Ahead of "The Life Ahead," Actressing in Subtitles in the 2010s
Wednesday, November 11, 2020 at 2:30PM by Juan Carlos Ojano
Cinema legend Sophia Loren makes a potential comeback with this year’s The Life Ahead this Friday on Netflix after more than a decade of career hiatus. Loren made history as the first Oscar winner for a performance not in the English language for 1961’s Italian film Two Women. Her second Best Actress nomination came with 1964’s Marriage Italian Style. If nominated for The Life Ahead, Loren would break the record for the longest gap between nominations with 56 years (though she'd only tie the record for most nominations for subtitled performances since her frequent co-star Marcello Mastroianni holds that record with three).
Loren is part of the longstanding tradition of Best Actress nominations for performances not in the English language (it happens far more often there than in other acting categories). Whether through sheer talent, strategic campaigning, and/or the dearth of quality roles for actresses in Hollywood, these performances overcame the one-inch barrier of subtitles and ended up with Academy recognition...
Here is the list of subtitled lead actress performances nominated before the year 2010:
Liv Ullmann in The Emigrants
- 1960: Melina Mercouri - Never on Sunday (in Greek)
- 1961: Sophia Loren - Two Women (in Italian) *WINNER*
- 1964: Sophia Loren - Marriage Italian Style (in Italian)
- 1966: Anouk Aimée - A Man and a Woman (in French)
- 1966: Ida Kaminska - The Shop on the Main Street (in Slovak)
- 1972: Liv Ullmann - The Emigrants (in Swedish)
- 1975: Isabelle Adjani - The Story of Adele H. (in French)
- 1976: Marie-Christine Barrault - Cousin, Cousine (in French)
- 1976: Liv Ullmann - Face to Face (in Swedish)
- 1978: Ingrid Bergman - Autumn Sonata (in Swedish)
- 1989: Isabelle Adjani - Camille Claudel (in French)
- 1992: Catherine Deneuve - Indochine (in French)
- 1998: Fernanda Montenegro - Central Station (in Brazilian Portuguese)
- 2004: Catalina Sandino Moreno - Maria Full of Grace (in Colombian Spanish)
- 2006: Penélope Cruz - Volver (in Spanish)
- 2007: Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose (in French)*WINNER*
AND NOW THE 2010s...
While we await the global release of The Life Ahead, here are the women who generated awards conversation this past decade for their subtitled performances, though only four of them were lucky enough to receive an Oscar nomination.
2010: Noomi Rapace was a stealth candidate for her work as hacker Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In the film, she crafts a performance of transgressive sharpness and mystery. While she ultimately missed out on an Oscar nomination, she did get BAFTA and Critics’ Choice nominations for the film. Ironically, the American adaptation of the same novel led to a nomination for Rooney Mara the following year. Elsewhere in prestige conversations of the time, Oscar winner Tilda Swinton won praise for her performance as a conflicted woman in Luca Guadagnino’ sensuously elegant I Am Love. Donning a Russian accent while speaking in Italian, Swinton deliciously traces the slow growth (or demise) of her character as she falls into an adulterous relationship with her son’s friend. But the film ultimately provoked more conversation about Best Foreign Language Film (Italy did not submit it) and received a surprise Costume Design nomination at the Oscars.
2011: Oscar winning French actress Juliette Binoche had won Best Actress at Cannes the previous summer for her work in Certified Copy, directed by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. In the film, released in 2011, Binoche masterfully straddles the line between real-life and roleplay as the film explores the conversations of a couple within a single day. While an outlier in the Oscar hullabaloo that year, Binoche did get a few citations in some regional film critics organizations. The film also became an instant critical hit and is widely considered to be one of the best films of the 2010s.
2012: French legend EMMANUELLE RIVA got her first and only Oscar nomination as a renowned pianist who suffers from a stroke in Michael Haneke’s Amour, also nominated for Best Picture. Together with fellow veteran Jean-Louis Trintignant, Riva gives a piercing portrayal of love in the face of deterioration, both physical and mental. However, Riva wasn't the only major contender for a non-English language performance. Oscar winner Marion Cotillard was poised to return to the Oscar race for her role as a trainer in a marine park who ends up with amputated legs after an accident at work. It is haunting work from Cotillard (aided by her chemistry with co-star Matthias Schoenaerts). Cotillard snagged Critics’ Choice, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and SAG nominations so she probably came close to the Oscar nod.
