Top Ten Best Julianne Moore Performances
Tuesday, January 20, 2015 at 8:00AM 
abstew here for a Tuesday Top Ten. Julianne Moore is known simply as 'God' at The Film Experience. That was Nathaniel's nickname for her even before the site was launched. It's winking hyperbole, sure, but if there's any other actress working today deserving of that moniker, it's this talented redhead who has given us countless transcendent performances for more than 20 years. This past Thursday, Moore earned her 5th career Oscar nomination for her beautiful performance in Still Alice and all signs indicate that this is the year that she will finally take home the gold. Since many are seeing this eventual win as honoring her impressive body of work, I could think of no better time than to look back over Julianne Moore's 10 Previous Best Performances. With such iconic creations as Amber Waves and Cathy Whitaker over the years, Moore's divinity has already been proven, but a golden statue still seems like a worthy offering. All hail, Julianne Moore!
10. Maps to the Stars (2014)
Director: David Cronenberg
The Role: Havana Segrand, a self-centered, ageing Hollywood actress obsessed with playing her dead movie star mother in a film.
Awards: Cannes Film Festival Best Actress, Golden Globe Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy nomination
Why this Performance: I can't say that I'm a fan of the film as a whole (too many storylines and tonal shifts that seem unfocused and chaotic), but amid the chaos is Moore's livewire, crazy-committed performance. For an actress that has been working as long as Moore has, it can sometimes be difficult to surprise your audience with something they haven't seen before. But with Havana, Moore is able to suppress her natural intelligence and compassion as an actress by playing an actress so unlike her: needy, vapid, dim-witted, and something Moore could never relate to, untalented. In scene after scene we see Moore in unflattering positions (including one on the toilet that I'm sure most Oscar-nominated actors would balk at), but perhaps the most shocking thing about Moore in the film is that even after all these years, there's an excitement in knowing that she can still astonish us.
9. Short Cuts (1993)
Director: Robert Altman
The Role: Marian Wyman, one of several interconnected characters in Altman's film based on the short stories of Raymond Carver
Awards: Independent Spirit Award Best Supporting Actress nomination, Golden Globe special award Best Ensemble, Venice Film Festival Special Volpi Cup for the cast
Why this Performance: Although she began her career playing twin sisters Frannie and Sabrina Hughes (one was good and the other was evil - naturally the evil one had a British accent) on the soap opera As the World Turns (for which she won a daytime Emmy), in 1993, Moore was still not very well-known in the world of film. Short Cuts was her first time working with a legendary director like Altman and Moore was hardly the most famous name among a cast of over 22 principal characters that included Lily Tomlin, Jack Lemmon, Robert Downey, Jr., Jennifer Jason Leigh, amid others. But the only thing that anyone really remembers from the film today is Julianne Moore. Virtually walking away with the whole movie with a single scene, she spends a lengthy argument with her husband (Matthew Modine), confessing to having an affair, all while completely nude from the waist down. Exposing herself, emotionally and physically, Moore displayed a fearlessness and willingness to trust her director that has become a hallmark of her acting.
8. The End of the Affair (1999)
Director: Neil Jordan
The Role: Sarah Miles, a married woman in England that starts an affair with a writer named Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) during WWII. She abruptly stops seeing him for unknown reasons, until the final half of the film reveals the heartbreaking reason.
Awards: Academy Award Best Actress nomination, Golden Globe Best Actress in a Drama nomination, BAFTA award Best Actress nomination, SAG award Outstanding Performance by an Female Actor in a Lead Role nomination
Why this Performance: For the first half of the film, we see Sarah through Bendrix's point of view and she is alluring, but remains mysterious and enigmatic. Once we discover her diary and her feelings are expressed to the audience, the very same scenes we've previously seen suddenly contain greater depth, pulsating with repression, regret, and longing. It is to Moore's great credit that the scenes are able to play both ways so effectively and it's a performance that gains even more insight and subtlety upon subsequent viewings. Moore, who suffers so beautifully on screen, has never been so classically romantic as in this film and the aching love story fits her well. As she says lines like, "Love doesn't end just because we don't see each other. People go on loving God, don't they, all their lives without seeing him.", it is impossible not to swoon.
7. Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)
Director: Louis Malle
The Role: Yelena from Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, the younger second wife of a retired professor that returns to the estate of his first wife. She finds herself the object of a few men's affection. Moore also plays herself in the film as well as it was shot in the New Amsterdam theatre as a filmed dress rehearsal of the play.
