Glenn Close was crowned Best Actress in a Motion Picture-Drama for her performance in Björn Runge’s film, co-produced by Sweden’s Spark Film & TV and Denmark’s Meta Film.

On Sunday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Glenn Close thanked the Swedish director Runge whom she stressed “trusted the close up, who knew where to put the camera and how to light us”.

In her moving and personal acceptance speech, the US star - who plays a woman questioning her life choices and marriage in The Wife - urged women to stand up for themselves and follow their dreams: “You know, it [the film] was called The Wife. I think that's why it took 14 years to get made. To play a character who is so internal, I’m thinking of my mom who really sublimated herself to my father her whole life. And in her 80s she said to me, "I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything. It was so not right. And I feel like what I've learned from this whole experience is, women, we’re nurturers, that’s what’s expected of us. We have our children, we have our husbands if we're lucky enough, and our partners. But we have to find personal fulfilment. We have to follow our dreams. We have to say, "I can do that, and I should be allowed to do that,” said the actress.

Close had been the frontrunner to win a Golden Globe for her tour de force performance in The Wife, based on a novel by Meg Wolitzer. She beat other nominated actresses Lady Gaga (A Star is Born), Nicole Kidman (Destroyer), Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive) and Rosamund Pike (A Private War).

Commenting on Close’s Golden Globe award, Spark Film & TV’s producer and managing director Piodor Gustafsson said: “I’m so happy for Glenn's sake and it’s so much fun for Björn to enjoy the limelight after so many years of hard work. We hope this [Golden Globe award] can help Glenn to finally get her Oscar. It’s a great honour for SPARK to be associated with The Wife and we hope this award will make even more people willing to enjoy the film in cinemas in all Nordic countries.” SF Studios is handling the Scandinavian release.

The Golden Globes organised by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is widely regarded as an indication of Oscars wins. The Oscars nominations will be announced on January 22, 2019.