NO Country For Old Men was the toast of this year’s Oscars, winning four golden statues including the coveted best film.

Sibling filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen also took the best director prize, while Spanish co-star Javier Bardem was named best supporting actor for his role as a clinical hitman in the film.

European actors dominated the main acting categories, with all of the four main awards going to non-Americans.

British stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Tilda Swinton won best actor (for There Will Be Blood) and best supporting actress (Michael Clayton), while French actress Marion Cotillard followed up her Bafta and Cesar success with the best actress trophy.

But the night belonged to Coens’ movie No Country For Old Men, which has largely been the favourite film of countless awards ceremonies this year.

The movie – based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy – follows the aftermath of a drugs deal gone wrong, when a hunter (Josh Brolin) happens across a number of dead bodies and a suitcase full of cash. Taking it, Moss bids to lie low for a while, fully aware that questions will be asked concerning its whereabouts. But he doesn’t count on the presence of a psychotic hitman (Bardem) who will stop at nothing to get it back.

Accepting their award, older brother Joel reflected on their childhood spent pretend making films.

“What we do now doesn’t feel that much different from what we were doing then,” he said. “We’re very thankful to all of you out there for continuing to let us play in our corner of the sandbox.”

The film’s producer Scott Rudin added: “So many people have a part of this, chief among them Cormac McCarthy who wrote a wonderful book that was an honour to make into a movie.”

Bardem accepted his prize by thanking his family in Spanish, before adding: “Thank you to the Coens for being crazy enough to think that I could do that and put one of the most horrible haircuts in history over my head.”

The film also took the prize for best adapted screenplay, prompting Joel Coen to observe: “ I think whatever success we’ve had in this area has been entirely attributable to how selective we are. We’ve only adapted Homer and Cormac McCarthy.”

Day-Lewis leads British charge

As widely anticipated, Daniel Day-Lewis took home the second Academy Award in his extraordinary career for playing an oil baron in Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic There Will Be Blood.

Accepting his award from fellow Brit and last year’s best actress, Helen Mirren, the London-born, Ireland-based star joked that it was probably the closest he’d come to winning a knighthood

Day-Lewis, who picked up his Oscar from Dame Helen Mirren, joked it was “the closest I’ll ever come to getting a knighthood”, before adding: “I’m looking at this gorgeous thing that you’ve given me and… it seems to me that this sprang like a golden sapling out of the mad, beautiful head of [writer and director] Paul Thomas Anderson.”

Tilda Swinton, meanwhile, brought some of the biggest laughs by comparing her statuette for best supporting actress to her agent and poking fun at Michael Clayton co-star George Clooney’s Batman days.

“I have an American agent who is the spitting image of this,” she said, in reference to her gleaming trophy. “Really, truly. The same shape head and, it has to be said, the buttocks.”

And speaking about Clooney (who missed out in the best actor category), she added: “Seeing you climb into that rubber batsuit from Batman & Robin, the one with the nipples, every morning under your costume, on the set, off the set, hanging upside-down at lunch… You rock, man.”

Further British success came for musical duo Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova who took the award for most original song for low-budget musical drama Once – a personal favourite of Steven Spielberg’s.

Irishman Hansard, who sings for Irish band The Frames, said: “We made this film two years ago; we shot it on two Handycams. It took us three weeks to make; we made it for a hundred grand. We never thought we’d ever come into a room like this and be in front of you people.”

However, one moment of embarrassment followed as his his petite co-star Irglova started to make her speech, only to be cut off by the orchestra, thereby forcing her off stage.

After a commercial break, Irglova was invited back to rapturous applause and said: “The fact that we’re standing here tonight, the fact that we’re able to hold this, it’s just proof that no matter how far out your dreams are, it’s possible.”

La Vie En Rose and Juno triumph

French actress Marion Cotillard pipped British contender Julie Christie to the best actress prize for her acclaimed performance in Edith Piaf biopic La Vie En Rose – and she was just as emotional as she was at London’s Bafta ceremony.

“I’m speechless now,” she said, before adding: “Thank you life; thank you love. It is true there are some angels in this city.”

And former stripper turned scriptwriter Diablo Cody was just as surprised after taking the Oscar for best original screenplay for her brilliant teen pregnancy comedy-drama Juno – her first ever movie.

“I’m shocked by the popularity of the film,” she said. “I mean, when you write basically an independent movie about, you know, a pregnant teenager and you make it for seven million dollars you never, ever think it’s going to become this phenomenon.”

She went on to pay tribute to Hollywood writers in general, as well as her fellow nominees, adding: “This is for the writers. I especially want to thank my fellow nominees because I worship you guys and I’m learning from you every day.”

Other winners

Another popular winner on the evening was Pixar’s latest sparkling comedy Rataouille, which took home the award for best animated movie, beating Persepolis and Surf’s Up.

While Austrian World War Two drama The Counterfeiters was named best foreign language film. Its writer and director Stefan Ruzowitzky said: “There’ve been some great Austrian film-makers working here… most of them had to leave my country because of the Nazis, so it sort of makes sense that the first Austrian movie to win an Oscar is about the Nazis’ crimes.”

The Bourne Ultimatum, meanwhile, picked up three technical prizes – for best editing, best sound editing and best sound mixing.

And Taxi To The Dark Side, a film about the death of an Afghan taxi driver in US custody, was named best documentary, prompting its director Alex Gibney to say: “Truth is, I think my dear wife, Anne, was hoping I’d make a romantic comedy. But after Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, extraordinary rendition, that simply wasn’t possible.”

Blockbuster The Golden Compass surprised many by winning the best visual effects prize, beating Transformers and the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

And veteran cinematographer Roger Deakins missed out in his category to There Will Be Blood‘s Robert Elswit, despite having been nominated for two films: No Country For Old Men and The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.

Oscars celebrate 80th anniversary

This year’s ceremony, held at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, marked the 80th anniversary of the Academy Awards – but was an understated affair compared to previous bashes.

This was largely because of the writers’ strike, which had placed a large question mark over whether the awards show would even take place having led to the cancellation of the Golden Globes ceremony in January.

Several high-profile parties have been cancelled due to the shortness of time to prepare, while the ceremony itself took place without the large-scale song-and-dance numbers that usually add so much glamour.

Organisers instead celebrated “Oscar’s birthday” with film montages celebrating past winners and memorable Oscar moments, including a streaker who ran behind David Niven during 1974’s ceremony.

Returning for his second stint as host, comedian Jon Stewart acknowledged the impact the strike – which has only just been resolved – has had on Hollywood.

“These past three and a half months have been very tough. The town was torn apart by a bitter writers’ strike,” he said. “But I’m happy to say that the fight is over. So tonight, welcome to the make-up sex.”

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