Almost There: Cher in "Mask"
Tuesday, May 25, 2021 at 5:30PM 
To commemorate Cher's 75th birthday, I'm dedicating this week's "Almost There" to a celebration of the superstar. For someone who gained fame as a singer and TV personality, Cher's an acting powerhouse. Over the years, she has amassed a small but impressive filmography. In 1985, after proving her dramatic abilities in supporting roles, directed by Robert Altman and Mike Nichols, Cher got her first leading part in Peter Bogdanovich's Mask. She wowed critics, filmgoers, and festival juries worldwide, and many predicted her for a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Even Cher herself seemed to believe she deserved the honor. Unfortunately, AMPAS disagreed…
Based on a true story, Mask tells the tale of Roy L. "Rocky" Dennis, a boy with craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, also known as lionitis. Despite many ominous prognostics dating back to his infancy, Rocky managed to grow up into his teenage years, living a relatively regular existence until his death at 16. Focusing on the last months of his life, Mask portrays the teen's high school misadventures as well as Rocky's relationship with Rusty, his biker gang single mother afflicted with a drug problem, blessed with a bullheaded no-nonsense attitude. Covered in extensive prosthetic makeup, Eric Stoltz takes on the role of Rocky while Cher embodies Rusty like a complicated hurricane of abrasive motherhood.
One of Mask's greatest assets is its reluctance to paint the main characters with broad strokes, often acknowledging their qualities while allowing the shadows of their imperfections to enter the picture. When the film starts, it isn't easy to look at Rusty as anything else than a luminous presence, with Cher exuding enough radiant movie star charisma to turn the night into day. With a cloud of curly hair that could be alternatively described as a lion's mane or an oxidized halo, Cher's Rusty dominates every moment she's on-screen while never breaking the naturalistic spell of the proceedings. Her magnetism feels organic, so tightly woven into the character's essence, that we can't discern where movie magic ends and honest humanity begins.
Brassy and loud, though never strenuously so, Cher plays the scenes at school and the hospital as an over-protective defender of her child. Watching her maneuver through the comedic possibilities of the scenes with earthy dryness reminded me of Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich, only even more disarmingly grounded and effortlessly funny. It would be easy to let Rusty's unwavering love for her kid overshadow any other characteristic intrinsic to the text, but Cher is careful with her maternal affections and affectations. The stubborn dismissiveness with which she cajoles those who stand in her kid's path can just as quickly be directed towards Rocky himself.
When he excitedly recites a poem written for class, she doesn't listen to it with the rapt attention of a saintly woman. Instead, she continues to do her business around the house, barely acknowledging the aching sincerity of her child's words. It's a vexing decision, unassuming in its meanness, but it adds a beautiful complexity to Rusty's cinematic persona and sets the stage for familial discord. Mask never indulges in simple one-dimensional emotional tones despite the schmaltzy possibilities inherent to this story of disability and young death. In real life, nobody's entirely a hero or villain, so neither are Rusty or Rocky. She's cool as hell and tough as nails. She's also an addict, capable of neglect, cruelty too.
The ultimate success of the film's many actors is how they thread the line between authenticity and alienation, trusting their audience will feel for the characters because of their honest messiness and not despite it. This is never more apparent than in the moments when mother and son quarrel, fight and break each other's hearts as they do it. Cher allows an undercurrent of perpetual irritation to bubble over in these scenes, the strength of the strong mother quickly morphing into the sharp mercilessness that comes with anger. Her sculptural features and big eyes make for a gorgeous movie mechanism, equally able to project compassion and steeliness, warmth, and glacial coldness.
Her fury has interesting dimensions as well. We can see that Rusty knows when she goes too far, like when she tears one of Rocky's precious baseball cards. The mulish expression is full of vengeful intent wavers, though we can glimpse regret. When gazing at an old flame, there's fear interlaced with spite, the flame of desire dimmed by aching vulnerability. While she's often thought of as a singer first and foremost, Cher's astoundingly nimble when it comes to playing silent reaction shots. It's difficult to forget the bittersweet awe with which Rusty contemplates her son's distorted reflection, the ebullient pride at his academic success, the hazy shame of druggy lethargy, the paralyzing fear that manifests whenever Rocky's body shows signs of giving in, giving up, giving out.
Because of Bogdanovich's downplayed empathy, the crew's understanding that Rocky's ailment is a part of his life but not the entirety of him, and the cast's anti-sentimental approach, Mask rises above a tricky premise and delivers one hell of an emotional wallop. As the final chapters of Rocky's life arrive, Cher's asked to perform an overwhelming cocktail of despair and maternal perseverance, but not even then does she abandon the strategy of avoidance when it comes to cheap sentiment. Every tear she wins from her audience is valiantly earned, her pain always tempered by impotent rage, by immense strength. In one show-stopping sequence, Cher goes through the many stages of Rusty's grief, allowing us to see how her character survives the loss of her son, how she lives through what no mother should ever have to endure.