Awards: Boston Society of Film Critics Best Actress
Why this Performance: Moore, along with the company of actors in the film that included Wallace Shawn as Vanya and Brooke Smith as her step-daughter, Sonya, began workshops on Chekhov's play for over 4 years, dissecting the text and examining the motivations of the characters, before committing it to film. Moore has said that working on the play all those years was one of the most fundamentally important experiences of her career. It allowed her to delve deeply within a classic work, but it also allowed her time to develop and strengthen as an actress. And her work in the film shows the confidence of an actress coming into her abilities as she challenges and realizes what she can achieve. It's not hard to see why so many of the character's fall under her spell. And with the bare bones staging, casual dress, and updated translation from David Mamet, Moore and the company are able to give authentic, lived-in, and modern performances. Proving that the works of the Russian playwright still speak to audiences today.
6. The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
The Role: Jules Allgood, one half of a married lesbian couple (Annette Bening plays her spouse), that starts an affair with the biological father (Mark Ruffalo) of her two children.
Awards: Golden Globe Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy nomination, BAFTA Best Actress nomination
Why this Performance: Julianne Moore loves to cry. There's even a video on youtube documenting the hundreds of cinematic tears she's shed over the years. So it can sometimes be easy to forget that she actually does appear in comedies. But her best and most natural comedic performance is in this film about present-day relationships and what makes up a family. As the free-spirited Jules, she plays a woman whose life is at a crossroads. She's never had an actual career and starts to feel a little purposeless when her oldest daughter goes off to college. She finds herself attracted to the man that was used as the sperm donor for her children perhaps because of the present strain she feels in her marriage, but also because she's unsure of where her life is headed. Moore's performance has a loosness and playfulness, but is also grounded in the realistic relationships she builds with all of the other actors. Bening and Ruffalo were both nominated for Oscars for the film, but their performances wouldn't have worked as well without Moore at the center.
5. The Hours (2002)
Director: Stephen Daldry
The Role: Laura Brown, a depressed housewife in the 1950s that feels suffocated by the life that society has chosen for her.
Awards: Academy Award Best Supporting Actress nomination, BAFTA award Best Supporting Actress nomination, SAG award Outstanding Perfomance by an Female Actor in a Supporting Role nomination, Berlin International Film Festival Best Actress (shared with Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman), Los Angeles Film Critics Best Actress (along with Far From Heaven)
Why this Performance: So often with characters that suffer depression, the performance can feel dull and unengaging. Because it is such an inner struggle, too often that battle becomes too internal to convey effectively on screen. But perhaps because Laura is never able to fully indulge in her sadness, having to put on a brave face for her son and husband, Moore is able to bring the character alive. Her Laura Brown is like a wild animal kept in a cage, her spirit and sexuality suppressed so much that in Moore's sorrowful, still face we see the screaming rage longing to break free. She spends most of her screentime opposite the young actor that plays her son and Moore's work with the boy effortlessly portrays Laura's fears of being a mother, so unsure of how she became responsible for the well-being of this tiny person - at the same time another one is growing inside her, like an alien. She is stifled in the shackles of conventionality, but unlike Kidman's Woolf who gets a big, showy outburst to voice her frustrations, Moore's more delicate performance quietly suffers.
4. Magnolia (1999)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
The Role: Linda Partridge, the pill-popping, expletive-spewing, trophy wife of a dying older man. She is one of several characters whose lives are intertwined in Anderson's sprawling masterpiece.
Awards: SAG award Outstanding Performance by an Female Actor in a Supporting Role nomination, National Board of Review Best Supporting Actress (along with A Map to the World and An Ideal Husband)
Why this Performance: In a film that contains a biblical rain storm of frogs falling from the sky, the real force of nature that should not be reckoned with is Moore's explosive performance as Linda Partridge. It's in two key scenes that Moore took a small supporting role and made it unforgettable. First, in the therapist's office where she confesses her infidelities to only then break down in a tirade of every varying line reading possible of "Shut the fuck up". The other, her legendary breakdown in a pharmacy where she tells off two nosy and suspicious pharmacist, "I come in here, you don't know me, you don't know who I am, what my life is, you have the balls, the indecency to ask me a question about my life?" Moore is ferocious, shooting out the words with disdain, distorting her face and mouth to look like a snarling predator. But beneath the anger is a vulnerability masking her pain, as Linda realizes too late that she actually has deeper feelings than she thought.
