Best Actress. Final Notes
Friday, February 18, 2011 at 8:16PM My favorite category didn't disappoint this year, offering up the strongest overall lineup in quite some time. In fact, though these 2010 Best Actress roles won't prove as iconic in the long run as 2006's primo batch, I actually think as an entire range of performances, it might be that year's equal. Would you agree?
Should Natalie Portman be nervous about her chief rival? Or is it all in her head?
The question in terms of who will win is whether Natalie Portman's long lead is going to pay off or if a recent arguable passion / mood to finally crown The Bening has grown enough in the industry to yank that shiny gold man away. If that happens, Natalie, not Annette, will be the one yelling "Interloper!"
But I don't think it's going to happen. The Bening can console herself with the knowledge that she is one of my 33 all time favorite actresses. ;)
THE UPDATED BEST ACTRESS PAGE
includesPOLL "Who Should Win?" and the reader requested "how they got nominated? silliness. Which is actually not ever entirely silly even though it's meant for fun. We all know Oscar is not only about the performances. And if you don't know that, you must have slept through Sandra Bullock's win last year.
Reader Comments (33)
Who's that up top between Penelope and Liz? I know that I know who that is, but I just can't place her and it's driving me crazy.
I'd love for Nicole Kidman to surprise and win this, but if she did I don't even want to imagine the bile that Portman's fans would spew Kidman's way.
JP that is "Nomi Malone" herself from Showgirls.
i think the 2006 nominees have more depth than 2010 nominees.
Oh. So I didn't know it after all. (Not that big on camp.) Thanks.
Kidman seemed pretty absent from awards love the last...many years but now not only is she nominated again but on her way to an Emmy and a Tony, too. Assuming she gets them, she needs a duet with Gaga (sorry Katy Perry) to be an EGOT. #randomhopes
Nathaniel, i think it's time for you to tell us (let's pretend i get to decide on how things should be done :p) which Bening performance you love most. I think it's interesting because i know you love her in at least four films (Kids, American Beauty, Being Julia and Valmont. And Grifters maybe).
For me, 2006 was a good, not great year in terms of Best Actress. Iconic performances, save Winslet (she was fine in Little Children, but I'll bet it's the performance people have the hardest time remembering twenty years from now). I know 2004 contains "Beelzebub's" second Oscar win, so I'm about to speak heresy on this blog, but that might be my favorite lineup of the aughts. Not a stinker among them. 2000 and 2007 might have had a shot, but they're both weighed down qualitatively by Juliette Binoche and Cate Blanchett, respectively (I've softened considerably on Marion Cotillard, if not the film that houses her performance).
The final roster for 2010 is so respectable when you consider all the bad places it could have gone. We could have easily seen Noomi Rapace garner more traction. It seems like early on in the year, the idea of Diane Lane in Secretariat was really being thrust on the narrative, and in the wake of The Blind Side I was worried it might actually happen. Awards season could have just to blanket-nominate a mediocre performance in a bad movie as they sometimes do (Cate Blanchett, anyone?) and Anne Hathaway could have been swept along for the ride for Love and Other Drugs. I'm saying, given all the ample opportunities that 2010 gave the Academy to embarrass themselves in this category, I admire the way they sidestepped it and actually nominated five very worthy and very different performances.
James T -- i wasn't aware I was being secretive... although truth be told I rarely judge things from opposite years against each other. my fav Bening performance is probably The Grifters.
maybe it goes like this ?????????
THE GRIFTERS
AMERICAN BEAUTY
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
BEING JULIA (cooled on this a bit. i love her in it though)
BUGSY
POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE
VALMONT
MARS ATTACKS
those are my favorites. but basically I think she's the shit. so take a big whiff ;)
That's more than i asked for! Thanks for not making me feel annoying. You get to do so many things, especially this time of year that in your place i might think "Jesus, stop wanting more from me" :p
So i guess i must watch Grifters after all. I remember watching it on TV years ago but stopped.
I'm between Being Julia and Kids though i don't remember American Beauty all that well.
But yeah, she is the shit and i'm full of endorph..um endolphines everytime i see her ;)
By the way, i know you liker her in Running with... and Mother and Child so I guess you really liked her in all those movies.
Dear AMPAS, To make up for last year please award best PERFORMANCE by an actress, so please award to Ms Natalie Portman. If you wont to reward Bening, please wait until she delivers a performance worthy - we all know she has several more great ones in her. Thank you.
