Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite, which everyone saw a year or so ago and then flushed out of their heads after the 2.24.19 Oscar telecast, is back in the news. The arch period comedy has won three big trophies at the 32nd European Film Awards — Best Film, Best Comedy and Best Actress for Olivia Colman‘s portrayal of Queen Anne.
The other Best Film nominees were Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory, Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor and Roman Polanski’s An Officer and A Spy. It was nearly a foregone conclusion that Polanski’s film wouldn’t win anything because of the recent #MeToo Paris protests, so the race was basically between Pedro, Marco and Yorgos.
Pain and Glory‘s Antonio Banderas, who won the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actor award last May, won EFA’s Best Actor award.
Ladj Ly’s Les Miserables, which won the jury prize at Cannes and is representing France at the Oscars, won the European Discovery award.
Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire won the European Screenwriter prize.