Almost There (x 2): Marion Cotillard in "Nine" & "Public Enemies"

by Cláudio Alves

It's become somewhat uncommon for Oscar champions in the acting categories to be a "one and done" type of deal. A good amount of the winners from the past 25 years have either received nominations after their victory or already had them before their golden coronation. All this to say that, after Marion Cotillard won the Best Actress Academy Award for her work in La Vie en Rose, it felt like it was just a matter of time before she'd be in another Oscar lineup. That follow-up nod would come until 2014 for Two Days, One Night but, before that, there were a couple of failed Oscar bids to account for.

Previously in this series, we talked about her 2012 Best Actress snub for Rust & Bone. Now, let's look further back, to the Best Supporting Actress race of 2009...

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1947: Kathleen Byron in "Black Narcissus"

by Nick Taylor

Ah, 1947. Back when the Golden Globes only announced their winners and neither NYFCC (age 12) nor NBR (age 2) had supporting acting categories. Searching for alternatives to Oscar’s lineup -- as we like to do when approaching a new Smackdown --  is appealingly open-ended. There are ways to find other options without awards bodies, though. The simplest is to call upon decades of film history to see which of any year’s most durable films have noteworthy female performances. For instance, has any other 1947 film so formidably established itself in the canon as Powell & Pressburger’s Black Narcissus... particularly as an offering of great actressing?

Centered on a group of Anglican nuns instructed to open a school on a Himalayan mountainside already infamous for scaring off other settlers, the film maintains the directors’ penchant for overripe atmosphere and jaw-dropping spectacle... 

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Smackdown '81: Elizabeth, Joan, Melinda, Maureen, and Jane Fonda

Welcome back to the Supporting Actress Smackdown, a summer festival in which we investigate Oscar vintages from years past. This time around it's 1981 in which an estranged daughter, an unhappy socialite, a guilt-ridden Catholic, a political radical, and a scandalous young beauty gather for our viewing pleasure.

1981's Supporting Actress nominations made room for a two-time winner (Jane Fonda, On Golden Pond) with a very personal project, an actor's actor in a star-driven historical epic (Maureen Stapleton, Reds),  two sturdy characters in 'issues' pictures of very different kinds (Melinda Dillon, Absence of Malice  and Joan Hackett in Only When I Laugh) and a rapidly rising starlet (Elizabeth McGovern, Ragtime) who had made a big film debut the year prior in 1980's Best Picture winner Ordinary People. 

THIS MONTH'S PANELISTS    

Here to talk about these five nominated turns and the movies and Oscars of 1981 are, in alphabetical order: writer/director Eric Blume, actor Donna Lynne Champlin (Crazy Ex Girlfriend), actor Sean Maguire (Once Upon a Time, The Magicians), festival programmer Amir Soltani, and critic Boyd Van Hoeij (The Hollywood Reporter). And, as ever, your host at The Film Experience, Nathaniel R. 

Let's begin...

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1981: Modern Romance

Please welcome new contributor Nick Taylor who is providing us with extra Supporting Actress supplemental pleasure inbetween the Smackdown events...

Modern Romance (1981) begins with its main couple breaking up in a diner. Or rather, Robert Cole (actor/writer/director Albert Brooks) has decided to break up with his girlfriend Mary Harvard (Kathryn Harrold), because something in his life has felt off lately. He thinks it’s their relationship. She’s justifiably annoyed with this, particularly since they spend a lot of time breaking up and getting back together, and barely believes him when he says they’re not coming back from this. The only time Robert seems hesitant about ending it (this time) is when she says something that reignites his paranoia, making him think she won’t mind them splitting and is already having an affair. Mary leaves the building so quickly she doesn’t even have the chance to ask to get her order to go, then tells Robert to drop dead and gets in her car. 

This scene lays out their relationship pretty concisely, though it’s not immediately obvious how Kathryn Harrold’s performance is responsible for its effectiveness. Modern Romance never feels clearer or more insightful than when Mary and Robert are together, in no small part because it has more to say about toxic relationships than it does about shitty men...

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Emmy Watch: Supporting Actress Drama Contenders

by Abe Fried-Tanzer

Can Fiona Shaw return despite heaps of competition?

Our Emmy punditry continues with Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. There’s a lot to unpack in this very crowded race. A full two-thirds of last year’s nominees won’t be back because they all starred on the now-ended Game of Thrones.

Count on defending champ Julia Garner (Ozark) to return, especially since the latest season of her show recently premiered to great acclaim (she may also be joined by costar Janet McTeer). I’m not sure the same will be true for Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve), since her role isn’t at all central and it’s not yet known if the show will be as well-received by Emmy voters as it was for its second season. Theoretically, that leaves four and maybe even five spots wide open, but that doesn’t take into account the many previously nominated actresses on shows returning from a season off the air and newly back in contention…

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