ON another note 2002 ranks up there as a great list of nominees: Kidman, Moore, Zellweger, Hayek and Lane.
46% performance with Bening:
I would say 26% Warren Beatty and 20% performance.
Natalie:
At least 50 % performance: huge and showy!
I can’t believe Natalie is winning the viewer’s poll. I suspect “the little girl” from True Grit also would win said poll in for supporting. I thought we were pro-veteran actress here? I root for Streep’s 3rd Oscar – not a fan. If anyone has earned the right to have multiple statuettes it’s her – not Walter Brennan, Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman, and most Oscar wins for playing one’s self Katharine Hepburn.
Favorite Bening performance “Postcards from the Edge”
If you leave Jennifer Lawrence aside, this year's line up is HIGH QUALITY and shouts "YOU SEE?" in the already embarrassed faces of the 2009 and 2008 selections.
Stop the Cate Blanchett 2007 reminder please! She's THE winner in 1998, 2004 and 2007 (I'm not there), yet they only managed to award her for her Katharine Hepburn portrayal... and in 2008 they chose to nominate the never changing Lara Croft face instead of her gorgeousness in Ben Button.
"Juno" never managed to get to me and ...
was Kate Winslet really worthy of a nomination back in 2006? Apparent regrets for not giving her the Oscar in 2004 when she actually deserved it? Also speaking of Winslet, I would love it if her next Oscar nomination is well deserved, just thought I'd remind people of that.
Portman wins this year and she deserves it, Kidman and Bening deserve it too.
And 2011 has a potential line up that takes my breath away, I hope there's high quality not only star quality in those upcoming performances from the big guns.
I gave Winslet my gold medal in 2006. She was the Kidman in Rabbit Hole of that race: quiet and understated against a competition of very showy contenders. She is wonderfully subtle, specially when it comes to the sexual aspects of that performance: lust, seduction, fear of being undesirable and then the joy of getting what she wants and finding self realization as a woman. She is a very smart actress and nailed the concept of little children. She plays Sarah as teen, taking chances, discovering things, her own body, sexual pleasure. The role is great, but it wouldn't work without Winslet's masterful sense of carnality, this time delivered in a different tone - instead of the rage of the free spirit, the unease of the unexperienced.
It's a marvelous performance.
My favorite year? It's 2006, with 2004 just behind. I would have snubbed the awful Bening in Being Julia (I am not a hater, since I enjoyed very much her performance in TKAAR - perfect career move, down with the divas, Bening) and nominated my winner, Julie Delpy in Before Sunset... This was an year where I'd love if 3 of 5 (Swank, Winslet and Staunton) nominees had won and it happened! That's how you measure the success of a line-up: how many worthy winner would it make?
I'm always bugged when people bring up Cate Blanchett and Elizabeth!!
Why am I the only one who thinks she was better in the sequel? And that the second film was better than the first?!
My literature/arts teacher agrees with me!
My favorite Bening performance is in that brilliant Kevin Costner movie, Open Range. Warm, delicate, subtle and vanity-free.
cal --- i know Nick likes that performance too. It's like almost the only one i haven't seen. STILL. thanks for the umpteenth reminder.
I like Annette more but I think it's Nathalie's year. And she is deserving, so I won't be bitter if she wins.
I was sad though that Laura Linney did not make your 33 Best Actresses list, even if I couldn't name anyone to be replaced by her :).
Will Win: Portman (GRRRRRRRRR....)
Should Win: La Benning (With La Kidman very, VERY CLOSE)
Should Have been a Contender: Emma Stone (but oh! no 'cause being HYSTERICLY FUNNY is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier than just being Hysterical (yes Nathalie I am talking to u)...
@ cal,
"She was the Kidman in Rabbit Hole of that race: quiet and understated against a competition of very showy contenders."
You're trying to say that Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine" and Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone" have "showy" or even "very showy" performances? Can we even describe Bening's performance as "showy" at all? And then, is "showy" necessarily bad? and is "subtle" a MUST?
What you wrote about Winslet sounds fair and it seems like you really believe in it and I'm OK with that, but since people quite often tend to brag about non-deserving nominations (and I'm no exception) I thought it would be nice to actually remind people of other non-deserving ones.
