Politics trumps artistry at the Oscars — full list of winners

There were two possibilities for the 86th Academy Awards, joked host Ellen DeGeneres, either ‘12 Years a Slave wins the best picture Oscar … [or] you’re all racists.’ Luckily for the hall, things went the right way. Handwringing trumped artistic merit, 12 Years a Slave nabbing the top gong of best picture. The most cinematically thrilling movie, Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, had to settle for the best director prize and several back-end awards.

As expected Cate Blanchett won best actress for her turn as a disintegrating society wife in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine and Matthew McConaughey took best actor for his acclaimed depiction of Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club.

It was nice to see the short on the pianist Alice Herz-Sommer – who died last month at the age of 108 – The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life, picking up the best short documentary prize. Paolo Sorrentino’s satire on Berlusconi-era Italy La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) won best foreign film – and Pier Silvio Berlusconi (Silvio’s son), whose production company Italian Medusa Film financed the movie,  was there to soak up the irony.