Comment Party: Best Actress, 1991
Saturday, July 25, 2020 at 2:00PM by Nathaniel R
Remember Bette's dream project "For the Boys"?
We've probably done TOO much 1991 before this next Smackdown! Apologies for those of you without a particular affinity for that year but you've only got one more day of this to get through. We thought it might be fun to briefly discuss the Best Actress race of that year before the Supporting Actress Smackdown event tomorrow.
OSCAR NOMINEES
- Geena Davis, Thelma & Louise
- Laura Dern, Rambling Rose
- Jodie Foster, Silence of the Lambs ★
- Bette Midler, For the Boys
- Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise
If I remember the year correctly this lineup was basically a done deal ahead of time but for the fifth slot...
That was a contest between Laura Dern and Annette Bening (with maybe a little bit of Kathy Bates on the side as delayed victory lap for Misery). Midler's performance was not in fifth. True it's the most forgotten of these five today but at the time she had very obvious "dream project realized" momentum ... hence the Globe win.
GLOBE NOMINEES
- Annette Bening, Bugsy
- Geena Davis, Thelma & Louise
- Laura Dern, Rambling Rose
- Jodie Foster, Silence of the Lambs ★
- Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise
- Kathy Bates, Fried Green Tomatoes
- Ellen Barkin, Switch
- Anjelica Huston, Addams Family
- Bette Midler, For the Boys ★
- Michelle Pfeiffer, Frankie & Johnny
BAFTA NOMINEES
- Geena Davis, Thelma & Louise
- Jodie Foster, Silence of the Lambs ★
- Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise
- Juliette Stevenson, Truly Madly Deeply
This one is my big miss from 1991. I've never seen Veronique
CANNES
- Irène Jacob, Double Life of Véronique ★
VENICE
- Tilda Swinton, Edward II ★
Who elses misses Derek Jarman movies? Show of hands. We consider this supporting though. Are we misremembering the movie?
BERLINALE
- Victoria Abril, Lovers ★
Uff. Victoria was so special in the early 1990s. We're sad the movies seemed to lose interest thereafter.
LAFCA
- Mercedes Ruehl, The Fisher King ★
We consider her supporting though, yes, it is a large role.
NYFCC
- Jodie Foster, Silence of the Lambs ★
NSFC
- Alison Steadman, Life is Sweet ★
NBR
- Geena Davis, Thelma & Louise [TIE] ★
- Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise [TIE] ★
Baby Nathaniel was OBSESSED with Emmanuelle Béart from the late 80s to early 90s
CÉSAR
- Emanuelle Béart, La Belle Noiseuse
- Juliette Binoche, The Lovers on the Bridge
- Anouk Grinberg, Merci la Vie
- Irène Jacob, The Double Life of Veronique
- Jeanne Moreau, The Old Lady Who Walked In the Sea ★
The US didn't get three of these until YEARS later... but La Belle Noiseuse and Veronique were arthouse darlings in '91.
GOYA
- Victoria Abril, Lovers
- Silvia Munt, Butterfly Wings ★
- Maribel Verdú, Lovers
GOLDEN HORSE
- Maggie Cheung, Center Stage ★
- Carina Lau, Days of Being Wild
- Anita Mui, Au Revoir Mon Amour
- Lisa Yang, Bright Summer Day
SATURN AWARDS
- Kathy Bates, Misery (1990 film but they have a different calendar)
- Jodie Foster, Silence of the Lambs
- Linda Hamilton, T2 Judgment Day ★
- Julia Roberts, Sleeping with the Enemy
- Winona Ryder, Edward Scissorhands (1990 film)
- Meryl Streep, Defending Your Life
SPIRIT AWARDS
- Judy Davis, Impromptu ★
- Patsy Kensit, Twenty-One
- Mimi Rogers, The Rapture
- Lili Taylor, Bright Angel
- Lily Tomlin, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life...
Judy Davis is lots of fun in Impromptu (incredible cast in that British comedy - seriously, look it up). I'd totally forgotten she won the Spirit.
Our personal favourite movie of 1991, Thelma & Louise
FILM BITCH AWARDS
(In retrospect)
- Geena Davis, Thelma & Louise
- Jodie Foster, Silence of the Lambs ★
- Linda Hamilton, T2 Judgment Day
- Mimi Rogers, The Rapture
- Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise
With apologies to (alpha order) Emmanuelle Béart, Annette Bening, Judy Davis, Laura Dern, Gong Li (if you consider her eligible), Michelle Pfeiffer and Juliette Stevenson who would round out my own top 12, a brutally competitive year (though the following year was easily the decade's worst for high quality female leads!). Of my personal ballot Mimi Rogers and her daring vehicle are forgotten today but it was an incredibly unsettling performance which I still think about from time to time. I remember either Siskel or Ebert (or both?) was also a big fan back at the time and FYC'ing her.
Mimi Rogers as a promiscuous woman who experiences a spiritual conversion in "The Rapture"
True Story: In 1991, I was a die-hard unswayable Sarandon voter (the "overdue" narrative got me good, well that and her genius as Louise) and considered Hamilton supporting (before Rampant Category Fraud wised me up) so Dern was in this lineup but I have since shifted to Foster as winner.... unless one could give a "dual" best actress prize to Davis & Sarandon who together deserve it over Foster. Dern's performance doesn't hold up for me quite as well all these years later so she's fallen. I think she's stronger in Wild at Heart the year prior in an even (sorry) wilder role.
