Melancholia tops European Film Awards

Warper

Lars von Trier's Melancholia dominated the 2011 European Film Awards last night.



Melancholia wins in Berlin

His end-of-the-world tale won three prizes including Best Film at the ceremony in Berlin. The controversial Danish filmmaker lost out on the Best Director prize which went to his protégé Susanne Bier for In a Better World, the film that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film last February.

Colin Firth was once more among the winners when he scooped the Best Actor gong for The King's Speech and Tilda Swinton won Best Actress for her mesmerising portrayal of a distraught mother in We Need to Talk About Kevin.


Kirsten Dunst, star of Melancholia, won the Best Actress award at Cannes for her role in the film but von Trier was expelled from the festival after making some controversial remarks about Adolf Hitler.


The winners in full were:


European Film of 2011:
Melancholia


European Director:
Susanne Bier, Hævnen (In a Better World)


European Actress:
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin


European Actor:
Colin Firth, The King's Speech


European Screenwriter:
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Le Gamin au Velo (The Kid with a Bike)


European Cinematographer:
Manuel Alberto Claro, Melancholia


European Editor:
Tariq Anwar, The King's Speech

European Production Designer:
Jette Lehmann, Melancholia

European Composer:
Ludovic Bource, The Artist

European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award:
Stephen Frears


People's Choice Award:
The King's Speech

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Great to see Melancholia win this and also Tilda Swinton for her performance in the great film We need to talk about Kevin. Top actress and good to see Von Trier back on song after the absurd Antichrist.

The King's Speech is just plain boring.

johnny_ultimate

It hasn't been a particularly vintage year for European cinema tbh! I'm trying to think of a few of the good ones: Kill List, Melancholia (a mixed success IMO), erm... Attack the Block? Really wasn't best fond of In A Better World...

And the Kings Speech is much more than just plain boring. It may not be an out-and-out masterpiece, but it has much more flair and confidence of delivery than most British period pieces.

Renn

Tyrannosaur deserves a mention too for the European category.

As for others, haven't checked out a whole lot this year but the following from Europe interest me: The Artist, Project Nim, We Need to Talk About Kevin, A Dangerous Method, The Turin Horse, Alois Nebel, Into the Abyss, Elena, The Kid with a Bike, In Heaven Underground: The Weissensee Jewish Cemetery...

johnny_ultimate

Didn't realise Project Nim was a European production actually, but guess it makes sense with Marsh as director. Same with Kevin... (which I liked rather than loved). A British director, but I've been surprised to hear a few people refer to it as British cinema.

The Artist and Dangerous Method are certainly on the to watch list. It's also a shame some of the more curious films of the year - like Attenburg and Alps from good old eccentric Greece - never got a cinema release over here.