Saturday afternoon, the National Society of Film Critics, “made up of many of the country”s most distinguished movie critics,” announced the winners of its annual “Best of” vote. Critical darlings came out on top, with Jean-Luc Godard”s 3-D film “Goodbye to Language” prevailing in the Best Picture category.

The NSFC”s picks offer a selection of Oscar sure-things and outsider alternatives. After debuting at Cannes, “Goodbye to Language” trickled in to a few American theaters. Without any Best Foreign Language Film representation (France went with “Saint Laurent”), the film was destined for place on the fringes of the season. Leave it to NSFC to come through for art. On top of Best Picture, Godard”s film earned love in the Director and Cinematography categories. With Patricia Arquette and J.K. Simmons picking up their 18,000th Supporting Actor wins, Timothy Spall, under-lauded for his work in “Mr. Turner,” won Best Actor. A favorite of critics groups, Marion Cotillard took home Best Actress.

See the full list of winners and runner-ups below:

Best Picture
1. “Goodbye to Language”
2. “Boyhood”
3. “Birdman”
4. “Mr. Turner”

Best Director
1. Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
2. Jean-Luc Godard, “Goodbye to Language”
3. Mike Leigh, “Mr. Turner”

Best Non-fiction Film
1. “CITIZENFOUR”
2. “National Gallery”
3. “The Overnighters”

Best Screenplay
1. “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
2. “Inherent Vice”
3. “Birdman”

Best Cinematography
1. “Mr. Turner”
2. “The Immigrant”
3. “Goodbye to Language”

Best Actor
1. Timothy Spall, “Mr. Turner”
2. Tom Hardy, “Locke”
3. Joaquin Phoenix, “Inherent Vice”
4. Ralph Fiennes, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Best Actress
1. Marion Cotillard, “Two Days, One Night,” “The Immigrant”
2. Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
3. Scarlett Johansson, “Under the Skin,” “Lucy”

Best Supporting Actor
1. J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”
2. Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
3. Edward Norton, “Birdman”

Best Supporting Actress
1. Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
2. Agata Kulesza, “Ida”
3. Rene Russo, “Nightcrawler”

Film Heritage Awards
1. To Ron Magliozzi, associate curator, and Peter Williamson, film conservation manager, of the Museum of Modern Art, for identifying and assembling the earliest surviving footage of what would have been the feature film to star a black cast, the 1913 “Lime Kiln Field Day” starring Bert Williams.

2. To Ron Hutchinson, co-founder and director of The Vitaphone Project, which since 1991 has collected and restored countless original soundtrack discs for early sound short films and features, including the recent Warner Bros. restoration of William A. Seiter”s 1929 “Why Be Good?”