"Amour," "The Master" top L.A. film critics' awards

Last Updated 7:31 p.m. ET

LOS ANGELES The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Michael Haneke's French-language drama "Amour," about an octogenarian couple struggling to cope with a debilitating health crisis, as the Best Picture of 2012.

The runner-up for the top prize was Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master," about a troubled World War II veteran who falls under the wing of a charismatic cult leader.

Anderson received the group's award for Best Director, while Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams were awarded Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.

"The Master" also won for its production design, and was runner-up for its 65mm cinematography and its original score by Jonny Greenwood.

Voting in the Best Actress category resulted in a tie, between Jennifer Lawrence for "Silver Linings Playbook," and Emmanuelle Riva for "Amour."

The Best Supporting Actor prize went to Dwight Henry for "Beasts of the Southern Wild." That's film's director, Benh Zeitlin, was also the recipient of two prizes: the New Generation Award, and the Best Music Score award (which he shared with Dan Romer).

The Best Screenplay winner was Chris Terrio for "Argo," Ben Affleck's film about the plot to rescue Americans trapped in Tehran.

As is often the case, the winners of the L.A. critics group barely mirrored those of the New York Film Critics Circle, whose prizes were awarded last week. Tim Burton's stop-motion animation "Frankenweenie" was the only instance of a film winning the same category from both groups.

And in what may have been a case of vote splitting, while the French-language "Amour" received the Best Picture prize, the group's award for Best Foreign Language Film was Denis Lavant's "Holy Motors."

In addition to announcing its winners via its Twitter feed, the group also named runners-up, which included one winner from the N.Y. critics awards, director Kathryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty."

Among technical prizes, cinematographer Roger Deakins was cited for the James Bond thriller "Skyfall." "Beasts of the Southern Wild" was recognized for its music score.

And for the first time the group awarded a prize for Best Editing, to "Zero Dark Thirty."

Best Documentary went to "The Gatekeepers," Dror Moreh's film about Israel's security services.

2012 Los Angeles Film Critics Circle winners:

Best Picture: "Amour"
Runner-up: "The Master"
Best Foreign-Language Film: "Holy Motors"
Runner-up: "Footnote"
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, "The Master"
Runner-up: Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"
Runner-up: Denis Lavant, "Holy Motors"
Best Actress: (TIE) Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"; and Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"
Best Supporting Actor: Dwight Henry, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Runner-up: Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"
Best Supporting Actress: Winner: Amy Adams, "The Master"
Runner-up: Anne Hathaway, "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Les Miserables"
Best Screenplay: Chris Terrio, "Argo"
Runner-up: David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins, "Skyfall"
Runner-up: Mihai Malaimare Jr., "The Master"
Best Production Design: David Crank and Jack Fisk, "The Master"
Runner-up: Adam Stockhausen, "Moonrise Kingdom"
Best Editing: Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Runner-up: William Goldenberg, "Argo"
Best Music Score: Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Runner-up: Jonny Greenwood, "The Master
Best Documentary: "The Gatekeepers"
Runner-up: "Searching for Sugar Man"
Best Animation: Tim Burton's stop-motion "Frankenweenie"
Runner-up: "It's Such a Beautiful Day," the third in Don Hertzfeldt's trilogy hand-drawn vignettes featuring an underdog character named Bill
New Generation Award: Benh Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Douglas Edwards Independent/Experimental Award: Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel's "Leviathan," describe by its distributor Cinema Guild as a "cosmic portrait of one of mankind's oldest endeavors, unlike anything you've seen."

Previously announced was the recipient of the association's Career Achievement Award: Documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, whose films include "Titicut Follies," High School," "Model," "Domestic Violence," "Ballet" and "Boxing Gym."

Also announced Sunday were winners from the Boston Society of Film Critics, which gave its top awards to "Zero Dark Thirty" (Best Picture and Best Director), Daniel Day-Lewis (Best Actor for "Lincoln"), and Emmanuelle Riva (Best Actress for "Amour").

2012 Boston Society of Film Critics winners:

Best Picture: "Zero Dark Thirty"
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"
Best Supporting Actor: Ezra Miller, "Perks of Being a Wallflower"
Best Supporting Actress: Sally Field, "Lincoln"
Best Screenplay: Tony Kushner, "Lincoln"
Best Cinematography: Mihai Malaimare, Jr, "The Master"
Best Documentary: "How to Survive a Plague"
Best Foreign-Language Film: "Amour"
Best Animated Film: "Frankenweenie"
Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer): William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy): David France for "How to Survive a Plague"
Best Ensemble Cast: "Seven Psychopaths"
Best Use of Music in a Film: "Moonrise Kingdom"