3. Boogie Nights (1997)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
The Role: Amber Waves (real name: Maggie), 70s porn star and surrogate mother to her misfit family.
Awards: Academy Award Best Supporting Actress nomination, Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress nomination, SAG award Outstanding Perfomance by an Female Actor in a Supporting Role nomination, Los Angeles Film Critics awards Best Supporting Actress
Why this Performance: Playing a character like an actress in the porn industry could very easily become a caricature of a bimbo or immediately turn into camp. But as Amber, Julianne Moore quickly finds the heart and humanity of the character, turning her into the loving center of the film as she endearingly tries to care for and protect all the other messed-up people around her - despite her inability to take care of herself. Amber seems to be trying to right the wrong of not being able to be there for her actual child, her lifestyle and dependency on cocaine making her an unfit mother, but it seems her disappointment in herself only causes her to further spiral out of control. It's a moving portrait of a lost soul whose neediness to be loved endures her to our own affections. Moore's complex portrayal should've brought her first Oscar win, but the Academy chose another sex worker with more style than substance and one not as beautifully messy as Amber.
2. Far From Heaven (2002)
Director: Todd Haynes
The Role: Cathy Whitaker, a wife and mother whose perfect-seeming 1950s world is turned upside down when her husband can't suppress his homosexuality. Cathy finds unexpected solace with a compassionate outsider.
Awards: Academy Award Best Actress nomination, Golden Globe Best Actress in a Drama nomination, SAG award Outstanding Performance by an Female Actor in a Lead Role nomination, Independent Spirit Award Best Female Lead Win, National Board of Review Best Actress, Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup Best Actress and Audience Award Best Actress, Los Angeles Film Critics Best Actress (along with The Hours)
Why this Performance: In Todd Haynes' homage to the Douglas Sirk melodramas of the 50s and 60s, Moore's stylized turn as the idyllic Cathy is both nod to the past and original, modern day creation. Not wanting to parody a style of acting that many see as overly indulgent and emotionally sappy, Moore's work is precise and perfectly calculated, embracing the larger-than-life sentiment, but still remaining earthy and real. As the film progresses and the stilted perfection begins to collapse and Cathy's world begins to shatter, Moore lets each of the cracks affect her demeanor as Cathy slowly begins to emerge as her own woman. Not caring what her neighbors will say or what has been deemed proper, Cathy begins to be guided by her heart for the first time ever. Moore, who has always been open and available as an actress, finds new levels of sensitivity in the more intimate scenes of the film and has a tender chemistry with Dennis Haysbert as the man that awakens her yearning. Because we become so invested, it is even more affecting when the inevitable outcome reaches its bittersweet conclusion.
1. Safe (1995)
Director: Todd Haynes
The Role: Carol White, a privileged, upper middle class wife that develops a strange, untreatable aversion to her environment
Awards: Independent Spirit Award Best Female Lead nomination
Why this Performance: Julianne Moore owes a great deal to her collaboration as muse to director Todd Haynes (both performances topping this list!) and her work in this film in particular (frequently cited as one of the best and most influential independent films of the 90s). It was this performance that made her career, making people take notice of her and allowing her to breakthrough to the next level, as an actress whose work garners Oscar attention. It is the quintessential Julianne Moore performance and she is, quite simply, astonishing in it. When asked what she does, Carol's hesitant reply is more of a question than an answer, "I'm a housew - a homemaker?" Carol is so unsure of herself that even her very surroundings take advantage of her frailty as she becomes allergic to... well, it's not clear - everything and nothing. It's as if one day Carol's body just couldn't take the monotony and tedium of her existence. As her condition worsens, Moore disappears further and further into the character (the already thin actress actually lost 20 pounds while filming, giving Carol an added fragility) and it all leads up to a devastating last scene that can be interpreted as a final acceptance, but is more likely the collapse of a crumbling psyche, clinging to hope.
Which of Julianne Moore's performances do you rank as her best? Let us know in the comments.
Reader Comments (64)
I've always thought that her performance in The End of the Affair is meh.
What about A Single Man? I love that performance....
no one does 50s housewives better than Julianne
I need "Maps to the Stars" in my life. Yesterday.
