Carol leads UK Critics Circle Awards with seven nominations

45 Years, Mad Max, The Revenant, and Steve Jobs also contenders.

Affairs of the heart: Rooney Mara, left, and Cate Blanchett as lovers Therese and Carol in the adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel

Carol continues to shape up as the main heavyweight in the awards race, leading the nominations for the UK Critics' Circle awards with seven nominations.

Todd Haynes' sweeping, heartbreaking period romance picked up predicted nods for Film of the Year, Screenwriter of the Year (Phyllis Nagy, adapting Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt), two technical noms, and Director of the Year. Cate Blanchett was also unsurprisingly present on the Actress of the Year list; what's refreshing to see is Rooney Mara also share a nomination for Actress of the Year. She's currently being touted as a supporting actress by most institutions; slightly ridiculous within the context of a film in which she inexorably shares co-lead with Blanchett, but it's an inevitable part of studio tactics. Though Mara's performance is positively astounding, Blanchett's is certainly the flashier presence.

Mad Max: Fury Road also continues its path to critical Valhalla, following up behind with four nominations: Film of the Year, Director of the Year (George Miller), and two technical awards. The film is continuing to gather a surprising amount of momentum for such an outsider choice, having led the nominations for the Critics Choice Awards in the US. Its position is also strengthened here by Tom Hardy's nod as British Actor of the year, which considering his nominations both for Actor of the Year for Legend and Supporting Actor of the Year for The Revenant, make him a favourite to win.

A film which has gone fairly unappreciated in the awards race so far is Andrew Haigh's 45 Years; yet it's here nominated both for Film of the Year and British Film of Year, a double nomination also shared by doc Amy.

Full list of nominations

Film of the year
45 Years
Amy
Carol
Inside Out
The Look of Silence
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

British film of the year
45 Years
Amy
Brooklyn
The Lobster
London Road

Foreign-language film of the year
Eden
Hard to Be a God
The Look of Silence
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
The Tribe

Documentary of the year
Amy
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
The Look of Silence
Palio
A Syrian Love Story

Actor of the year
Tom Courtenay – 45 Years
Paul Dano – Love & Mercy
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Tom Hardy – Legend

Actress of the year
Cate Blanchett – Carol
Brie Larson – Room
Rooney Mara – Carol
Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn

Subtexts: Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett (left) in 'Carol'

Supporting actor of the year
Benicio Del Toro – Sicario
Tom Hardy – The Revenant
Oscar Isaac – Ex Machina
Michael Keaton – Spotlight
Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies

Supporting actress of the year
Olivia Colman – The Lobster
Kristen Stewart – Clouds of Sils Maria
Tilda Swinton – Trainwreck
Alicia Vikander – Ex Machina
Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs

Director of the year
Andrew Haigh – 45 Years
Todd Haynes – Carol
Alejandro González Iñárritu – The Revenant
George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott – The Martian

Screenwriter of the year
Emma Donoghue – Room
Nick Hornby – Brooklyn
Phyllis Nagy – Carol
Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
Aaron Sorkin – Steve Jobs

British actor of the year
Michael Caine
Idris Elba
Colin Farrell
Michael Fassbender
Tom Hardy

Double-barrelled: Tom Hardy stars as the Kray twins

British actress of the year
Emily Blunt
Carey Mulligan
Charlotte Rampling
Saoirse Ronan
Kate Winslet

Young British performer
Asa Butterfield – X + Y
Milo Parker – Mr Holmes, Robot Overlords
Florence Pugh – The Falling
Liam Walpole – The Goob
Maisie Williams – The Falling

Breakthrough British film-maker
Tom Browne – Radiator
Mark Burton & Richard Starzak – Shaun the Sheep Movie
Emma Donoghue – Room
Alex Garland – Ex Machina
John Maclean – Slow West

British short film
Directed by Tweedie – dir Duncan Cowles
Leidi – dir Simón Mesa Soto
Over – dir Jörn Threlfall
Rate Me – dir Fyzal Boulifa
Stutterer – dir Benjamin Cleary

The iMac experience: Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet star in ‘Steve Jobs’ (Universal Pictures)

Technical achievement award
Carter Burwell, music – Carol
Wade Eastwood, stunts – Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
Colin Gibson, production design – Mad Max: Fury Road
Elliott Graham, editing – Steve Jobs
Edward Lachman, cinematography – Carol
Tom Ozanich, sound design – Sicario
Sandy Powell, costumes – Cinderella
John Seale, cinematography – Mad Max: Fury Road
Alistair Sirkett and Markus Stemler, sound design – Macbeth
Andrew Whitehurst, visual effects – Ex Machina