The nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actress of 1991 are:
Geena Davis, Thelma & Louise
Laura Dern, Rambling Rose
Jodie Foster, The Silence of the Lambs
Bette Midler, For the Boys
Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise
The ceremony was held in March 1993, but everyone knew who'd win this category back in February 1991: Jodie Foster and her film were much of a phenomenon to ignore:
But the other nominees had their own interesting stories. Dern, daughter of actors Bruce Dern and (fellow nominee) Diane Ladd, received the script for Rambling Rose from director Martha Coolidge, who had trouble finding financing; Dern went to then-connected director Renny Harlin (whom she was living with) and he got the movie made. Midler produced For the Boys, campaigned hard despite it being a financial flop, put in the work to get her passion project the notice it needed.
And then we have Davis and Sarandon of the much-discussed Thelma & Louise, both playing titular characters, neither of them pretending to be a supporting role to cheat the system. This was the last time two nominees from the same movie would show up in the Lead Acting categories, seven years after the Amadeus boys. It is said that, because neither of them won, studios began to push movies with two leads of the same gender as, surprise, a Lead/Supporting two-hander. Dishonest, sure, but it does remove the stress from one problem: in a film with two equally great leads, who do you rank above the other?
My rankings, from fifth to first, below:
5. Bette Midler as Dixie Leonard
For the Boys
second and last nomination; Golden Globe winner for Best Actress - Musical/Comedy
She's biting off a lot, taking a woman through fifty years of American wartime history while charting a singer's rise, motherhood, a tense relationship with her co-star, McCarthyism at one point... Naturally, she's wonderful in her music performances and comic patter. Still, it feels like too much, and eventually she has to resort to shouting instead of acting.
4. Laura Dern as Rose
Rambling Rose
first of three nominations; Golden Globe nominee for Best Actress - Drama
A performance that can be funny and heartbreaking in a single reaction shot. Dern gives Rose an unexpected credulity that softens her: she’s not a scheming mind, but someone who’s been taught by life to use her body to navigate the world…and she does like sex, so that’s fine, right? Watching this “human girl person” grow more aware of her own autonomy, built on a bedrock of genuine love and caring, you can’t help hoping for the best. Tremendous performance.
3. Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling
The Silence of the Lambs
second of two wins, third of five nominations; BAFTA Award winner for Best Actress, Golden Globe winner for Best Actress - Drama, NYFCC Awards winner for Best Actress; NSFC Awards runner-up for Best Actress
Legendary performance for a reason. The way she modulates her voice, sometimes subtly shaking as she struggles to control it, climaxing with that shout that’s authoritative and determined yet hoarse with fear; the way you can see her irritation with the men she works with, the defensive changes in posture. You may forget she’s a newbie, but Foster doesn’t, and the self-doubt is always just below the surface.
2. Geena Davis as Thelma Dickinson
Thelma & Louise
past winner, second and last nomination; National Board of Review's Best Actress of 1991; BAFTA Award nominee for Best Actress, Golden Globe nominee for Best Actress - Drama, LAFCA Awards runner-up for Best Actress, NYFCC Awards runner-up for Best Actress
I love that she shows you the moment she has HAD IT, that she’s done being restless and gonna be reckless, if just for the weekend. I love that she swings between hopelessly immature decisions and ownership of this “new” self, someone she always had in her. It feels like we’ve only just started to know The Real Thelma by the end, and she’s only just realized who she can be. Why is she only #2? Strictly because I can only vote for one to win the Oscar, and…
1. Susan Sarandon as Louise Sawyer
Thelma & Louise
second of five nominations; National Board of Review's Best Actress of 1991; BAFTA Award nominee for Best Actress, Golden Globe nominee for Best Actress - Drama, NYFCC Awards runner-up for Best Actress
Why Sarandon over Davis? Part of it is that diner scene with Michael Madsen, where the waitresses read heat and desire while Sarandon, because we're at the table with her, can explore a whole lifetime of what-ifs and maybes walking out the door, a whole lifetime of the wrong path trod as she watches him leave. It's the scene that's stuck with me most since seeing it. The other part is that I love Susan Sarandon and even by my personal standards for the actress, this performance knocked me out.
Next time, the nominees for Best Director: Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), Barry Levinson (Bugsy), Ridley Scott (Thelma & Louise), John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood), and Oliver Stone (JFK)
No comments:
Post a Comment