On the night, French silent film 'The Artist' came out on top. Although tying with 'Hugo' at five Oscars, 'The Artist' picked up the more coveted Best Film, Best Actor and Best Director awards. Actor Jean Dujardin became only the third French actor nominated in the Best Actor category and the first to win. He beat off Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

'The Descendants', starring Clooney, was nominated in several categories but won only one award, for best adapted screenplay. Meryl Streep, nominated for the 17th time, won the Best Actress award for the Iron Lady. Despite all the nominations, it was only her third win, and comes 30 years after winning her last. The biopic of former UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, also won the Best Make Up Award.

Christopher Plummer became the oldest winner of an acting Oscar, picking up the Best Supporting Actor award for his role in 'Beginners' at 82 years old and another Hollywood veteran, Woody Allen, won his fourth Oscar for Best Original Screenplay with 'Midnight in Paris', as ever the reclusive Allen did not attend the event. Best Supporting Actress went to Octavia Spencer for 'The Help'. Like Plummer, she was the bookies' favorite for the award.

There was something nostalgic in the air for the 84th Academy Awards. 'Hugo' and 'The Artist', the two most nominated films, both lovingly recreate the early days of cinema, a biopic of Marilyn Monroe, who never won an Oscar, was up in the best actress category and Billy Crystal was back to host the event for the ninth time.

The Best Foreign language film award went to Iranian picture, 'A Seperation', directed by Asghar Farhadi and perhaps the night's most unlikely Oscar winner was New Zealander Brett McKenzie, for Best Original Song, in The Muppets. Only 34 years old and winning with his first nomination, McKenzie won fame with hit musical comedy series, 'Flight of the Conchords'.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com