Also I often detect anti-Cate comments around here and I don't like that! and since to me she's a far better actress and a Universe or Two more versatile than Winslet, I'm gonna be around to remind people of Kate's ugly win in 2008 and of her rather mediocre turns in "Titanic" and "Little Children" ... is that so bad? I know that everyone who likes to observe, judge, criticize or provide opinions (basically everyone around) will understand me and most importantly why I'm doing it.
personally neither Blanchet nor Winslet does it for me...
2010 was a ridiculously rich Best Actress year, on par with '95 I'd say. Of those not nominated, Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, Sally Hawkins, Emma Stone, Lesley Manville, Kim Hye-ja, Paprika Steen and Giovanna Mezzogiorno were fantastic, and the category itself is the best since '96. We've had some very strong fields since, but they're usually lessened by one or two undeserved inclusions. 2006 was quite good, but I found Mirren and Dench to be overestimated, and thought Winslet was miscast in Little Children.
This year, I'd give Portman and Williams a perfect five stars,with four stars for Bening and Lawrence. I've yet to see Kidman, but have heard exclusively excellent things about her.
After 2009, this is much appreciated.
@Yavor I am not saying "showy" or "very showy" means bad. Did you read that i said that was a great year? In my opinion, all 5 five performances were very strong, but people tend to remember the ones that are more obviously great (the word is great, not obvious). Winslet's work that year doesn't have the instant classic appeal of Cruz, Mirren, Streep or Dench. It looks banal, but it's so delicate that if you really dig deeper, you'll find a lot of reasons to love it.
That's what happens to Kidman this year. Her performance is easily more controlled and cold than all her competitors. It's not great because it's that subtle, but being that subtle explains why she doesn't stand a chance against Portman in the race. Bening is really subtle too, but you can see a lot of her weapons, like a killer line delivery (and a screenplay that helps her A LOT).
Blanchett is the version of Meryl Streep that doesn’t cause me to want to commit acts of violence against the general public. That’s why the cult of Streep hates her. She knows the secret because she too is a technician. She knows racking up awards nominations has nothing to do with actually having soul in your craft but a brain that understands what the people want.
Winslet has soul. Hence limitations come with roles that she’s prefect for and roles where she finds herself thinking too much about how alien the character she’s playing is to herself and actual real women she knows.
Natalie Portman is this year’s Sandra Bullock. Only difference is Black Swan is a superior movie over that mind numbing Blind Side.
2006 was a stunning year, wasn't it?
And, yes, "Open Range". It's like "True Grit" was actually excellent.
I've finally seen all the films I would genuinely consider for 2010 awards and I have to say, for the first time in years, my winner was actually nominated for the Academy Awards. Too bad Jennifer Lawrence doesn't stand a chance of winning. She hits on something really authentic in her tight-mouthed performance and is the reason why the film works. If the lead had been too cloying, needy, tough, or standoffish, the film would have been unbearable. Lawrence did everything right in a not-so-showy role and still managed to be nominated for the big prize.
3rtfu11 interesting comparison with Blanchett and Streep. I hadn't seen any similarities but maybe that's because I haven't seen enough Blanchett films.
Streep is at her weakest in Lughnasa, against natural Irish actresses. Streep is intolerable to me in comedy. I try to watch her in dramas and I pick apart her performances much more than any other castmember. It's just something about her. Will say though she was at her most beautiful in Plenty.
I haven't seen Little Children, but I kinda think Maggie Gyllenhaal should've gotten a nom instead of Kate that year.
Blanchett has more range than Winslet, imo, but I don't usually buy her as much in her roles like I do with Winslet.
Finally got to rewatch Winter's Bone and I wasn't as taken with Lawrence the second time around, though I still think it's a solid performance.
I'm shocked as hell to learn Bening was originally Catwoman! I can't decide if I would have liked to have seen that or not.
I simply cannot wait to see the dvd cover for NO STRINGS ATTACHED........'Academy Award winner Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher'. It has a nice ring to it, no ?
It gives me great joy to know that eight days from now I will never have to think about Natalie Portman or BLACK SWAN ever again. Dear Lord .. just let it end!
My poor Annette - Perhaps she can have her name engraved on Beatty's REDS Oscar after he kicks the bucket.
I hope Natalie Portman, who knows she's going to win, will prepare a nice speech.