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Despite its guaranteed appeal to the tastes of nostalgic Euro-cinephiles the world over, the well-received film, passionately lauded by our own Robbie Collin , had gone home empty-handed in Cannes, where Abdellatif Kechiche's two-girl, three-hour, graphically erotic romance Blue is the Warmest Colour made off with the Palme d'Or. The EFAs upended this state of affairs with something just short of a slap in the face: Kechiche's film (known locally as Adèle Chapitres 1 & 2) wasn't even long-listed originally, and only by a last-minute intervention did the selection committee get it added to the Best Film and Director categories.

^{Winner: a scene from Paulo Sorrentino's The Great Beauty (Picture: EFA)}

In stopping there, they rather shafted both of Kechiche's stars, especially Adèle Exarchopoulos – in what's widely regarded as the debut of the year. She graciously turned up as a presenter, doing the obligatory photo-calls with Kechiche, but Léa Seydoux was nowhere in sight. At least their missing nominations meant that Best Actress could go to another very deserving contender, the Flemish nominee Veerle Baetens, who sings and acts her socks off in the bruising, bluegrass-scored Belgian-Dutch co-production The Broken Circle Breakdown – a film which ought to have taken home more.

This award, at least, can only boost Baetens's status as a rising star, fit to work with all the Lars von Triers who'll get round to casting her. Leading man Johan Heldenbergh was particularly unlucky not to follow suit – commanding though Servillo is in The Great Beauty, he's won at the EFAs before (for the 2008 double-header of Gomorrah and Il Divo). Except for Kristin Scott Thomas, on hand as the most imperiously entertaining (and polyglot) presenter of the night, it wasn't a big one for Brits. Joe Wright's Anna Karenina was nominated, some might say overgenerously, across the board, and won for Sarah Greenwood's standout production design. British-American director Joshua Oppenheimer won, deservedly, for his astonishing documentary about Indonesian war criminals, The Act of Killing, and gave a strikingly eloquent speech. But there was nary a mention for 2013's best British film, Clio Barnard's The Selfish Giant. You don't need much national pride to find this a tad stingy of them.

If some of the awards had a calculated feel – few were surprised when The Great Beauty prevailed, and François Ozon's acceptance of Best Screenplay for his smashingly witty In the House was so hasty it made the prize feel like a sop – that's in keeping with past years, when the likes of Michael Haneke have turned up to have every possible trophy bestowed upon them. Cinema royalty Catherine Deneuve and Pedro Almodóvar graced the stage to have small parties thrown in their honour, complete with singing, dancing, and checking of watches. Of all years to garland the latter for his achievements, 2013 seems like an awkward one, but his mile-high camp-fest I'm So Excited! (token nomination: Best Comedy) was a significantly bigger hit continentally than it was in the UK. Deneuve, allegedly reluctant to accept her award at all, seemed taken aback, not least by the brief, choreographed homage to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg that preceded her speech. Recalling his open-mouthed boyhood reaction to her nubile beauty, the tribute paid by European Film Academy President Wim Wenders (or "Bim Benders", as our ever-quippy hostess insisted on calling him) was right on the line between heartfelt and too much information. But that's the EFAs all over.

THE FULL AWARDS

EUROPEAN FILM: The Great Beauty

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR: Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty)

EUROPEAN ACTRESS: Veerle Baetens (The Broken Circle Breakdown)

EUROPEAN ACTOR: Toni Servillo (The Great Beauty)

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER: François Ozon (In the House)

EUROPEAN COMEDY: Love is All You Need

EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY: The Act of Killing

EUROPEAN ANIMATED FEATURE: The Congress

EUROPEAN SHORT FILM: Death of a Shadow

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY: Jan Ole Gerster (Oh Boy)

EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER: Asaf Sudry (Fill the Void)

EUROPEAN EDITOR: Cristiano Travaglioli (The Great Beauty)

EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Sarah Greenwood (Anna Karenina)

EUROPEAN COSTUME DESIGNER: Paco Delgado (Blancanieves)

EUROPEAN COMPOSER: Ennio Morricone (The Best Offer)

EUROPEAN SOUND DESIGNER: Matz Müller & Erik Mischijew (Paradise: Faith)

EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD: Ada Solomon

EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA: Pedro Almodóvar

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Catherine Deneuve

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD: The Gilded Cage