ATONEMENT has been named best film at the Baftas, although the pre-awards favourite (with 14 nominations) missed out on several other top prizes.

Daniel Day-Lewis beat James McAvoy to the best actor trophy for his performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s oil prospecting drama There Will Be Blood.

And Keira Knightley missed out to French star Marion Cotillard, who was a surprise winner for her performance in Edith Piaf biopic La Vie En Rose.

Atonement‘s director Joe Wright, meanwhile, missed out on that prize to Joel and Ethan Coen, who won for their thriller No Country For Old Men.

The film, based on the novel by Ian McEwan, had been seen as the hot favourite going into the British event but only triumphed in two of the 14 nods it received – best film and production design.

Another major surprise was the best actress prize, which had widely been tipped to go to another Brit – Julie Christie – for her acclaimed performance in Alzheimer’s drama Away From Her.

But French star Cotillard proved a popular winner with even Daniel Day-Lewis paying tribute to her victory when collecting his best actor prize.

The Ireland-based star commented: “Never mind all the other qualities in her astonishing performance. For sheer balls alone, I feel Marion should have this award as well.”

Other top Bafta prizes

The 2008 Baftas – held at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and hosted by Jonathan Ross – took on extra significance this year in light of the Hollywood writers’ dispute, given that it was one of the few awards ceremonies to have taken place.

And the London-based event didn’t fail to produce its fair share of shocks, with several other top awards going to surprise winners.

Michael Clayton star Tilda Swinton was named best supporting actress, beating pre-ceremony favourites Samantha Morton and Cate Blanchett.

And Shane Meadows was the unexpected recipient of the best British film award, for his semi-autobiographical skinhead tale This is England.

While Ronald Harwood was a surprise winner for best adapted screenplay for The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, ahead of the Coen brothers.

Spain’s Javier Bardem took best supporting actor for his excellent performance as a hitman in No Country For Old Men and Diablo Cody won best original screenplay for US comedy Juno.

German drama The Lives of Others, which won the best foreign film Oscar last year, was named best film not in the English language – beating Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution.

And Pixar’s Ratatouille was a deserved winner in the animation category, just 24 hours after it had swept the board at the Annies.

Its producer Brad Lewis said that the film had taken six years to make and added: “We’re very honoured, thank you very much to the British Academy.”

Transformers star Shia LaBeouf took the Orange Rising Star Award, beating the likes of Sienna Miller and Control star Sam Riley.

And a final award on the night was presented to Sir Anthony Hopkins who received the Academy fellowship.

View the winners in full or check out photos

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