2013: While the subtitled contenders this year were long shots at best, they had their own fanfare during awards season. Adèle Exarchopoulos is the heartbreaking core of the controversial queer romance Blue is the Warmest Color, giving a performance of harrowing rawness alongside co-star Lea Seydoux. Meanwhile, recent Oscar nominee Bérénice Bejo won Best Actress at Cannes for her intense work in Asghar Farhadi’s The Past, Iran’s submission for Foreign Language Film. Paulina Garcia did terrific work in Sebastián Lelio’s comedy Gloria, Chile’s submission. The film would ultimately have an American remake with Julianne Moore in Garcia’s role.
2014: After missing in 2012 despite all those precursors, MARION COTILLARD returned to the Oscars with a surprise nomination as a depressed factory worker fighting for her job in the Dardennes’ gritty drama Two Days, One Night, Belgium’s submission that year. Cotillard overcame the film’s lack of a Foreign Language Film nomination, minimal precursor support, and potential vote-splitting with another acclaimed performance from her that year in The Immigrant. How'd she manage that? By delivering a performance of sheer force and brutal honesty. But she wasn't the only viable contender that year; if Canada’s submission Mommy had done better (which it should have), we might have seen more buzz for Anne Dorval’s passionate portrayal of a mother of a mentally challenged teenage boy, showing motherhood and all its ups and downs. It was exciting work in a year that was unfairly called "weak" for actressing.
2015: The closest that we had for a subtitled contender that year was Nina Hoss for her searing portrayal of a Holocaust survivor in the German drama Phoenix. Unrecognizable to her husband after a facial reconstruction surgery, Hoss’ Nelly Lenz sets out to determine if her own husband had betrayed her. Her performance demonstrated acute control in mining the unpleasant journey of the character. It is also the kind of work that requires patience from the viewers; with minimal showy scenes throughout the film, it all culminates in an ending that is both deeply unsettling and unconventionally moving. Gathering a few mentions from critics’ awards, Hoss’ work in the film remains acclaimed to this day.
2016: After being ignored for her tremendous work for the past few decades, ISABELLE HUPPERT finally received her first Oscar nomination for the twisted thriller Elle. As a video game company CEO on the hunt to find her rapist, Huppert expertly manages the film’s ever-shifting tones, from its dark psychosexual currents to its pitch black comedy. Huppert also had a fascinating awards run that year: she won Best Actress from the Golden Globes, Gotham, and Independent Spirit Awards while she earned major critics’ awards not only for Elle, but for her work in Mia Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come. Meanwhile, Sandra Hüller became a critics’ favorites for her work in the epic-sized comedy Toni Erdmann, Germany’s nominee in the Foreign Language category.
2017: Diane Kruger started her awards run with a Best Actress win at Cannes for her work in Germany’s In the Fade. As the woman who lost her husband and son to a hate crime perpetrated by neo-Nazis, Kruger is powerful as she forges into a dark path towards justice. While the film missed an Oscar nomination for Foreign Language Film, it did manage the Golden Globe win. The film that did win the Oscar in that category was Chile’s A Fantastic Woman, featuring Daniela Vega’s moving portrayal of grief compounded with transphobia. We are yet to see a trans person nominated for an acting Oscar, but Vega was arguably the highest profile contender to date in Best Actress.
2018: One of the most delightful awards runs in recent memory, first-time actress YALITZA APARICIO was nominated for her performance as a soft-spoken housemaid in Alfonso Cuarón’s Best Picture frontrunner (for a time) Roma. Anchoring a humongous auteurial vessel, Aparicio occupies the space on the screen with vivid naturalism that makes the most mundane of human activities gripping. However, Roma wasn't the only non-English language film that went big that year at the Oscars. Poland’s Cold War posed as a potential spoiler in Cinematography and Foreign Language Film. The film's leading actress Joanna Kulig played a singer caught in a tumultuous romance. Kulig portrays her character with evocative abandon that raises the stakes of this passionate romance. It was quite thrilling to see Roma and Cold War go head-to-head that year.
2019: One of the most acclaimed non-English language film of the year, Portrait of a Lady on Fire lit the screen with a high intensity romance and immediately inspired a devout fanbase. It even had a healthy awards run despite not being selected as Frace’s submission for the renamed Best International Feature Film category. Its stars Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant provide performances of unpredictable dynamics that capture the growing passion of the film’s central relationship. Both received attention especially from European award-giving bodies.
Which non-English language performances would you have nominated for Best Actress this past decade?
Reader Comments (21)
Here are my choices:
2013 Paulina Garcia, Gloria
2013 Lisa Owen, Los Insólitos Peces-Gato (The Amazing Catfish)
2015 Jana Raluy, Un Monstruo de Mil Cabezas (A Monster with a Thousand Heads)
2016 Garance Marillier, Grave (Raw)
2016 Michalina Olszanska, Já, Olga Hepnarová (I, Olga Hepnarová)
2018 Ilse Salas, Las Niñas Bien (The Good Girls)
One performance I'd love to have seen be recognised actually is in the year of 2013 or 2014. Kangana Ranaut in the movie Queen (Hindi, very tiny bit English).
