The 96th Academy Awards unfolded at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Monday (IST) with some inevitable heartbreaks. The Christopher Nolan-directed Oppenheimer lived up to its pre-Oscar hype, securing seven awards, which meant some of the other contenders went home empty-handed.

One of the notable upsets occurred in the lead actress category where Lily Gladstone — nominated for her role as an Osage woman in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon — lost out to Emma Stone’s turn in Poor Things.

Gladstone would have made history as the first Native American actress to win in this category, and Michelle Yeoh's historic win as best actress the previous year for Everything Everywhere All at Once had greatly added to the expectations.

Despite an impressive tally of 10 nominations in some of the major categories including best picture and best supporting actor, Killers of the Flower Moon failed to land any win. This is the fourth Scorsese film after Gangs of New York (2002), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and The Irishman (2019) to face a dud on Oscars night.

A similar but less heartbreaking fate awaited the year’s biggest box-office blockbuster, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Out of its eight nominations, the film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling fetched only one award — best original song. Billie Eilish and Finneas took home the award for their enchanting composition What Was I Made For.

Among the other notable nominees who faced disappointment at the 96th Academy Awards was actor-director Bradley Cooper, whose film Maestro scored a zero out of its seven nominations. Cooper’s directorial debut, A Star Is Born, had won in the best original song category at the 2018 Oscars, though he had been nominated for best actor like this year.