As it happened Oscars 2023: Brendan Fraser, Michelle Yeoh win best actor awards as Everything Everywhere sweeps Oscars

But despite those anarchic elements, Everything Everywhere dominated the 95th Academy Awards when it won best picture, director, original screenplay, editing and three of the four acting categories.

At an emotional ceremony, lacking anything like the drama when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock last year and only occasionally punctuated by politics, Michelle Yeoh won best actress for Everything Everywhere over Cate Blanchett for Tar while Brendan Fraser surprised by claiming best actor ahead of Austin Butler for Elvis.

The only other film to win more than two Oscars was the anti-war drama All Quiet On The Western Front. Unheralded when it was released on Netflix late last year, it won four awards: best cinematography, international feature film, production design and original score.

Not joking: if acting ever falls apart, politics is waiting for Michelle Yeoh. On stage in the media room, her charisma is off the charts. Yeoh said that aspiring artists of all colours should never be afraid to claim their space.

“If this is your passion, if this is your life, you have to stand up for yourself, for what you believe in and what you want to do,” Yeoh said. “I am still here, today. Finally, after 40 years, I get this. It just goes to show, we will win the battle. Never give up. When you give up, that is total loss. Don’t let anyone put you in a box, or tell you you’re past your prime,” Yeoh added.

“We’re proud, we believe in what we do, we love what we do, so light that fire in your soul and stay on the path. For we dare to dream. Because if you don’t dream, nothing is possible.”

Everything Everywhere All at Once has had an incredible run through awards season, but in fact exploded on the cultural radar a year ago this week when it was screened to its first non-virtual audience at the annual culture and arts convention South by Southwest.

“It’s been quite a marathon, hasn’t it?” Yeoh said. “Why do we make movies for the cinema? Because we want to have a collective experience. We want to share that, the laughing, the crying together. That’s what the magic of being at the movies is.”

It would also not be the 2023 Oscars without a final word from Yeoh on her mother, Janet. No matter what anyone tells you about who won, and who lost tonight, in the final analysis this year’s Oscars were all about mothers, and the enormous gifts they give us.

“Without mothers none of us would be sitting in this room,” Yeoh said. “My mother always instilled in me confidence, and she taught me about love and kindness and compassion. And the most recent thing she said to me was, don’t wear pants to the Oscars. Mothers are constantly reminding you to be better,” Yeoh added.

“They do it with love, and they do it because they want you to be better. So, you can have more opportunities. And so you can have a better life.”

The Oscar, he said, was a tribute to the hard work of his mother.

“When they said my name out loud, the first thought [of] was my mother, who is the reason I am in America, who is the reason I have a better life. She sacrificed so much. She had a great life, but she gave all that up for all her children, nine of us. And dad, I hope you’re proud of me.”

Reflecting on his younger self, Ke said the little kid who starred in Indiana Jones and The Goonies had no idea of the struggles the older man would go through on his journey to an Oscar.

“He was having the time of his life, being a kid on a set, on a pirate ship, going down a water slide. And right before this night started, Corey Feldman called, Sean, Josh, Martha, Jeff Cohen. We all bonded. We are family.”

And he shouted one last line for the gathered media – “Goonies never say die!” – which sent the room into a loud cheer.

Fraser was told by one journalist of the impact the story had on the gay community. “The gays love you,” the journalist said. “I love you right back,” Fraser said.

“Charlie is so much more than just a gay man. He’s a father. He’s an educator. He’s a truth seeker. And that he fell hopelessly in love with whomever is immaterial. He’s someone who found love, lost it, and found it again. And that’s something we can all take a page from.”

Of his extraordinary comeback year, Fraser said the experience had been incredibly life-affirming.

“It’s given me a lesson in humility and gratitude,” he said.

When his name was read out loud as the winner, he said, he heard his name “but I thought, that can’t be right. But it was. And I thought, I guess I should get up there and say something. I hope that I live up to this.”

But what of the other films that were nominated in multiple categories?

Surprisingly, The Whale – derided by so many people as a fat-shaming piece of exploitation, but clearly not without its fans – won two out of three awards: best actor for Brendan Fraser (who briefly looked like he was going to give into the temptation to blubber in his acceptance speech) and make-up and hairstyling.

That latter is bound to spark some debate, though, not just because of the use of a fatsuit, but also because said fatsuit was to a significant degree a CGI creation. Should that then make it a contender for visual effects rather than make-up? As well as? Neither?

Women Talking won one of the two awards it was up for (best adapted screenplay), giving it a handy strike rate of 50 per cent. Avatar: The Way of Water won one of four, and Top Gun: Maverick one of six.

The biggest snubs came for Tar (zero from six), The Fabelmans (zero from seven), Elvis (zero from eight), and The Banshees of Inisherin (zero from nine).

For Australia, it was a bust. Fourteen Australians were nominated in eight different categories (plus Austin Butler for Elvis), but none won. The sole Antipodean Oscar was the honorary statue awarded to director Peter Weir last November.