1. Far from Heaven, the rest in no particular order (though I haven't seen everything in her filmography).
Boogie Nights
What Maisie Knew
A Single Man
Children of Men
Magnolia
Safe
The Hours
I am an outlier in my opinion of The Kids are Alright; thought Ruffalo and the kids (Wasikowska and Hutcherson) were better than Bening and Moore; something about the leads' performances that didn't ring true for me, but I really liked the movie overall.
Great list! When she wins the Oscar it will be for much more than Alice Howland.
Oh my god, the family's last name in The Kids Are All Right is Allgood? Strong performances in that movie but ugh.
1. Safe (1995) (Oscar)
2. Far from Heaven (2002) (Oscar)
3. Vanya on 42nd Street (1994) (nominated)
4. Boogie Nights (1997) (Oscar)
5. The End of the Affair (1999) (nominated)
6. The Hours (2002) (nominated)
7. Savage Grace (2008) (nominated)
8. Magnolia (1999) (nominated)
9. The Kids Are All Right (2010) (nominated)
10, Short Cuts (1993) (nominated)
11. A Single Man (2009)
12. An Ideal Husband (1999)
Have not seen "Still Alice" and "Maps to the Stars"
That all looks about right. The top 4, one can quibble on the order, but I'd say that's THE top four, and all in a seven-year span. Bless Todd Haynes and PTA, as well.
My ticket to Julianne Moore disciple-hood was receiving those four performances (and Short Cuts too) in my movie-formative teens and early 20s. Who else was even coming close at that time?
Saw Still Alice this weekend and by God is she good in it! What an incredible actress, and I love this list for showing how good she is at adding different, interesting shading to similar types of characters, especially sterotypes/archetypes like "repressed (50s) housewife", "trophy wife", and "porn star". One of the reason I so loved The Kids Are All Right was the combined smarts of her and Bening - two of the most thoughtful actresses working today, and they so rarely get screen partners that feel worthy of them. Thankfully, they pushed each other to great heights - I only wish that Julianne could have gotten some awards attention for it. She's just as good as Bening.
1. Boogie Nights
2. The Hours
3. Far From Heaven
4. safe
5. The Kids are All Right
6. Magnolia
7. A Single Man
8. Savage Grace
9. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
10. The End of the Affair
And looking at this list I realize I have not seen Vanya on 42nd Street. Should remedy that.
What a great article and write-up of this most beloved of actresses! Hard to argue with your Top 4, and it's nice to see her work in The Kids Are All Right recognised here, as I agree she's really rather wonderful in that. I wonder if she'd campaigned hard in Supporting, she'd have had traction to win Oscar that year, although I know the very suggestion of category fraud on this site will earn a slap on the wrists!
I'm not hugely sold on The End of the Affair (her English accent isn't wonderful in that), so I'd perhaps switch that out with Blindness, a film that will likely be forgotten on her resumé, but which she exhibits a fortitude that's not quite the same as anything she's done elsewhere.
She is not good in The Hours and The End of the Affair, IMO. Deborah Kerr will never be beat as Sarah.
I'd put Still Alice and A Single Man in this list. Boogie Nights is my clear winner, one of the best 5 supporting performances of all time.
My list would be like this
1 Boogie Nights
2 Far From Heaven
3 Safe
4 Magnolia
5 Short Cuts
6 Maps to The Stars
7 Game Change
8 Savage Grace
9 A Single Man
10 Still Alice
That performance in Magnolia is one of the greatest ever, in my opinion! Just awesome.
Ok.. I'm gonna say it. While I love her performances in Far From Heaven (actually in love with this one), Boogie Nights, and Safe, I've always felt that Julianne Moore has always been pretty uneven. Her acting is far from cliched, it is very much her own. But, I can't help but notice how she fails to register, come across the screen with some of her roles- especially The Hours. I think that performance, and the one in The Kids are All Right are way overrated.
Mike -- agreed somewhat on those two turns. And I do think, despite my intense love, that she's been straight up bad a couple of times, but its best not to dwell !
My top ten.
1. Boogie Nights
2. Far From Heaven
3. Safe
4. Magnolia
5. Maps to the Stars/Still Alice (still trying to decide which is better ;)
7. Vanya on 42nd Street
8. Savage Grace
9 The Big Lebowski
10. The End of the Affair
One subset of her performances that I adore are the characters that are, for lack of a better word, slightly stupid: I'd place the characters in "Cookie's Fortune," "The Kids Are All Right," and "Boogie Nights" in this category. She does this thing with her eyes where it's as though a film of ignorance intervenes between her and the rest of the world. She always makes me laugh in these roles. Just wonderful. (I haven't seen her Sarah Palin, but I imagine that would be a perfect fit for this mode.)
