Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” took home the prestigious Golden Lion Saturday at the 65th edition of the Venice Film Festival.

Starring Mickey Rourke, the drama tells the story of a retired pro wrestler who risks his life by returning to the ring for one final match against his big rival. Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood co-star.

Ever since the film’s premiere at the festival, critics having raving about Rourke’s performance as lead character Randy “The Ram” Robinson. Some even speculated Rourke would leave the festival with the best actor award.

The Coppa Volpi Award for best actor, however, went to Silvio Orlando for his performance in “Il Papà di Giovanna” (Giovanna’s Father).  Directed by Italian helmer Pupi Avati, the film centers on the relationship between a father and his daughter, who is committed to a psychiatric hospital after killing her best friend.

Meanwhile, Dominique Blanc received the best actress award for Patrick-Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic’s French drama “L’Autre” (The Other). The story follows a woman who gets madly jealous when she discovers her ex-boyfriend has a new girlfriend.   

Aleksey German Jr. won the Silver Lion for best director for “Bumaznyi soldat” (Paper Soldier), a drama about two women in love with the same man. The film also received the Osella Award for best cinematography (Alisher Khamidhodjaev and Maxim Drozdov).

The jury awarded its special prize to Haile Gerima’s “Teza,” about the return of an African intellectual to his native country. Gerima also picked up the Osella for best screenplay.

Finally, Jennifer Lawrence was named best young actress for her role in Guillermo Arriaga’s “The Burning Plain.”

Wim Wenders presided over this year’s jury, which included Juriy Arabov, Valeria Golino, Douglas Gordon, Lucrecia Martel, John Landis and Johnnie To.