Juan -- fun overview. so many great filmic memories. Interesting that Oscar leans so much into just a few languages in terms of what they'll consider outside of English.
Cotillard/Rust and Bone snub still hurts. I think you missed Sonia Braga (Aquarius), there was some buzz about her in 2016.
Wasn't 1975's Hester Street that Carol Kane was nommed for in Yiddish?
Great article! I still think it’s a pity that KST never got an Oscar nomination for her stellar work in French films like “I’ve loved you so long” or “Leaving”. So deserving.
In my world, the following performances would have been Oscar nominated. And in the real world, a couple of them actually were:
2012: MARION COTILLARD "Rust and Bone"
SUZANNE CLEMENT "Laurence Anyways"
2013: BARBARA SUKOWA "Hannah Arendt"
2014: ANNE DORVAL "Mommy"
MARION COTILLARD "Two Days, One Night"
2016: ISABELLE HUPPERT "Elle"
CATHERINE FROT "Marguerite"
2017: PAULA BEER "Frantz"
TARANEH ALIDOOSTI "The Salesman"
2019: PENELOPE CRUZ "Everybody Knows"
ALIA BHATT "Kalank"
For best performances in a foreign language by a lead actress in the last decade, I'll add two Asian actresses since it remains a perpetual mystery why they are so under-recognized by the Academy.
The Korean actress Yuun Jeong-Hee gave an unforgettable performance in Lee Chang-dong' powerful 2010 film POETRY. Another Korean release, which premiered in the U.S. 2010, featured a stunning performance by Kim Hye-Ja, the lead character in Bong Joon-ho's MOTHER.
And Gong Li should have been nominated at least a couple of times over the past few decades, most especially -- in my opinion -- for her supporting work in FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE.
I think you need to include Carol Kane for "Hester Street" considering her performance is spoken in Yiddish.
There ought to have been many more!!
2010:
Isabelle Huppert, WHITE MATERIAL
Tilda Swinton, I AM LOVE
2011:
Yun Jeong-hie, POETRY
Juliette Binoche, CERTIFIED COPY
2012:
Emmanuelle Riva, AMOUR
Marion Cotillard, RUST AND BONE
2013:
Adèle Exarchopoulos, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR
Paulina García, GLORIA
2014:
Marion Cotillard, TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT
Anne Dorval, MOMMY
2015:
Rinko Kikuchi, KUMIKO, THE TREASURE HUNTER
2016:
Isabelle Huppert, ELLE
(Isabelle Huppert, THINGS TO COME)
Sandra Hüller, TONI ERDMANN
Sônia Braga, AQUARIUS
Kim Min-hee, THE HANDMAIDEN
2017:
Kim Min-hee, ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE
Daniela Vega, A FANTASTIC WOMAN
2018:
Charlotte Rampling, HANNAH
Juliette Binoche, LET THE SUNSHINE IN
2019:
Adèle Haenel, PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Zhao Tao, ASH IS PUREST WHITE
Julia Stockler, INVISIBLE LIFE
I was wondering if it would be possible to get some respectable Best Actress lineups ONLY using non-English language Oscar eligible titles. Unfortunately, a bunch of wonderful actresses like Sonia Braga in AQUARIUS and Nina Hoss in PHOENIX were not on the list of eligible titles.