I found out what a gay person was when I saw Far from Heaven. I loved Julianne's performance, making me feel being gay was not bad, though some people may feel hurt, it was ok.
I saw Far From Heaven for the first time a couple months ago and it just blew me away. The character stayed with me, wondering what became of her... sad.
Boogie Nights is still my favorite of her performances. The fact that she lost the Oscar to Kim Basinger that year is one of the great travesties. L.A. Confidential is in my Top 10 of all time, but Kim's Oscar was clearly meant to reward the film (and the fact that she adequately played the part). From that film alone, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Danny Devito, Kevin Spacey, and, especially, James Cromwell all deserved more credit than Kim. Juianne Moore was incredible in Boogie Nights, and, by all rights, we should now be talking about whether Still Alice should be her second (or third or fourth...) Oscar instead of her first.
I'm glad Kim Basinger has an Oscar. I'm glad Julianne Moore has gone Oscarless for so long. When people become too initiated in the mainstream they can become so boring.
I prefer great actresses who have brushes with Oscar (Tilda, Nicole, Juli, Marion) to Oscar perennials who have brushes with greatness (Meryl, Amy, Cate, Kate).
My ten favorites (given the severe gaps in my viewing) – I just love what she does with all of these roles:
Far From Heaven
Boogie Nights
Short Cuts
Magnolia
The Hours
A Single Man
The Kids Are All Right
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
The Big Lebowski
I'm Not There
As an actressexual, I am miserably ashamed to admit I am way behind on this actress' filmography. From this list I've only seen Far From Heaven, The Hours, Magnolia and Boogie Nights. I think she is remarkable in three of these (and if NIcole hadn't been so brilliant in 2002 I would have voted for Julianne). But I have to say, I thoroughly loathe Magnolia, which lifts pretentiousness to a whole new level. And Julianne is not that great in it. I truly believe she doesn't need to say cock 30 times. But even the greatest of actresses couldn't make that character work.
I still have most of her acclaimed 90s work to see, including Short Cuts, Vanya and Safe.
1. Far from Heaven
2. Maps to the Stars
3. Still Alice
4. Boogie Nights
5. The Kids Are Alright
6. Magnolia
7. The Hours
8. The End of the Affair
9. Savage Grace
10. An Ideal Husband
I would have given her Oscar nomination for the first nine, and wins for Boogie Nights, Far from Heaven and Maps to the Stars.
It's strange to compare Kidman and Moore in 2002. Moore was way way way way better and Kidman had a nose and some strange accent. Moore wouldn't win my personal Oscar - Hello Isabelle Huppert - but she was like 100x better than the other 4 nominees. Nobody would a have a chance in that line up if the Oscars were fair. If Moore weren't nominated, Kidman still shouldn't win - Lane was better.
I haven't seen everything in her filmography but Far from Heaven would be my number one with Boogie Nights probably second though I didn't care for the film.
These wouldn't fall under my favorites but I remember her working her way up and how she stood out in the smaller films she made and was often the best thing in them. Films like Roommates, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and the otherwise wretched I'll Take Manhattan mini-series.
joel, I'm so glad you mentioned THTRTC. Talk about stealing a film. Boy, did she grab your attention in that one. What a fascinating character, if shortlived.
cal, Nicole deserved that Oscar. No doubt about it. Sometimes it's the eerily quiet performances that wield the most power. Lane would have been my No. 3.
That's where I first saw and 22 yrs later she is wowing me again,I know some say Streep i say Moore Best working actress today.
1. Safe
2. Magnolia
3. Boogie Nights
4. Still Alice
5. Maps to the Stars
6. A Single Man
7. The End of the Affair
8. The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio
9. The Hours
10. Vanya
11. Game Change
Special mention for adeptly and kindly stepping into Rebecca DeMornay's greenhouse blender.
Eek. I Left out Far from Heaven. That goes at #5.
Safe
Far From Heaven
Maps To The Stars
Magnolia
The Hours
Boogie Nights
Vanya
The End Of The Affair
Savage Grace
Still Alice
The Kids Are All Right, Short Cuts, Game Change, An Ideal Husband, A Single Man, Cookie's Fortune, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, Chole, The Big Lebowski
SHE. IS. THE. BEST.
