France revelled today over the Oscar for best actress that went to Marion Cotillard, making her the country’s first to win an academy award for a French-language film.

President Sarkozy led a chorus of praise for Cotillard and her uncannily lifelike role as the Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. For the president and the film world, the Oscar was also proof of the enduring quality of French cinema at a time that it is under fire from abroad.

The 32-year-old Parisienne was one of the Europeans who scooped all four acting awards at a low-key, even sombre, ceremony that honoured none of Hollywood’s A-list. Even the Best Picture award went to relative US outsiders, Joel and Ethan Cohen for their grim thriller “No Country for Old Men”.

France awoke today to Cotillard’s acceptance speech, in slightly fractured English: “Thank you, life; thank you, love. And it is true there is some angels in this city.”

Bare shoulders and lots of red

Red frocks dominated the Oscars red carpet, with actresses demonstrating old-fashioned glamour in feathers and jewels

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Mr Sarkozy hailed Cotillard’s “masterful interpretation of... a Piaf troubling with realism, emotion and passion.” Her victory, along with two other French Oscars -- for Cotillard’s make-up and to Philippe Pollet-Villard for best short film - also showed “that the excellence of the French cinema persists and strengthens over time,” said the President.

France’s heavily subsidised cinema is by far the most flourishing in Europe but it has been on the defensive for years against foreign charges of declining quality. Cinema was included in a European cover story in the US Time magazine that proclaimed “The death of French culture”.

The emotional drama about Piaf’s turbulent life -- the type of film that the Academy usually loves -- has so far earned 100 million dollars and been seen by six million people, making it one of the most successful French films ever.

Only one French actor had previously won a leading role Oscar: Simone Signoret in the 1960 Room at the Top. Juliette Binoche won best supporting actress in 1995 for her role in the English Patient. But both those films were in English.

The award for a French-language role was seen as highly significant. Only one actress -- Sophia Loren in 1962 -- had won for a role in a foreign language. “The British are as eligible for Oscars as Americans are,” said Jean-Michel Frodon, Editor of Les Cahiers du Cinema, France’s leading film periodical. He was referring to Daniel Day-Lewis’s Best Actor award for “There Will be Blood”. “The very rare presence of a French actress and a Spanish actor give unusual weight to these Oscars,” added Mr Frodon.

Spain’s Javier Bardem won best supporting actor as the villain in No Country for Old Men, which scooped three other awards (best picture, director and adapted screenplay). Britain’s Tilda Swinton was the fourth European, for her supporting role in “Michael Clayton” The only other time in the Oscars’ 80-year history that all winning actors were foreign-born was 1964, when the recipients were the Britons Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews and Peter Ustinov and Lila Kedrova of Russia.

“There were also wonderful performances by American actors that could equally have been recognized,” Day-Lewis said backstage. “I suppose it’s a phenomenon, but I don’t know if it serves any purpose to focus on that.”

Austria was also jubilant about winning the Best Foreign Language Picture Oscar for The Counterfeiters, a tale of counterfeiters recruited by the Nazis from a concentration camp to forge British bank notes. Vice Chancellor Wilhelm Molterer said that “the Oscar is not only an award for a wonderful director but it also honours Austrian film and Austria’s entire cultural scene.”

The downbeat themes of many of this year’s winners and nominated films added to the sober atmosphere at a ceremony that lacked the glitz and dazzle of recent years. Jack Nicholson and Harrison Ford were in attendance, but none of the biggest stars reaped Oscars. The long writers’ strike, which ended only two weeks earlier, also added to the quieter feel.

Jon Stewart, the dead-pan comedian who hosted the show, made fun of the bleak tone of the picture nominees. He singled out “Juno” as the least gloomy, joking: “All I can say is thank God for teen pregnancy.”

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