French film, La Vie En Rose, triumphed at the 2008 British Academy Awards (also known as the BAFTAs), walking away with a leading 4 trophies, including one for Best Actress for its lead, Marion Cotillard.

Cotillard, who is also nominated for the Oscars later this month, beat hot favourite British actress, Julie Christie, the star of Sarah Polley’s independent film, Away From Her. Christie previously won the Critics Choice Award, the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild Award and was tipped to win both the BAFTA and the Oscar.

“Wow, wow, wow,” said Cotillard as she gasped out her acceptance speech. The 32-year-old French actress was astonished when her name was announced. “It has been the most incredible adventure. I loved every second of the shooting.”

The awards took place on Feb 10 in London (Feb 11 morning, Singapore time) at the Royal Opera House. Besides Best Actress, La Vie En Rose, which depicts the life of the late French cabaret singer Edith Piaf, also scored victories in the Costume Design, Music and Make Up & Hair categories.

The film, however, lost the Foreign Language Film award to Germany’s The Lives Of Others, which also won the Oscar for the same category last year. Other films nominated for the BAFTA were Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution, Marc Forster’s The Kite Runner and Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell And The Butterfly.

British director Joe Wright’s Atonement, which entered the ceremony with 14 nominations, lost in almost all the awards it was up for, taking only the Production Design trophy. At the end of the evening, however, it nabbed the Best Film award from No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, The Lives Of Others and American Gangster, and brought about a huge cheer from the mostly-British crowd.

The Best Leading Actor award went to Daniel Day-Lewis for his performance as a devious businessman in There Will Be Blood. Day-Lewis dedicated his award to director, Paul Thomas Anderson, as well as his co-star, Paul Dano, who he described as “one of [his] favourite playmates” in the game of acting.

The actor also joked about what his 2 sons – 5 and 9 years of age – would think of the honour. “I don’t know what my lads are going to make of this but when they see me in a photograph with Daniel Redcliffe, they’re going to take me really seriously from now on.”

With this win, Day-Lewis further secured his win at the Oscars later this month, having previously won the Screen Actors Guild award, the Golden Globe and the Critics Choice award last month.

Javier Bardem did the same for his Oscar chances when he won the Best Supporting Actor award for his turn as a serial killer in No Country for Old Men. The film also won Best Director for brother team, Joel and Ethan Coen.

Besides Cotillard’s triumph in the Best Actress category, another surprise of the night was Tilda Swinton’s win for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Michael Clayton. Swinton beat frontrunner, Cate Blanchett, who won the Golden Globe last month for her portrayal as one of the personalities of Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There, and was tipped to win the Oscar as well.

Swinton, herself, was deeply shocked by the honour, as she said during her acceptance speech, “Proof that I am astonished, I would never have won this skirt,” referring to her Christian Dior Haute Couture by John Galliano (picture, right), which made it to many worst dressed lists, including E! Entertainment’s Fashion Police.

“Tony Gilroy is one righteous dude and George Clooney is a complete bastard, but he’s not here, as we know. He’s off in a Batmobile somewhere,” said the 47-year-old English actress of the director and co-star of Michael Clayton. “I always thought these were given to those who suffered, and I can’t tell you how hard it was to make this film, and I mean that. It wasn’t. It was so easy.”

Transformers star, Shia LaBeouf, was presented the Orange Rising Star Award, the only award voted by the public, which recognises an exceptional acting talent and a star in the making. LaBeouf was voted over Sienna Miller (Factory Girl and Stardust), Sam Riley (Control), Ellen Page (Juno) and Tang Wei (Lust, Caution).

Other recipients of the evening included Diablo Cody (Juno) for Original Screenplay, Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell And The Butterfly) for Adapted Screenplay, and Ratatouille for Animated Film.

The British Academy Awards is the equivalent of the United States’ annual Oscars and is presented yearly by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Following is the list of winners for the 2008 British Academy Awards:

Best Film

Atonement

Best British Film

This Is England

The Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer in their First Feature Film

Matt Greenhalgh (Writer) – Control

Director

Joel Coen / Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men

Original Screenplay

Diablo Cody – Juno

Adapted Screenplay

Ronald Harwood – The Diving Bell And The Butterfly

Film Not In The English Language

The Lives Of Others (Germany)

Animated Film

Ratatouille

Leading Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood

Leading Actress

Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose

Supporting Actor

Javier Bardem – No Country for Old Men

Supporting Actress

Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton

Music

Christopher Gunning – La Vie En Rose

Cinematography

Roger Deakins – No Country for Old Men

Editing

Christopher Rouse – The Bourne Ultimatum

Production Design

Sarah Greenwood / Katie Spencer – Atonement

Costume Design

Marit Allen – La Vie En Rose

Sound

Kirk Francis / Scott Millan / David Parker / Karen Baker Landers / Per Hallberg – The Bourne Ultimatum

Special Visual Effects

Michael Fink / Bill Westenhofer / Ben Morris / Trevor Wood – The Golden Compass

Make Up & Hair

Jan Archibald / Didier Lavergne – La Vie En Rose

Short Animation

Jo Allen / Luis Cook – The Pearce Sisters

Short Film

Diarmid Scrimshaw / Paddy Considine – Dog Altogether

The Orange Rising Star Award

Shia LeBeouf