Golden Globes: Oppenheimer atomizes Barbie, Anatomy of a Fall pierces

The Barbenheimer duel ultimately did not take place. The Golden Globes lined up as one, Sunday evening in Los Angeles, behind the Christopher Nolan biopic. Greta Gerwig's comedy about Barbie, although it topped the nominations with ten citations, brought home two rather modest prizes: best blockbuster and original song.

The prize list was completely atomized by Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. The portrait of the tormented creator of the atomic bomb won five statuettes, including the most prestigious: best dramatic film, best director, best music, best actor for Cillian Murphy in the role of the physicist and best supporting role for his sworn enemy played by Robert Downey Jr. Moved, Christopher Nolan had a thought on the podium for the late Heath Ledger whom he had directed in Batman: The Dark Knight. “The last time I stood on this stage was to receive his trophy on his behalf. It was a complicated moment for me. That evening, I remember meeting the gaze full of compassion and love of Robert Downey Jr. It is the same gaze that he casts on me today,” underlined the filmmaker, described as a “visionary with unparalleled rigor” by its star Cillian Murphy.

To everyone's surprise, the three hundred international and American critics who are members of the Golden Globes opted for a concentrated list of awards, rather than dispersing the awards. Oppenheimer is the undisputed big winner of an evening punctuated by doubles which puts the favorites of this awards season in order of battle. It remains to be seen whether the other precursor ceremonies to the Oscars (the SAG and PGA awards) will follow a similarly straight trajectory or offer poker shots.

In the comedy sections, Barbie systematically bowed to Yorgos Lantimos' baroque satire Poor Creatures, which already left the Venice Film Festival with the golden lion. This female variation on the figure of Frankenstein won Best Comedy and Best Actress for the incandescent Emma Stone. Her heroine discovering the pleasures of the flesh and of life blew the mind of Margot Robbie, whose character experiences an awakening and a much wiser emancipation in Barbie. The blonde actress and Greta Gerwig were still able to speak by receiving the box office prize in the face of Taylor Swift, in the running for the recording of her concert. Margot Robbie thanked organizers for creating an award honoring fans. And greeted the Barbie audience, “returning en masse to the dark rooms, often in disguise”.

A bittersweet Christmas comedy set in a New England boarding school in the Seventies, Alexander Payne's Winter Break enabled the triumph of its performers. Grumpy and alcoholic teacher, Paul Giamatti was crowned best comedy actor while his partner Da'Vine Joy Randolph, a loudmouth cook who lost her son in Vietnam, triumphed in the supporting role category.

Another double and not the least Anatomy of a fall. Justine Triet's palme d'or won in quick succession the statuette for best foreign film (a feat that the film will not be able to repeat at the Oscars since the CNC supported The Passion of Dodin Bouffant) and that of best screenplay. A feat when the competitors were called Oppenheimer, Barbie or Killers of the Flower Moon. “When we started writing this project with my life and work partner Arthur Harari, we were in the middle of a pandemic, stuck in our apartment and strangely, no one died,” joked the French director. And to remember: “We were rehearsing the text and we said to ourselves: okay we're having a lot of fun but it's way too radical and dark. No one is going to see this movie. It's too long, they talk all the time, there's not enough music, a couple fighting, a suicide, a dog vomiting. But I wanted to make this film. I don't know exactly how things worked out but I'm so happy. I was able to do exactly what I love.” Competing in the best drama film and best actress categories, Anatomy of a Fall conceded defeat to Oppenheimer and Lily Gladstone, prodigy from Killers of the Flower Moon.

The second most prestigious ceremony in Hollywood after the Oscars, the Golden Globes, despite the scandals, is an important step and a crucial media springboard in the quest for Oscar nominations on January 23. At the end of this Sunday, Barbie lost her panache. Just like the pretty fable Past Lives -Nos vies d’avant by Céline Song. Maestro, Bradley Cooper's biopic on the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein on which Netflix was banking to shine, also left empty-handed. The platform was not more successful with its portrayal of swimmer Diana Nyad in Unsinkable. But the Los Gatos firm can console itself with the awards received on the series side where the miniseries Acharnés and The Crown shone.

In the running seven times, the great tragedy Killers Of The Flower Moon by Martin Scorsese saves the furniture. Nothing for the sacred monsters Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert de Niro. But the revelation of the saga, the actress from the blackfeet tribe Lily Gladstone, was crowned best dramatic actress for this story of the Osage massacre. This is the first time that an Indigenous artist has received a performance award. The historic event did not escape the winner who dedicated her Golden Globes to all children from reserves and first nations in search of representation. “They can finally hear our stories told in our own words and languages. We have allies in the industry that we can trust.”

A speech as applauded as that of Emma Stone. “In my eyes, Poor Creatures is a romantic comedy. My character Bella falls in love not with a man but with life itself, the beautiful things, as well as the smaller or hideous aspects. I now try to adopt his philosophy,” confided the star of La La Land. Enough to revive a rather sluggish evening, marked by fairly conventional thanks and lukewarm jokes. Recruited urgently and at the last minute, the master of ceremonies, comedian Jo Koy, had a hard time cheering up his star-studded audience.