Thank you. There's a strange backlash to her of late from people who don't know her work. Fools.
Far from Heaven and Boogie Nights are my favorites. I would have thought A Single Man would rank, over The Kids are Alright or The Hours at any rate.
I've never seen Safe! Is it streaming anywhere?
@abstew I'd be interested to know where you'd place Still Alice on (or off) this list.
Great list, though I would swap her performance in The Kids Are All Right for her work in A Single Man (the only element of the former film that appealed to me was Yaya DaCosta). She has a stellar filmography and I think that people will be talking about her more than most of her contemporaries in the future.
The first time Julianne Moore ever registered in my mind was in her small role as a doctor in "The Fugitive." She made such a strong impression that I thought she would be in the film even more, but she just had that one memorable scene.
I was planning on doing exactly this elsewhere online, but I'm so jealous of everyone seeing Still Alice and Maps to the Stars before me! I'd be curious to see Nick's list since he mentioned Still Alice wouldn't be as high on his list, though he liked it - makes me wonder what made the cut. Mine before 2014:
1. Far From Heaven
2. The Hours
3. Vanya on 42nd Street
4. A Single Man
5. Boogie Nights
6. The Kids Are All Right
7. Game Change, since it's technically a movie
8. The End of the Affair
9. Magnolia
10. Savage Grace
I liked her in Short Cuts and Safe but not as much as others. Her turns in Children of Men and The Big Lebowski are great punches in those movies, too. And how did I already forget about her in What Maisie Knew? She was great in that too.
BD - I hate to report that Still Alice does not rank among her best performances for me. she is solid, but is hampered by the unremarkable script which keeps making her play slight variations on the same note.
I originally had Game Change on here, but decided to just stick with theatrical releases. otherwise it would be here, you betcha.
And there's always been something off about her performance in A Single Man for me. there seems to be a disconnect with how the character is written and how she plays it. A lot of it is her accent and voice which just seem way too posh and polished for Charley.
agree with Nathaniel that she has given some bad performances (well, who hasn't) and unfortunately her work with her husband rank as some of her worst performances (yikes. she is sooo forced and unwatchable in Trust the Man). but this post was definitely written as a celebration of Julie's work and so glad that everyone is sharing what performances of hers are their favorites!
I have never been more uncomfortable watching a film than during Savage Grace.I can't even decide if it was good or bad, but I do know that Julianne Moore was acting her ass off. Too much maybe? Maybe, but I'm not willing to go back and find out.
JMoore is that rare creature. A character actress allowed to play leads. Part of why Far from Heaven, The Hours and Game Change were so successful are that you totally buy her as the housewife down the street. A beautiful housewife to be sure, but you don't have to stretch to get it. You never read of her de-glamming or needing to de-glam for a role which is so often listed as proof of an actresses ability and bravery. She is also one of those rare persons who photographs better than she looks in person. The camera truly loves her.
It's hard to argue with this list - all of these performances are golden and the top 4 are absolutely spot-on. I'd have found room for her indelible work The Big Lebowski in there too - Julianne has heartbreak sewn-up, but she makes comedy her mistress with such style when she chooses to. Maude is one of the most hilarious concoctions in the Coen canon and that race involves some stiff competition. I haven't seen Still Alice yet, but at this point that Oscar is so desperately overdue I don't care what she gets it for because I don't think she's ever turned-in a less-than-stellar performance.
I still remember the crazy redhead from The Hand That Rocks The Cradle driving like a maniac with that cigarette going all the time. She stole the show from the two leading actresses for me. I never forgot her and have enjoyed watching her ever since. I haven't seen all of her movies, but I can agree with this entire list and she is always a welcome presence.
And Kidman's win over Moore is a far greater "theft" than Paltrow over Blanchett, but I know around here that Kidman, though not "God," must be at least The Holy Ghost. :-)
For me....
1. Safe
2. Boogie Nights
3. Far from Heaven
4. A Single Man
5. Magnolia
6. Maps to the Stars
7. The End of the Affair
8. I'm Not There
9. The Hours (not a fan of the film but loved her performance)
10. Short Cuts
Now this is a top ten we can ALL get behind, yes?
That top four is just flawless. Golden, cream of the crop, best-of-the-year, critical favorites, enduring showcases, masterclass, essay-inspiring, chapter-devoted, and straight-up basic actress-envying performances.
