They were the Oscars that almost didn’t happen.

But last night, on the heels of a three-month writers’ strike that threatened to shut down the 80th Annual Academy Awards ceremony, the show went on — with “No Country for Old Men” taking the honors for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Director.

The winning film was directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, who also took home the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. “No Country for Old Men” is based on a Cormac McCarthy novel about the brutal fallout of a drug deal gone wrong. It was a foreign-flavored awards ceremony: For the first time since 1965, none of the four acting honors went to Americans, and several winners gave their acceptance speeches in languages other than English.

The British-Irish actor Daniel Day-Lewis won the award for Best Actor for his role in “There Will Be Blood,” about a self-made petroleum magnate who attempts to wrest an oil-rich California property from its small-town owners at the turn of the 20th century. Marion Cotillard, a native of France who played Edith Piaf in “La Vie en Rose,” won the award for Best Actress. In her acceptance speech, Ms. Cotillard said that Los Angeles — true to its name — is full of angels.

The Spaniard Javier Bardem won the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a ruthless murderer in “No Country for Old Men,” and the British actress Tilda Swinton, who appeared as an ethically challenged executive in the legal thriller “Michael Clayton,” took home the Best Supporting Actress award. Diablo Cody, a former exotic dancer, won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for her first script, “Juno,” about a clever teenager who becomes pregnant and vows to give her baby to a yuppie couple. “This is for the writers,” she said in a teary speech.

“The Counterfeiters” from Austria, about a Nazi scheme to counterfeit currency, picked up the award for Best Foreign Language Film; “Taxi to the Dark Side,” about torture and the war on terror, won for Best Documentary Feature, and production designer Robert Boyle took home an honorary Oscar for a lifetime of work, including “North by Northwest” (1959) and “Fiddler on the Roof” (1974).

A video montage paid tribute to members of the Hollywood community who died since last year’s Academy Awards, including Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, 89, Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni, 94, and actress Jane Wyman, 90. The crowd applauded when the name of “Brokeback Mountain” actor Heath Ledger appeared on the screen. Ledger died of an accidental drug overdose last month at 28.

There were no major hiccups at the ceremony, hosted by political satirist Jon Stewart. It was remarkable given that only two weeks ago the Oscars were on the verge of being canceled due to a labor dispute between the Writers Guild of America and the major television and motion picture studios. The stalemate led the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to call off its Golden Globe awards ceremony last month in favor of a press conference. On February 12, the writers and the studios reached a deal, giving the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences the go-ahead for its primetime Oscars show. Mr. Stewart made light of rapprochement: “The fight is over, so tonight, welcome to the makeup sex.”

That monologue — indeed, all of Mr. Stewart’s Oscar night lines — had to be written on a tight deadline: Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” anchor had only 12 days to prepare for the high-profile hosting duties. It wasn’t a stretch. After all, it’s a presidential election year, and political humor is Mr. Stewart’s bread and butter. Predictably, he injected some jokes about the White House contenders: The Clintons’ marriage, Senator Obama’s name, Senator McCain’s age, superdelegates, and Hollywood’s liberal leanings were all fair game.

But the Oscars, of course, are not just about winners and losers, good jokes and bad jokes; they’re about fashion. On the red carpet, actresses generally eschewed outlandish designs seen in years past (à la Cher’s mermaid ensemble, or Björk’s swan dress). For the most part, though, classic silhouettes in solid colors were dominant. Candy-apple red dresses were prevalent, with striking designs in that color worn by actresses Anne Hathaway, Miley Cyrus, and Katherine Heigl, as well as supermodel Heidi Klum. There were also plenty of basic black gowns, such as the simply elegant designs chosen by Jennifer Garner, Hilary Swank, and Ms. Page, who was nominated for a Best Actress award.

A white Jean-Paul Gaultier halter-dress with a skirt textured to look like mermaid scales, worn by a Ms. Cotillard, and a billowing leopard-print gown worn by Ms. Cody were among the night’s more unusual designs.