Oscars : The Artist, Hugo lord it
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies

Los Angeles, February 27 2012: Silent romance "The Artist" won five Oscars on Sunday including best film and best actor, and Martin Scorsese's "Hugo" also took five of the world's top movie honors on a night where stories about movies felt the love of Hollywood.

"The Artist," a black-and-white tale of a fading star who finds redemption through romance in the era when silent movies were overtaken by talkies, added to its best film victory with Oscars for its French star Jean Dujardin as best actor and director Michel Hazanavicius, as well for musical score and costume design.

"I am the happiest director in the world right now.

Thank you for that," Hazanavicius told the audience of stars including George Clooney, Michelle Williams, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Dujardin was equally excited, exclaiming "I love this country" before thanking the Academy, fellow filmmakers and his wife and recalling silent actor Douglas Fairbanks as an inspiration.

The other top Oscars went to Meryl Streep as best actress for The Iron Lady, Octavia Spencer as supporting actress for The Help and Christopher Plummer as supporting actor for Beginners.

The win was Streep's first Oscar in 29 years, since she won best actress for Sophie's Choice.

She had lost 13 times in a row since then.

Streep also has a supporting-actress Oscar for 1979's Kramer vs.

Kramer.

"When they called my name, I had this feeling I could hear half of America go, 'Oh, no, why her again?' But whatever," Streep said, laughing.

Streep is only the fifth performer to receive three Oscars.

Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman and Walter Brennan all earned three, while Katharine Hepburn won four.

Director Martin Scorsese's "Hugo," which tells of a boy lost in a train station and serves as an ode to early filmmaking, came into the night with a leading 11 nominations and picked up five wins for cinematography, art direction, sound editing and mixing and visual effects.

Veteran Plummer, a star of classic film "The Sound of Music," won his first ever Oscar for his portrayal of an elderly gay man who comes out to his family in "Beginners," making Oscar history becoming the oldest ever Academy Award winner at age 82.In other major wins, the foreign language film award went to Iranian divorce drama "A Separation.

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