Hats off to Bafta for injecting an otherwise familiar awards season bunfight with a blast of gritty, sometimes foul-mouthed, authenticity. Yes, Leonardo DiCaprio’s slick Hollywood thriller One Battle After Another was the night’s big winner, winning six trophies including best film and best director for Paul Thomas Anderson. Yet the profoundly lovely homegrown drama I Swear, about the Scottish Tourette’s syndrome campaigner John Davidson, was the night’s rightful champion. It grabbed three awards (it was nominated for five) including the coveted best actor trophy for the British former Rings of Power actor Robert Aramayo, from Hull.

Aramayo plays Davidson with mesmerising aplomb, delivering an intensely technical performance of facial ticks, physical twitches and sudden verbal eruptions — and yet also conveying deep ache and vulnerability. He was clearly the best actor in his category, although his win constituted a massive upset for a category that had, all season, effectively belonged to Timothée Chalamet, star of Marty Supreme.

Chalamet has spent the season scooping up best actor trophies and reflecting, with slight immodesty, on his so-called search for excellence. Yet the search proved fruitless with Bafta: Marty Supreme was the night’s super-snub (11 nominations, no wins) and this came one year after Bafta also ignored Chalamet’s last awards season effort, A Complete Unknown (seven nominations, no wins). Was it something he said?

• The low-budget Tourette’s drama chasing Bafta glory

Elsewhere the script mostly unfolded as planned. Jessie Buckley, on cue, collected her best actress trophy for Hamnet, continuing her inexorable march towards next month’s Oscar podium. The wins for One Battle After Another were mostly deserved, or at least (from this One Battle agnostic) understandable. The best director gong for Paul Thomas Anderson made sense, considering this is one of the year’s most heavily “directed” movies — almost every shot is a “wow” signature statement, even when the camera is standing still. The film getting the trophy for best adapted screenplay trophy, however, was very much a stretch. It really should have gone to Hamnet’s Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell for their sterling work in transforming O’Farrell’s sprawling, non-chronological best-seller into a tightly-focused heartbreaker.

The best film not in the English language award was also a shocker. In a category that was bursting with ingenious and stingingly relevant political dramas (The Secret Agent, The Voice of Hind Rajab, It Was Just an Accident), Bafta opted for the tame and inoffensive middlebrow snooze-fest Sentimental Value. That film had entered the night with a huge, and improbable, eight nominations. It had to get something, perhaps, to avoid the Chalamet effect.

The best documentary award for the brilliant Russian propaganda feature Mr Nobody Against Putin was another surprise win. The BBC Storyville production beat the glossier Netflix-backed awards season front runner The Perfect Neighbor. Much like the night’s I Swear upset, it suggests that hard-working Bafta voters, this year at least, really did their homework.

Who were the Bafta winners?Best filmLeonardo DiCaprio holding a rifle, dressed in a plaid coat, with a car in the background, in "One Battle After Another."

Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another

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The nominees

Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another — WINNER
Sentimental Value
Sinners

Best actress in a leading roleJessie Buckley as Anne Hathaway in a scene from "Hamnet."

Jessie Buckley, centre, in Hamnet

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The nominees

Jessie Buckley — Hamnet — WINNER
Rose Byrne — If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kate Hudson — Song Sung Blue
Chase Infiniti — One Battle After Another
Renate Reinsve — Sentimental Value
Emma Stone — Bugonia

Best actor in a leading roleThe nominees

Robert Aramayo — I Swear — WINNER
Timothée Chalamet — Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio — One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke — Blue Moon
Michael B Jordan — Sinners
Jesse Plemons — Bugonia

Best directorLeonardo DiCaprio and Paul Thomas Anderson in dark clothing against a gray background.

The director Paul Thomas Anderson, left, with Leonardo DiCaprio

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The nominees

Paul Thomas Anderson — One Battle After Another — WINNER
Ryan Coogler — Sinners
Yorgos Lanthimos — Bugonia
Josh Safdie — Marty Supreme
Joachim Trier — Sentimental Value
Chloé Zhao — Hamnet

EE Rising Star awardRobert Aramayo in "I Swear".

Robert Aramayo in I Swear

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The nominees

Robert Aramayo — WINNER
Miles Caton
Chase Infiniti
Archie Madekwe
Posy Sterling

Outstanding British filmThe nomineesJessie Buckley and Paul Mescal in character for the film "Hamnet," surrounded by lush greenery and flowers.

Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal in Hamnet

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28 Years Later
The Ballad of Wallis Island
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Die My Love
H Is for Hawk
Hamnet — WINNER
I Swear
Mr Burton
Pillion
Steve

Best film not in the English languageThe nominees

It Was Just an Accident
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value — WINNER
Sirat
The Voice of Hind Rajab

Best adapted screenplayThe nomineesBenicio Del Toro in a scene from "One Battle After Another."

Benicio Del Toro in One Battle After Another

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Paul Thomas Anderson — One Battle After Another – WINNER
Tom Basden and Tim Key — The Ballad of Wallis Island
Harry Lighton — Pillion
Will Tracy — Bugonia
Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell — Hamnet

Best original screenplayThe nominees

Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie — Marty Supreme
Ryan Coogler — Sinners — WINNER
Kleber Mendonça Filho — The Secret Agent
Kirk Jones — I Swear
Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier — Sentimental Value

Best actor in a supporting roleThe nominees

Benicio del Toro — One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi — Frankenstein
Paul Mescal — Hamnet
Peter Mullan — I Swear
Sean Penn — One Battle After Another – WINNER
Stellan Skarsgard — Sentimental Value

Best actress in a supporting roleWunmi Mosaku and fellow cast members in a scene from the movie "Sinners."

Wunmi Mosaku, centre, in Sinners

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The nominees

Odessa A’zion — Marty Supreme
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas — Sentimental Value
Wunmi Mosaku — Sinners – WINNER
Carey Mulligan — The Ballad of Wallis Island
Teyana Taylor — One Battle After Another
Emily Watson — Hamnet

Other winners

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer My Father’s Shadow – Akinola Davies Jr (director), Wale Davies (writer)

Best children’s and family film Boong

Best costume Frankenstein

Special visual effects Avatar: Fire And Ash

Production design Frankenstein

Sound F1

Make-up and hair Frankenstein

Best original score Sinners

Best animated film Zootropolis 2

British short animation Two Black Boys In Paradise

Best British short film This Is Endometriosis

Casting I Swear

Cinematography One Battle After Another

Editing One Battle After Another

Best documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin