La Vie En Rose was the big success story at the Baftas with four awards, winning gongs for music, costume design and make-up as well as best actress Marion Cotillard.
The latter was for the remarkable feat of transformation which saw Cotillard play Piaf through her career, from a 19-year-old ingenue to a frail figure who died at 47.
The film's costume designer, Marit Allen, and composer, Christopher Gunning, were both British. Allen died from a brain aneurysm shortly after finishing La Vie En Rose, aged 66.
Tilda Swinton won best supporting actress for her role as a ruthless corporate lawyer in Michael Clayton.
Dark thriller No Country For Old Men won best director for brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, and best supporting actor for Spaniard Javier Bardem.
Another French film, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, won best adapted screenplay for its British writer, Ronald Harwood. Best original screenplay went to Juno, Diablo Cody's quirky tale of teenage pregnancy.
Screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh won the Carl Foreman Award for special achievement by a British talent, for Joy Division biopic Control. He dedicated his prize to the late Factory Records boss Tony Wilson.
The Golden Compass, which opened to terrible reviews, won the award for best special visual effects.
Sienna Miller was nominated for the Orange Rising Star award but lost out to US actor Shia LaBeouf, star of Transformers and soon to be seen in the new Indiana Jones movie.
Oscar-winning star Sir Anthony Hopkins received the Bafta Fellowship.
