An Oscars full of politics – but few political statements

The last-minute drama that many had predicted failed to materialise at the Oscars last night. There was no sweep of the big awards by Sinners, although Ryan Coogler's inventive segregation-era vampire horror took home a respectable four prizes, including Best Actor for Michael B Jordan and Best Original Screenplay for Coogler. The skies above Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre remained reassuringly free of Iranian drones.

And, after having racked up 14 nominations over his career, including four for Best Picture, Paul Thomas Anderson finally got his win: One Battle After Another took home six prizes, including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Direction for Anderson and Best Picture. Which goes to show that while Sinners undoubtedly had a last-minute rally – Jordan taking the Actor gong over early favourite Timothée Chalamet was an indication of this – stopping an Oscar campaign with the momentum that One Battle had managed to accrue is like trying to stop a freight liner at full speed.

While it’s a bold but flawed film, One Battle is nevertheless a deserving winner. Anderson is both a visionary auteur and a generous collaborator who is certainly due his acknowledgement from his peers. “You make a guy work hard for one of these,” he quipped. The same, unfortunately, can't be said for Sean Penn, who earned his third Oscar for his grotesque panto villain turn as One Battle's baddie, Colonel Lockjaw.

It's a horrible performance, by someone who couldn’t be bothered to turn up to collect his prize. Penn’s win over nominees such as Sentimental Value’s Stellan Skarsgard left a sour taste.

The elephant in the room: politics. The wins for both Sinners, which confronted America's deeply ingrained history of racism, and One Battle, which unfolds in a USA ruled by a corrupt elite and policed by ICE-style enforcers, were inherently political statements by the Academy voters. But on stage, political sentiments were, for the most part, diplomatically reticent. There were jokes about Donald Trump – how could there not be? But his name was left unsaid. “We're coming to you live from the 'Has A Small Penis Theatre.' Let's see him put his name in front of that,” said presenter Conan O'Brien, in one of the most overt digs at the president.

While the movie industry acknowledged the exceptionally bleak moment in history in which we find ourselves, it did so with a cautious eye on the future. It was Warner Bros' night of glory – the studio backed both of the main contenders, plus Zach Cregger's inventive horror film Weapons, which earned veteran actress Amy Madigan a popular win for Best Supporting Actress. But the imminent takeover of Warner Bros Discovery by Paramount Skydance, headed by Maga-aligned executive David Ellison, loomed over the proceedings. Literally – a mobile billboard protesting the takeover and showing Ellison as Trump's puppet has been circling LA for the past two days. The rumour, that Ellison has a 'blacklist' of talent that he has vetoed due to their stances on Palestine, among other things, might have encouraged those on stage to rein in some of their more outspoken impulses. The exception was Javier Bardem, who opened his presenter slot with the words “No to war and free Palestine”, earning a swell of applause in the theatre.

What of the show itself? O'Brien is a slick and funny host, and most, but not all, of the pre-recorded skits worked well. A Weapons-themed opener, set to the Beastie Boys' ‘Sabotage’, was an uproarious highlight. But the quality of presenters' bits and banter was wildly uneven, running the gamut from mediocre to chisel-off-your-own-ears-just-to-make-it-stop levels of embarrassment.

My favourite moments: Sinner's star Jack O'Connell wearing vampire fangs on the red carpet; an extended and genuinely moving In Memoriam segment, and Autumn Durald Arkapaw's Oscar for Best Cinematography, making her the first woman ever to win in this category. When Arkapaw asked all the women in the audience to stand up, there was a sense of collective celebration and of Oscar history being made.

Plus: our fashion editors round up the hot styles on the red carpet – from mega-brooches to 50 shades of… brown.