Reader Comments (59)
My choice:
Maggie Cheung - Center Stage
Juliette Binoche - The Lovers on the Bridge
Jodie Foster - The Silence of the Lambs
Gong Li - Raise the Red Lantern
Laura Dern - Rambling Rose
in descending order
- cinema omnivore
Harry said:
"If we're to add the European festivals, then Venice that year went with Glenn Close for Meeting Venus and Berlin to Victoria Abril in Amantes"
The official Best Actress Award in Venice, awarded by the jury and recognized by the festival, went to Tilda Swinton for her performance in Edward II as this article says.
Glenn Close received a parallel award, not awarded by a jury and officially by the festival.
I agree that the article should include Victoria Abril for Amantes (Best Actress in Berlin) considering that if the winners of Best Actress in Cannes and Venice are included (Irene Jacob and Tilda Swinton)
I was a movie reviewer back in 1991, and indeed it was an embarrassment of riches that year for best actress. Foster, Sarandon and Davis were all locks. Sarandon in particular was well received because she had been overlooked for Bull Durham and White Palace in 1988 and 1990, respectively. 20th Century Fox pushed hard for Midler, despite the movie's failure and bad reviews. No one liked the aging makeup even then, but people felt it was Midler's time, especially after her mid-1980s comeback with Down and Out in Beverly Hills and a host of other comedies, along with the success of Beaches and Wind Beneath My Wings, which was a #1 hit and scored her a Grammy. For the Boys was her pet project and she was rewarded. Everyone thought that last spot was going to Bening. Dern was well-liked, and critics still talked about her performance in Smooth Talk from 1985. But Rambling Rose, in spite of critical support, was a smaller film not seen by many. Bening, who had been nominated the previous year for The Grifters, unfortunately got caught up in the "she's romancing Warren Beatty" narrative which somehow overshadowed her performance. The dark horse was Bates, as Fried Green Tomatoes was an end-of-year release and box office hit, and people loved her in the film. As for Pfeiffer, I loved her in Frankie and Johnny. However, with Bates' win the year before, many wondered why she had been overlooked when the film version was cast, and when the movie was released, too many people focused on that as well as the fact that Pfeiffer was too beautiful and too young to be believable in the role. Whether true or not, that pretty much sank her Oscar chances. By the time awards season hit, no one was talking about Pfeiffer, while Bates was in the spotlight for Fried Green Tomatoes.
I'm happy Bette Midler was nominated, but only because she's one of my all-time favs, and I wish she had won for The Rose back in the day (what a performance) - especially since Sally Field ended up winning another.
I'm happy she's a multi-nominee, even if this nod isn't well-regarded. It's not a great film, but I still enjoy her in it. The clip they chose didn't help the narrative at all, though. They could've chosen a moment that showed off the star power and charisma she brought to the role instead of trying to go the dramatic "old age makeup" route. With her spitting too. Eek. She deserved an Oscar, sucks that it never came to be. She deserved better roles. With the right musical, she could've been a winner.
Anyway, Jodie Foster clearly earned it, and I think any actress that played Clarice would've won as long as they delivered. You can't give it to Thelma OR Louise and Silence of the Lambs was a big deal - still is. Sucks that this could've been her Oscar moment but they had already jumped the gun and given her one for a meh film. But whatever, go 'head Miss Foster.
Foster, Davis and Sarandon are all extraordinary but my heart that year belongs to Pfeiffer for Frankie and Johnny. My favorite performance of hers. Strong lineup that year to include the underrated and wonderful Dern in Rambling Rose, though I’m not a fan of Midler in a For the Boys. Foster gets my vote of the actual lineup though Davis and Sarandon are just as worthy.
My vote goes to Davis, but anyone of her, Sarandon or Foster could've won and I wouldn't complain.
Although it was never going to happen, I would have switched out Dern and Midler for Jacob and Rogers (and probably left Foster off because, well, I'm not a fan). I remember thinking The Double Life of Veronique was too "weird" to get traction in the US. But Jacob is just lovely in it. And Mimi Rogers really puts it all out there in The Rapture, a movie that just kind of fades in the end. It's a pretty fearless performance in an interesting film. I'd like to think that The Rapture was also the start of some pretty good work from both Mimi Rogers and Michael Tolkin in the 90s.
Yes to the Mimi Rogers love for "The Rapture." One of the all-time underrated performances. I would have put her in Bette's slot. I loved the soundtrack of "For The Boys." Hated the movie. And Linda Hamilton in Dern's slot. To go from how soft and vulnerable she seemed in the first movie to how practically psychotic she seemed in the second was a revelation. Wish she had done more movies.
Davis
Foster
Pfeiffer
Sarandon
Steadman
Can’t argue with Foster’s win. But, despite not having watched Frankie & Johnny in probably 15 years, Pfeiffer’s performance in that is one that I still think about a lot, she really elevated that movie into something special.