Taking a look at a bunch of Oscar eligibility reminder lists, I came up with this collections of Best Actress lineups:
2010
Émilie Dequenne, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
Anna Mouglalis, COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY
Noomi Rapace, THE FIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Paprika Steen, APPLAUSE
Tilda Swinton, I AM LOVE
2011
Elena Anaya, THE SKIN I LIVE IN
Maria João Bastos, MYSTERIES OF LISBON
Juliette Binoche, CERTIFIED COPY
Catherine Deneuve, POTICHE
Leila Hatami, A SEPARATION
2012
Marion Cotillard, RUST & BONE
Nina Hoss, BARBARA
Emmanuelle Riva, AMOUR
Léa Seydoux, FAREWELL, MY QUEEN
Alicia Vikander, A ROYAL AFFAIR
2013
Adèle Exarchopoulos, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
Paulina García, GLORIA
Barbara Sukowa, HANNAH ARENDT
Margarete Tiesel, PARADISE: LOVE
Zhang Ziyi, THE GRANDMASTER
2014
Pei-pei Cheng, LILTING
Marion Cotillard, TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT
Anne Dorval, MOMMY
Agata Kulesza, IDA
Agata Trzebuchowska, IDA
2015
Laia Costa, VICTORIA
Gong Li, COMING HOME
Yana Novikova, THE TRIBE
Karidja Touré, GIRLHOOD
Susanne Wuest, GOODNIGHT MOMMY
2016
Taraneh Alidoosti, THE SALESMAN
Sandra Hüller, TONI ERDMANN
Isabelle Huppert, THINGS TO COME
Alba Rohrwacher, SWORN VIRGIN
Emma Suárez, JULIETA
2017
Eili Harboe, THELMA
Diane Kruger, IN THE FADE
Garance Marillier, RAW
Maryana Spivak, LOVELESS
Daniela Vega, A FANTASTIC WOMAN
2018
Sakura Ando, SHOPLIFTERS
Juliette Binoche, LET THE SUNSHINE IN
Penélope Cruz, EVERYBODY KNOWS
Joanna Kulig, COLD WAR
Eva Melander, BORDER
2019
Adèle Haenel, PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Noémie Merlant, PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Trine Dyrholm, QUEEN OF HEARTS
Mame Bineta Sane, ATLANTICS
Julia Stockler, INVISIBLE LIFE
I will completely second that Penélope Cruz nomination for Everybody Knows... she was completely Oscar-worthy (and the film is completely underrated)
A trio of actresses who all receive nominations from me and haven’t been mentioned yet -
Margarete Tiesel - Paradise: Love (my 2012 winner)
Maria Hofstatter - Paradise: Faith (my 2012 runner up)
Melanie Lenz - Paradise: Hope (5th place in 2013)
Also a shout out to a great genre performance not yet mentioned -
Kim Ok-Bin - The Villainess (4th place in 2017)
The 1960-2007 is spotless. What a beauty. Every performance deserves a write-up.
Paulina, Lea, Adèle, Sonia Braga
NATHANIEL R & davide: This category is glaringly Euro-centric (and unjustly so). For example, I'm currently watching films from the 1990s and I can't believe that they let Gong Li go without an Oscar nomination for her series of strong work (RAISE THE RED LANTERN, FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE, TO LIVE, etc.). Also, Kim Hye-ja was stunning in MOTHER.
Antônio: I have noting much to say other than sorry for the oversight. I agree she had some buzz that year; she won San Diego despite the film not being in the eligibility list at the Oscars. I guess I was just taken by the double Huppert this year.
Carlos & leon: I did think of including her, but I decided to go with foreign language performances from non-American productions. If I included her, I will need to add Awkwafina for her performance in THE FAREWELL in the possibilities.
allaboutmovies: KST was phenomenal in that film! Glad she got nominated for Globe and BAFTA. I might include her in my top five that year.
Cláudio Alves: Love those lineups, esp. the mentions of Steen, Hatami, Kulesza, Gong, Alidoosti, and Ando (though I will put her in supporting). And yet, it's possible!
Jesus Alonso: I've been itching to watch Everybody Knows since I loved all of Farhadi's works, A Separation and beyond. And Cruz is a reliable actress.
Great post! And I'd go:
Binoche, Certified Copy
Cotillard, Two Days One Night
Nina Hoss, Phoenix
Huppert, Elle
Sonia Braga, Aquarius
Paula Beer, Frantz
"One of the most delightful awards runs in recent memory, first-time actress YALITZA APARICIO was nominated for her performance as a soft-spoken housemaid in Alfonso Cuarón’s Best Picture frontrunner (for a time) Roma. Anchoring a humongous auteurial vessel, Aparicio occupies the space on the screen with vivid naturalism that makes the most mundane of human activities gripping."
Vivid naturalism for you is blandness and boredom for me. Terrible nomination over Toni Collette, VIola Davis and Nicole Kidman, not to mention Joanna Kulig who was more deserving of taking "foreign spot" that year.
Other actresses mentioned in the article were all either great, stellar or sublime. Happy to see Sophia Loren back in action!
LOL at 'colombian spanish'. You know, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Penelope Cruz speak the exact same language, spanish.
It doesn’t fit the prompt, but I was wowed by Julie Dreyfus in KILL BILL: VOL. I and II speaking English, French, and Japanese.
Adèle Exarchopoulos should've easily been nominated for Blue is the Warmest Color.
Some Asian picks:
Deanie Ip in A Simple Life, 2012
Ziyi Zhang in The Grandmaster, 2013
Shu Qi in The Assassin, 2015
Kara Wai in The Bold, The Corrupt and The Beautiful, 2017
Yeo Yann Yann in Wet Season, 2019