that punctuated an amazing comeback for the actor, who last year delivered equally strong performances in the small film Mud and best picture nominee The Wolf of Wall Street", said Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post.

The biggest winner of the night, however, was host Ellen DeGeneres whose "epic selfie," a photograph taken during a break in proceedings with A-listers Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep among others, became the most retweeted post in Twitter's history. The picture overtook a photograph taken of Barack Obama embracing his wife Michelle after winning a second term in office. That tweet garnered 778,424 retweets; Degeneres's effort went over the million mark within the space of 45 minutes and ended up with more than two million retweets.

The awards list in full:

Best Picture

12 Years A Slave

Best Actor In A Leading Role

Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actress In A Leading Role

Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine

Best Supporting Actor

Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress

Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity

Best Costume Design

The Great Gatsby

Best Make-Up & Hairstyling

Dallas Buyers Club

Best Short Film - Animated

Mr Hublot

Best Animated Feature Film

Frozen

Best Short Film - Live Action

Helium

Best Documentary Short Subject

The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

Best Documentary Feature

20 Feet from Stardom

Best Foreign Language Film

The Great Beauty (Italy)

Best Sound Mixing

Gravity

Best Sound Editing

Gravity

Best Visual Effects

Gravity

Best Cinematography

Gravity

Best Film Editing

Gravity

Best Production Design

The Great Gatsby

Best Original Score

Gravity

Best Original Song

"Let It Go" - Frozen

Best Adapted Screenplay

John Ridley - 12 Years a Slave

Best Original Screenplay

Spike Jonze - Her