BAFTA 2023: ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ wins big

A still from 'All Quiet on the Western Front', which won seven 2023 BAFTA awards, including Best Film.

Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Edward Berger, continued its record-breaking streak at the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards last night, taking home seven trophies (film, director, adapted screenplay, cinematography, sound, original score and non-English film) from 14 nominations (also a record for a non-English language film, tying with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon back in 2001). Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis were next tied at four wins apiece. Meanwhile, the fairytale story of this awards season Everything Everywhere All At Once had a dismal showing, winning only one award for editing despite an impressive 10 nominations.

This year, the BAFTAs took place at the Royal Festival Hall, a smaller and more intimate venue than its usual home, the Royal Albert Hall. The host, British actor Richard E Grant, did an admirable job of keeping the proceedings moving along, avoiding political jokes and controversy, save for a quick jab at last year’s Oscars, saying, “Nobody on my watch gets slapped tonight”. The evening’s proceedings took a brief pause to honour Queen Elizabeth’s memory with a tribute from Dame Helen Mirren who had previously won a BAFTA and an Oscar for her performance as the late royal in The Queen (2006). The only brief hiccup was when Troy Katsur’s sign language translator mistakenly announced the Supporting Actress winner as Carey Mulligan (from She Said) instead of Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin).

The enduring relevance of All Quiet on the Western Front

BAFTAs 2023: ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ is Best Film. See full list of winners

Cate Blanchett won her third Lead Actress BAFTA for her stunning performance as beleaguered conductor Lydia Tár in Todd Fields’ Tár. This is not good news for her closest challenger Everything Everywhere All At Once’s Michelle Yeoh who has to hope for a SAG (29th Screen Actors Guild Awards, February 27) win if she wants to keep her Oscar (March 12) chances alive. Meanwhile, in a stunning upset Austin Butler won his first Lead Actor BAFTA for Elvis, beating out The Banshees of Inisherin’s Colin Farrell who was expected to have a huge home field advantage in the UK. Again, if Butler repeats at the SAG next weekend, this could signal the end of the Oscar road for both Farrell and early-season favourite Brendan Fraser for The Whale.

The Banshees of Inisherin did take home both supporting BAFTAs with surprising wins for Kerry Condon (over odds-on favourite Angela Bassett in Wakanda Forever) and Barry Keoghan (who triumphed over comeback sensation Ke Huy Quan from Everything Everywhere All At Once). The supporting wins are understood to be an outcome of the British nature of these awards and not expected to repeat at the Oscars.

The Brits-only section of the ceremony went entirely as predicted. Charlotte Wells won Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for her film Aftersun. Sex Education star Emma Mackey took home the Rising Star Award. And The Banshees of Inisherin won Best British Film, with director Martin McDonagh joking about the stand-in donkey being the only British performer in an otherwise Irish-populated film.

Guillermo Del Toro won the Animated Film category for his reimagining of Pinocchio, giving an impassioned speech about the merits of animation as a medium for cinematic storytelling. While Avatar: The Way of Water won for Special Visual Effects, it was clear that Top Gun: Maverick had a lot of vocal fans in the room even though the clip presented for the Tom Cruise blockbuster curiously did not showcase any VFX breakdowns. In the documentary category, Indian entry All That Breathes lost to thriller Navalny whose makers dedicated their win to journalist Christo Grozev who had his invitation to the ceremony rescinded due to his being a "security risk".

All Quiet on the Western Front’s unexpectedly decisive run at the BAFTAs means Netflix is back in the conversation for a potential Best Picture win at the Oscars. It’s now a three-way race with Everything Everywhere all At Once (EEAAO), The Banshees of Inisherin and All Quiet on the Western Front each having a fighting chance at taking home the big prize. EEAAO’s near-total shutout was surprising given the goodwill the movie has engendered, not to mention the DGA (75th Directors Guild of America Awards) win for directing duo The Daniels just the night before. It will all come down to the PGA (34th Annual Producers Guild Awards) and the SAG awards, neither of which All Quiet... has any nominations for. If Banshees... or EEAAO manage to sweep the SAG awards, that would be the strongest indication for success going into Oscar night, given that the SAG voting body of actors make up the largest section of Academy voters. This is shaping up to be the most unpredictable Oscars in recent history.