The most introspective, Shakespearean, and classically liberal film of the last year was not, in fact, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, a tour de force biopic of the inventor of the atomic bomb. In a feat all too rare for Hollywood these days, the best critical feat of the year was also the biggest blockbuster.

With a total box-office haul of some $1.5 billion, Barbie was theoretically tailor-made to sweep the Academy Awards. Barbie‘s ultimate conclusion rejects identity politics in a way that delighted audiences across blue and red America alike, as Margot Robbie’s eponymous protagonist rejects the matriarchy of Barbieland for our own messy and egalitarian reality. But still, from record-breaking director and writer Greta Gerwig to Robbie as the consummate leading lady, the film seemed to hit the sweet spot of commercial gold and critical adoration that usually enchants the Academy.