AcadEmy Awards

11 March 2024

Four Oscars went to Yorgos Lanthimos’ film Poor Things, including the Academy Award for Emma Stone as Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Justine Triet and Arthur Harari were honoured for Best Original Screenplay for Anatomy of a Fall.

The Poor Things team also won three other awards: Holly Waddington was honoured for Best Costume Design, James Price, Shona Heath and Zsuzsa Mihalek for Best Production Design and Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston received the coveted trophy for Best Make-up & Hairstyling.

Poor Things follows Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman who is brought back from the dead by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s guidance and protection, Bella is eager to learn. She is hungry for life and the life experience she lacks. Together with the cunning lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), she sets off on a fast-paced adventure across the continents. On her journey, she frees herself more and more from the constraints and prejudices of her time and begins to stand up for equality and freedom. The film has been showing in cinemas since 18 January.

In Anatomy of a Fall, Sandra (Sandra Hüller), a German writer who lives with her French husband Samuel and their son in a small village in the French Alps, becomes the main suspect. On a bright day, Samuel is found dead in the snow at the foot of their chalet. Was it murder? Suicide? Or just a tragic accident? Samuel’s sudden death seems suspicious to the police, and Sandra finds herself at the centre of the investigation. What follows is a gruelling circumstantial trial that gradually dissects in detail not only the circumstances of Samuel’s death, but also Sandra and Samuel’s lively relationship. In 2023, Justine Triet’s film was awarded the Palme d’Or in Cannes.