Daniel Day-Lewis won the best actor award at the Baftas but Brits Kiera Knightley and Julie Christie were left out of the best actress limelight.

The coveted prize was instead awarded to the surprise winner of the night french actress Marion Cotillard for her portrayal of singer Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose.

Christie had been odds-on favourite to win best actress for Away From Her and Atonement's Knightley was not far behind.

But the Bafta judges plumped instead for Cotillard, 32, rewarding a performance which has already earned her a Golden Globe win and an Oscar nomination.

It was a bad night for Atonement, although it did win the big prize of best film.

The lavish adaptation of Ian McEwan's best-selling novel was nominated for 14 awards, but came away with just two - the other was for production design.

It was a triumphant night for French cinema, with La Vie En Rose the night's big success story earning four awards, also winning gongs for music, costume design and make-up.

The latter was for the remarkable feat of transformation which saw Cotillard play Piaf through her career, from a 19-year-old to a frail figure who died at 47.

The film's costume designer, Marit Allen, and composer, Christopher Gunning, were both British. Allen died from a brain aneurysm shortly after finishing La Vie En Rose, aged 66.

Another French film, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, won best adapted screenplay for its British writer, Ronald Harwood.

There were no surprises in the best actor category, which went to Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood.

The 50-year-old plays oil baron Daniel Plainview in the film and is tipped to scoop an Oscar later this month, having already won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors' Guild Award.

The Oscars now look set to go ahead after the Writers' Guild of America reached a "tentative deal" over an end to strike action.

It is the second Bafta for Day-Lewis, who won in 1990 for My Left Foot. This time he beat the likes of James McAvoy for Atonement and George Clooney for Michael Clayton.

Tilda Swinton won best supporting actress for her role as a ruthless corporate lawyer in Michael Clayton.

The award for best British film went to This Is England, Shane Meadows' semi-autobiographical tale of skinhead culture in the early 1980s, seen through the eyes of a young boy.

Dark thriller No Country For Old Men won best director for brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, and best supporting actor for Spaniard Javier Bardem.

Best original screenplay went to Juno, Diablo Cody's quirky tale of teenage pregnancy.

© Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved.