The Bening Considered
Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 12:30PM Nick Davis, my personal friend, podcast mate, and true rival in deeply committed actressexuality, has written a thoughtful consideration of Annette Bening's career as part of his extensive, brilliant, but unfortunately snail's paced evaluation of the entire spectrum of 83 years of Best Actressing. It's a wonderful read whether you love The Bening or have mixed feelings about her imperious theatrical verve, as I know some readers do.
"Am I supposed to be interested in this?" The Bening in BUGSY (1991)
My favorite parts of the piece are a convincing argument as to how Virginia Hill in Bugsy (1991) became the template of her screen persona and a detour into the underseen Valmont (1989) which was her first important screen role, one that had the misfortune to follow Glenn Close's nearly Oscar-winning take on the same character in Dangerous Liaisons (1988) into theaters. About which he writes...
Bening's the kind of actress, in technique and in unabashedly scholastic bent, to whom one could plausibly say, "I want to route 18th-century France through a prism of that sly mordancy of Eastern European theatre," and she'd know exactly what you mean, and be able to do it.
It's hilarious because it's true.
Unfortunately the thought-provoking essay has made me sad in advance. I don't relish seeing The Bening lose again at the Oscars. And if, by some miracle, she dethrones Natalie Portman, I don't much relish the beating she'll take online in this age of Portman-mania. [They're both on my Best Actress ballot.]
It's interesting to me that the AMPAS is, as a collective, a known anglophile; the Academy relishes and rewards classically trained Brits from Mirren to Dench to Firth (soon) and many before them. But when it comes to American stars, Streep aside, classical training, intellectual heft, and true range don't seem to interest or fascinate them much. Don't you think Annette Bening would have won the Oscar by now if she were British?
Dame Annette Francine Bening.
As a related aside: If you haven't yet read it here's an interesting piece on the education and training of the current Oscar nominees.
Annette Bening, Nicks Flick Picks, Oscars (10)
Reader Comments (15)
Love The Bening and I love Nick's take on her career! If she does manage a win I will defend her to any/all Portmaniacs until my fingers bleed. Nothing against Natalie, she was great.
P.S. Her middle name is actually Carol, I know iMDB says Francine but it's Carol. (Don't ask me how I know this.)
Love, love, love The Bening and I totally agree, she probably would have already won if she was British. I just saw Mother and Child yesterday and was fascinated by her performance (almost as much as by Naomi Watts). As far as I can remember, you liked her better in TKAAR, but I really appreciate how different, almost inhuman yet believable her character in Mother and Child is.
I don't think Natalie is beatable this year and I will be very sorry if Annette loses again but I trust that she is going to have a prominent enough role for which she will finally win her (1st :P) Oscar.
I can't wait to see Nick's Best Actress 2010 profiles! My ranking would go like this: Williams-Kidman-Bening-Lawrence-Portman, with no shame on Portman for being at the bottom since she was great and really surprised me in many scenes. In other scenes her character and emotional depth were lacking, not only because they were so micromanaged and overdirected that I didn't quite have the latitude to appreciate Nina from different perspectives (both in camera and in character), but also because Portman relies too much on extremes to show what should be subtler emotions. She could have portrayed shyness and fright in scenes with Cassel without mumbling at 20% volume. Her moments of hysteria, while terrifying, sometimes border on caricature. I'd be disappointed if (when, I guess) she wins not because she wasn't good, but because she has such great competition that anyone else winning would have been far more exciting. I've been rooting for Bening ever since it became clear the Oscar race was between her and Portman, though I keep telling myself Portman isn't a bad winner and I should still be happy if she wins. It's a mix of cognitive dissonance and ungrudging appreciation for Portman's work.
Sorry, I didn't even respond to the post, which is about Bening! I loved her in Bugsy and American Beauty even if the scripts gave her characters a raw deal and little chance for emotional development. Something similar happens in The Kids Are All Right, though to a lesser degree. Though the script is largely great, I think Bening's character is the film's least interesting character, even if it's the toughest one to play--and Bening makes the most of it. As sad as it is to see her be the bridesmaid again, she still has time to win. She certainly should be getting more roles now, though hopefully not reiterations of the imperious matriarch or the edgy control freak.
wow..... the article about Education is f*cking inspirational! Thank you!
Yavor -- in what way? that it excuses people from needing one ;) i was surprised how many actors don't get much schooling actually.
I respect Annette Bening and think she's a very capable actress, but I don't understand the status she's seemed to have gained as an under-heralded goddess of acting. She was very good in The Grifters, Bugsy, Mother & Child, and The Kids Are All Right, but I, for one, have never been especially inspired by her work. American Beauty and Being Julia highlight (what I consider to be) her greatest weakness--a penchant for exaggerated theatricality as opposed to truth or realism.
The Academy has been generous in nominating her four times, IMO.
Mike M -- i would suggest reading Nick's piece. it's pretty interesting (Nick is not a huge fan) in that it looks at her whole filmography and argues that people have pigeonholed her too readily.
@ Nathaniel - in the way that it's just inspirational on a primal ground with the statistics showing that there are so many different stories and people's path to success especially in this business can have many different colors; not inspirational in the "don't get an education and you'll still succeed" way :)
Nathanilel, personally I like it that in a society (I assume the USA are the same. Maybe I'm wrong) where lack of higher education seems to be something you should be ashamed for, there are famous examples of people that remind us that you can have an active mind and an interesting personality without being officially (very) educated.
After all, you can educate yourself in many ways.
Of course, I don't mean that universities are worthless. On the contrary. But good and necessary are not the same thing.
I love love love The Bening! She's just awesome!!!
PS: Have you heard she's gonna come back on set this May in a new Rob Reiner film titled "The Third Act", where she'll co-star with Morgan Freeman? Interesting project... I hope it'll be a commercial and critical hit for Bening (and a new peak in Reiner's career, he has done too many average movies in the last decade, he needs to return at the top of his game).
I just hope she'll also get another powerful role in a new drama too... what about a spot in the cast of "August: Osage County"?. Annette and Meryl Streep... it would be a dream!
And I also would have loved to see her in Polanski's "God of Carnage" as one of the two female leads (I still think the two Broadway actresses, Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis, would have been better choices than Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet for that kind of roles... I really can't see Winslet in that film, I'm afraid it's a miscasting).
After watching The Kids are all Right for a second time, I personally think that Nic is Annette's greatest performance. I'm a fan of her in American Beauty and The Grifters--hated Being Julia--but I usually find her performances a bit affected and highly over analyzed. In TKAAR, she achieved a nuance and subtlety in her character that I've never seen her completely pull off before...
...I'm going to be crucified on this website for saying this, but her acting style significantly reminds me of Laura Linney (who I am not a fan of). As a spectator, I'm always completely aware that I'm watching these two actresses "act", rather than losing themselves in a character... something that Michelle Williams and Nicole Kidman can do with ease (in my opinion).
And in regards to the comparisons to British classical training (with the examples of Dench and Mirren), I find Dench and Mirren to both be brilliant actresses who have made a great ease to motion picture acting.
The academy didn't adore black swan which makes me feel bening still has a shot.
James -- i agree. I just find that Americans (as a collective) are so enamored of the idea of success without training and education and higher learning (you see this ALL the time in what we honor and in the rampant anti-intellectualism of the country where facts are far less important than idealogies) whether that's in reality television or at the Oscars ;) that I think sometimes it's nice to understand that training really can make people masterful.
Stefano -- i hadn't heard this.
Mark -- there is that, yes. I wonder. I think if she wins BAFTA we'll all have to think about it some more ;)
You know, Aaron, I think Bening was terrific in The Grifters and clearly put a lot of thought into the character in American Beauty and given how poorly Ball thought of Carolyn, I thought her performance was pretty remarkable in context. But recently viewing The Kids are all Right really brought her weaknesses to the forefront for me. It doesn't help that she's pretty much actively sabotoged by the screenplay,
While I do think Bening tends to overthink her performances -- I honestly can't stand Being Julia or American Beauty -- when she lets go she really shines. TKAAR is the first performance she's given in a while tat I think deserves a nomination and a win. Unfortunately it's come at the same time as Black Swan. While I still prefer Portman, I hope Bening gets it. (I think Portmania has given away to some backlash.)