Recently, I love what Dave Holmes said about her Boogie Nights performance:
And even though I adore her in The Hours, I take issue with how that performance was perceived when it came out. People were basically all, "Oh she's doing the '50s housewife thing again, this time in the Supporting category." I think the performance is amazing but almost everything surrounding it, from the category placement to it being an unnecessary second nomination to her co-star robbing her blind left a bad taste in my mouth. In any case, we could sit here and talk about that 2002 Best Actress category for days and how I still consider my first official heartbreak from the Academy.
May Havana Segrand infect the masses when that movie finally comes out! She's incredible in it, ya'll.
1. Safe
2. Far from Heaven
3. Boogie Nights
I think it's hard to dispute that holy trinity.
4. Still Alice
5. Magnolia
6. Maps to the Stars
7. Vanya on 42nd Strret
8. Don Jon
9. The Big Lebowski
10. Cookie's Fortune
God she's wonderful!
And unlike half the people on here i find her performance in Kids Are All Right morbidly underrated. I even think that was my favourite performance of 2010. It ranks right up there with her best work, which for me is actually impossible to rank but also includes
Safe, Vanya on 42nd Street, Sarah Palin, The End of the Affair, Far from Heaven, The Hours and Boogie Nights.
I would save the potential 10th spot for Still Alice - dying to see it! - though I'd love to also include one of her undersung supporting but characteristically pitch perfect performances, like Cookie's Fortune or Ideal Husband or Single Man.
And that's still a list that would criminally lack space for Magnolia, Short Cuts, Maps to the Stars and What Maisie Knew.
The woman is a legend. Or more like - you're absolutely right - God.
I still haven't decided if MAPS TO THE STARS should count as 2014 or 2015. it's KILLING ME WITH AWARDAGE INDECISION
Beautiful List! I first found The Film Experience in the winter of '02. Nathaniel was the first person I remember calling Nicole's win (he also preferred her performance over Julianne's in FAR FROM HEAVEN). I had been so certain it was Julianne's time. That double loss still hurts.
As for her Top Ten, in my opinion:
1) FAR FROM HEAVEN - PERFECT IN EVERY WAY!
2) THE HOURS - I've never seen someone psychologically unravel so authentically onscreen before. Her aging and the vocal work required in her last seen with Meryl is genius. I would have had no problem with her taking both Oscars at the 2003 ceremony.
3) BOOGIE NIGHTS - Genius. That scene where she agrees to be Rollergirl's mother is otherworldly.
4) STILL ALICE - A wonderful and entirely Oscar-worthy performance in a lovely yet flawed movie.
5) COOKIE'S FORTUNE - That half-smile on the patio as the phone rings at the end. Like Amber Waves, she gives the best bad actress line readings.
6) SAFE - It's ALL been said.
7) SAVAGE GRACE - She is fearless; America's Isabelle Huppert.
8) A MAP OF THE WORLD - "Don't tell Dan I smoked!" It HURTS!
9) SHORT CUTS
10) END OF THE AFFAIR
I feel compelled to acknowledge her excellent work in MAGNOLIA, VANYA ON 42ND STREET, HANNIBAL (she succeeded at an impossible job!), A SINGLE MAN, BIG LEBOWSKI, DON JON, WHAT MAISIE KNEW, GAME CHANGE, and BLINDNESS.
Also, her guest spot on SNL's "Delicious Dish" as the cult member was amazing - after LEBOWSKI, it's my favorite comic turn of hers.
I am a shameless fan boy, and I'm so excited to watch this cake walk to the Oscars! She is one of the few who truly deserves a make-up Oscar, but she also happens to have given the Best Leading Actress Performance this year, so it ain't a make-up Oscar.
After Cate in BLUE JASMINE, this will be two consecutive years I agree with Oscar's Best Actress - this has not happened once in my lifetime! I'm thrilled to see this happen in what is unquestionably the Academy's most consistently corrupt category!
Ryan -- i must correct! I did not prefer Nicole to Julianne that year for Best Actress (i predicted it but did not prefer it). My medals were
Gold - Julianne Moore
Silver - Isabelle Huppert
Bronze - Diane Lane
with the other nominees being Nicole Kidman (The Hours) and Samantha Morton (Morvern Callar). I did however think Kidman was best in show in The Hours and Moore's The Hours performance is her single most acclaimed performance that doesn't do a ton for me (though I think it's good, don't get me wrong)