It was much too baroque and Fellini Satyricon-ish and Terry Gilliam-esque for that. A friend, however, believes that it won because of the sexual stuff.
Here’s a summary, translated into Wellsspeak:
Do horny old Academy guys like watching a toddler shove fruit inside her for an orgasm? Do they think women are sexualized from birth? That it’s fun watching Emma Stone get fucked from behind, or have an orgasm with another woman, or have sex with Mark Ruffalo?
The impact of her performance was about the sex, and there’s no getting around that. I don’t actually care about the sex. What bothered mer was the blend of Looking for Mr. Goodbar and Big. Major sex with the kid, the baby brain. I’m hardly alone in this — that’s all people joked about.
But never get between a dude and his splooge. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about Oscar preference of male Academy members, it’s that
I’m not saying Stone didn’t deliver a great performance — she did. But for me the intense focus on sex tainted the movie as well as her performance.