Chris here, wishing a happy 50th birthday to one of our most underserved contemporary actresses, Emily Watson!
And around this time she’s also celebrating her 20th anniversary for her first Oscar nomination for her debut in Breaking the Waves, a performance that time simply doesn’t diminish...
Watson’s Bess was something of the prototypical Lars von Trier sinner-saint leading lady, but also remains the best. Her performance still blisters, as ferociously alive in her sorrow as she is in her joy, with an electric stare that reveals Bess’s soul while seizing ours. It’s an exhilarating pairing of actress and director, a duet through immense pain that is still defined by its compassion.
She followed quickly with a second Oscar nomination for Hilary and Jackie, but she should have received her third for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love. We remember the film more for Adam Sandler’s enraged Barry, but it’s Watson’s light but equally brilliant touch as Lena that makes the romance work. Part of what calms Barry is how she can chuckle in the face the world’s cruelty and absurdity, and it’s all there in Watson’s cheeky half-smiles and longing eyes. Watson’s biggest insight is how Lena is similarly at ease to Barry’s eccentricities, suggesting an anxiety that’s been soothed by this romantic pairing.
Even though she hasn’t had as many auteur pairings of late, she has never stopped working. But Watson is so much more than the wives and mothers she frequently plays. That signature piercing gaze has always been put to use - Watson can still size up her costars with the slightest gesture or look. One wonders what the likes of Nicole Holofcener or Lisa Cholodenko could do with her talents - her wryness and understated delivery still one of her more underutilized attributes. This year, she’ll be seen in On Chesil Beach and the Eistein miniseries Genius.
Happy 50th Emily Watson!!