Mask premiered at the 38th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Actress prize for Cher. It was a tie, as she shared the honor with Norma Aleandro for The Official Story, another thespian who'd earn much buzz during the awards season but would fail to win over the Academy. Cher was nominated for the Golden Globe alongside her costar Eric Stolz, though neither won. When Oscar nomination morning arrived, Mask only got a Best Makeup nod, a prize it would end up winning. As for the Best Actress lineup, it was composed of Anne Bancroft in Agnes of God, Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple, Jessical Lange in Sweet Dreams, Geraldine Page in The Trip to Bountiful, and Meryl Streep in Out of Africa.
Page would triumph after seven unsuccessful Oscar bids, winning the statuette a bit over a year before her untimely death. Of the five nominees, it's fair to say Bancroft and Lange were the most vulnerable. Neither of their flicks got much love outside the acting categories, with Lange not having any precursor nomination to recommend her. While I think both Cannes champions deserved spots on the Oscar lineup, it's not a bad quintet of performances by any means. In a gesture of provocation, Cher showed up at the Academy Awards in an outrageous Bob Mackie creation, mocking the Academy for not considering her a respectable actress. She'd get her "revenge" two years later when she won the Best Actress Oscar for Moonstruck.
Unfortunately, Mask isn't streaming anywhere at the moment. If you want to watch it, you might consider getting the DVD or Blu-Ray. The film's worth the trouble.
1985, Almost There, Best Actress, Cher, Eric Stoltz, Mask, Oscars (80s), Peter Bogdanovich
Reader Comments (30)
What a wonderful write up,Mask is a film i've seen many times and all the relationships ring true Dern and Stoltz,Elliott and Stoltz.and anyone who has scene with Cher.
Cher would have been in my nominees list but Whoopi wins i'd have kicked out Meryl or Page,Lange is wonderful in SD and Bancroft is always a fun watch.
Stoltz wins my Supporting Actor category easily.
I much prefer Cher to the '85 Best Actress nominees, sans the magnificent Whoopi.
Clearly, the March release date wasn't helpful to Cher's chances, nor was the very public feud she engaged in with Bogdanovich.
This was a great film and man, Cher should've gotten an Oscar nod. I did hear she and Peter Bogdanovich didn't get along during the production but both admitted that it was just personality clashes that made things difficult as they do respect each other but agree to never work with each other again.
Here is the infamous interview with Bogdanovich discussing Cher.
So who was the most difficult actor you’ve ever worked with?
Cher.
Tell me about your experience with her on Mask.
Well, she didn’t trust anybody, particularly men. She doesn’t like men. That’s why she’s named Cher: She dropped her father’s name. Sarkisian, it is. She can’t act. She won Best Actress at Cannes because I shot her very well.
And she can’t sustain a scene. She couldn’t do what Tatum [O’Neal] did in Paper Moon. She’d start off in the right direction, but she’d go off wrong somehow, very quickly. So I shot a lot of close-ups of her because she’s very good in close-ups. Her eyes have the sadness of the world. You get to know her, you find out it’s self-pity, but still, it translates well in movies.Roger Ebert loved Mask and Cher’s performance, writing, “Cher makes Rusty Dennis into one of the most interesting movie characters in a long time.” I shot more close-ups of her than I think in any picture I ever made.
You can create an award-winning performance with close-ups?
Oh yes, you can. I did a number of times.
What did Cher think of you?
Cher doesn’t like me.
Why?
Well, because I didn’t like her. She was always looking like someone was cheating her. I came to the set one day; I said, “You depress me, you’re always so down and acting like somebody’s stealing from you or something.” But finally, after about seven weeks of this, we started getting to like each other. She said, you know, we don’t watch out, we might end up liking each other. I said that would be amazing. And we did end up liking each other, and then when I sued the studio, she sided with the studio, of course. That was that.
I have a hard time choosing an '85 Best Actress between Cher (Mask), Mia Farrow (The Purple Rose of Cairo), and Whoopi Goldberg (The Color Purple).
Cher not getting a nomination for Mask is just one example of the Academy requiring an actor to "pay his/her dues", which is really just another way of saying they've "been around". Cher was an unknown quantity when she made Mask. Sure, she had a successful variety show, but had never done "real drama".
I haven't seen Jessica Lange in Sweet Dreams, but she would be the easiest one to replace in that set of nominees for Best Actress. Her or Whoopi. I thought Whoopi's acting in Color Purple to me was underwhelming to say the least.
@ rrrich7 Cher already was an Oscar nominee for Silkwood, so she wasn't exactly an "unknown"
James, that was an interesting interview, telling too. She sounds like a tough, hardened broad, not to be messed with. Thanks for sharing. I do believe the Oscar nominees and winner were sound choices.
Very odd Peter D. interview....says a little more about him than it does about Cher IMO. I'm sure she's tough as nails and not always easy but he sounds somewhat psychotic.
She absolutely would have been on my ballot. Not only that but she would have been my winner over any of the women on the ballot (and I think it's quite a good ballot). Only the insanely unnominated Mia Farrow for Purple Rose is superior IMO.
when i was young i assumed the acclaim for this performance was just the "surprise" of Cher leading a drama superbly plus the subject matter. I didn't actually end up seeing it until the 2010s if you can believe it and just LOVED it. Cher is pretty great in it. Best Actress 1985 was a mess.
