The Golden Lion went to a film almost nobody predicted.

Woman Unknown, May el-Toukhy's Danish drama about a woman facing accusations in the aftermath of World War II, took the top prize at the 83rd Venice Film Festival on Saturday night at the Sala Grande. The jury, chaired by Maggie Gyllenhaal and including Kaouther Ben Hania, Daniel Blumberg, Francesco Casetti, Xavier Giannoli, Shahrbanoo Sadat and Johnnie To, picked it over what most critics at the Lido considered the stronger film in competition.

That film, Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love, had to settle for the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, the festival's second-highest honour. FirstShowing.net's review called it the outstanding drama of the fest and said it deserved the top spot instead, a view that appears to be shared widely among critics covering the lineup this year, though not unanimously.

Gyllenhaal reportedly made clear during the jury's deliberations that she wanted a woman-directed film to win, and Woman Unknown was the only film by a female director in the 21-title Competition slate. It is worth pointing out this is the second year running that Venice's main jury has gone with what some are calling a consensus or message pick over the field's acknowledged frontrunner, echoing complaints made about this year's Cannes jury handing the Palme d'Or to Cristian Mungiu over a more fancied contender.

Elsewhere the awards were less contentious. John Malkovich took the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor for his turn in Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, a performance several observers are already tipping for an Oscar run. Mathilde Arcel won Best Actress for her lead role in Woman Unknown itself. Ilya Khrzhanovsky picked up the Silver Lion for Best Director for Dau, and the NAZA documentary, singled out by multiple critics as one of the strongest entries of the festival, walked away with a special jury prize rather than anything bigger.

Stéphane Brizé shared the Best Screenplay award for A Good Little Soldier, which he also directed. Malou Khebizi took the Mastroianni Award for young talent for A Place to Heal, and House of the Wind won the Luigi De Laurentiis prize for best debut. The Armani Beauty Audience Award went to I Matter.

In the parallel Orizzonti sidebar, jury chair Valérie Donzelli's panel gave the top film prize to Diane in the Loop, with Jacqueline Lentzou winning Best Director for A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra. Riccardo Scamarcio picked up Orizzonti's Best Actor honour for The Children of the Monkey, a film that also took Best Screenplay.

None of the winners have Indian distribution locked in yet. Given the noise around the Golden Lion call, expect Woman Unknown and Possible Love to both show up on the festival-circuit radar through the rest of the year, including likely stops at Toronto and further international showcases before any of this reaches Indian screens or streaming.