Aleandro, Farrow, Fonda and The Turner are better.
@rrrich7
Meryl Streep: . . . there have been movies that I have really, really, really, really, really wanted to do but they didn’t want me and I went to see the movie and I thought, "They were right.”
I think of Sweet Dreams that Jessica Lange did with Karel Reisz - and he was a friend of mine and he was the director and, yeah, he cast Jessica and I went to see that movie and I thought, “NOBODY can do that better.” I mean, it was DIVINE
Replace Anne Bancroft & Jessica Lange (in arguably their weakest nominated performances) with Cannes winners Norma Aleandro & Cher, and then you'd have a perfect Best Actress line-up. Whoopi Goldberg should've won, but I also love Page and Streep.
Couldn't deny Geraldine Page that year.
That year, for me it was Winner: Goldberg,
runner up: Aleandro. "La Historia Oficial" should have been nominated for
Picture
Director
Actress
Original Screenplay
It's a complete must seen film... The Color Purple and Ran should have swept the Oscars as combined force...
Peter thought she was hell to work with... hard to believe, I do not know what kind of a director he was to work with!!??
I thought she did a great job.
Like Cher, Claudio is an icon doing brilliant work and ever growing in acclaim! One day Nathaniel will be able to say he knew him, how cool is that?
Kael, Ebert, Alves.
Well, I love Cher, but the Cannes Best Actress tie doesn't make any sense. Norma Aleandro's performance is one of the best ever. It's not great, like Cher's. It's beyond words.
Cher tries it once in a while and she gets all the awards over veterans with film and stage experience.
"The ultimate success of the film's many actors is how they thread the line between authenticity and alienation, trusting their audience will feel for the characters because of their honest messiness and not despite it." Exactly. This film is wonderful, and to me this is by far her best performance.It's a shame it seems to have become a rarely-viewed film.
I saw Mask three times when it was released. Cher and Eric Stoltz were brilliant, so it was a huge shock when neither one was nominated. I read years later that there was so much anger over Badanovich's clashes with the studio that voters snubbed the film to get back at him. Whether true or not, Cher should have been nominated.
Hmm, Bogdanovich says Cher can't act? And he cast Cybill Shepherd repeatedly in everything? (And I like Cybill in the right thing). Methinks he means that Cher is strong minded and has her own opinions about how to do things. Cher has been great at acting from Sonny & Cher on.
Now I need to see Mask again because I recall it with great fondness, but the details are missing.
Very enjoyable analysis of her performance in the film. She really is deeply moving and spot on in rounding out the fierce but difficult Rusty.
She absolutely should have gotten a nomination in place of Meryl Streep in the lumbering bore that is Out of Africa but I think it worked to her advantage that she did not.
First because of the snub and her feelings about it she was able to make that memorable Oscar appearance giving Don Ameche his award bringing her much more publicity than a mere nomination would have. And lets be honest she wouldn't have had a prayer of winning this year, it was Geraldine Page's award from day one not only because of her narrative but she is sublime in Trip to Bountiful.
Secondly I don't think Cher would have won for Moonstruck without this miss. It gave her a momentum and the ridiculous feeling that it was her "time".
Enough Cher!
I highly recommend Karina Longworth's season of You Must Remember This on Polly Platt, Bogdanovich's ex-wife and longtime creative collaborator, from last year. She deserves a lot of credit for his success. I would take anything he had to say about any woman (particularly one who supposedly "doesn't like men") with a grain of salt.
Peggy Sue, your Sally Kirkland was not manna, Anna. Sashay away.
I'll have to confess I have yet to see Mask, but Norma Aleandro would be another worthy Near Miss subject.
ajnrules -- I already wrote about Aleandro in this series. Here's the link: http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2020/11/16/almost-there-norma-aleandro-in-the-official-story.html
The most egregious omissions in 1985 were Coral Browne in Dreamchild and Vanessa Redgrave in Wetherby. But what do you expect from two low-budget British films? Jessica Lange was definitely worthy and by far my favorite of the actual nominees.
co-sign with @daveinhollywood and others regarding Peter Bogdanovich. His version of events are always interesting, but his blind spot where women are concerned is well documented.
Cher can act, but that conversation captures the uphill climb for respect that Cher had to climb.
And it explains why she didn't get a nomination back in the day. Bogdanovich made no secret of his opinions about Cher, he dissed her quite openly. The public loved her and the film,
was a major hit. Some people remained suspicious of her talent.
(For example,George Miller didn't want her in "Witches of Eastwick" but was over-ruled by the studio)
Interestingly, Robert Altman, Norman Jewison, and Mike Nichols never had a problem with Cher or dismissed her acting ability.
I haven't seen "Mask" recently, but I remember being impressed by the lack of cheap sentimentality you describe so perfectly in your article.
I just re-watched "Witches of Eastwick" and her charisma is amazing - the camera just loves her. I think actors who have that startling quality always make some people less able to acknowledge their talent. Which is a shame because it makes for more interesting movies.