OVP: Best Lead Actress (2012)
The Nominees Were...
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
My Thoughts: In our final acting race, we have a case
of extremes. We somehow have the
youngest and oldest Best Actress nominees in the same category. We have the second youngest winner of
the award ever. We have an actress
that no one had heard of two years ago and yet managed to launch a major acting
career in her mid-thirties, a period where actresses are starting to move from
the red carpets of the Oscars to TNT dramas. And finally we have an actress that somehow manages to be
nominated for some of her least impressive work twice, and is completely ignored for
some fascinating performances.
These are the five women that made up Oscar’s best of 2012.
I have Jessica Chastain’s beaming face
on my computer screen, as I had to look up her age, and she’s so beautiful that
I feel I need to start with her.
Chastain’s meteoric rise from extreme bit player (did she even make
movies before 2011?) to major Hollywood star is the sort of thing that used to
happen in the studio system, but doesn’t seem possible these days, except of course
that Chastain pulled it off to prove otherwise.
Chastain is a chameleon, oftentimes
changing her hair color and personality so dramatically that she’s hard to
pinpoint (I still remember that it took me a couple of scenes before I
realized Celia Foote was Chastain in The
Help). She’s a character
actress that looks like a Revlon model.
She also happens to be one of the nicest celebrities I’ve had the
pleasure of meeting (I told her that I adored The Tree of Life when I had the chance to catch her in The Heiress in , and she called me a
sweetheart, so I’m smitten).
Chastain’s work as Maya would have made me a fan, though, even if she’d been totally heinous (though I find that most
people who come out to the stage door are rarely mean to those that just poured
out $150 to see them live).
Chastain’s work is mesmerizing on several levels, not least of which is
because she never really lets us into this woman. This is a woman who is consumed, heart-and-soul, by her
career. This is a career she has
been made for, that she has wanted for her whole life. Toward the end of the movie, even though occasionally
Bigelow hearkens back to the Camp Chapman incidents, you get the sense that she
doesn’t even know why she’s doing it anymore. The final teary scene is cathartic, but Chastain plays it
well-the audience, the more they think about it, don’t have any idea why this
woman is crying. Is it because
she’s happy with the results? Is
she mourning her friend? Is she confused
about what life is about to bring?
Is she just exhausted? We
don’t know, and Chastain does but isn’t telling. That restraint, the tunnel vision she brings to this
character-it’s spectacular.
Though I suspect that Chastain had her
supporters in the Academy, I think that she was fighting it out for silver with
Emmanuelle Riva, a woman who probably got second place to J Law. Ms. Riva is a titan of international
cinema, noted particularly for her work in Hiroshima
mon amour (did you know she doesn’t speak any English-I would have loved to
see how they handled her acceptance speech, if they would have had to pull Meryl or Jodie Foster out of the audience to translate the French).
Her work in Amour is on two levels, one of which I’m always more impressed with
than the other. I know that one of
the testaments (for Christian Bale and the Academy, at least, it not necessarily me) is the physical
demands that an actor has to put themselves through in order to get a great
performance out, and Riva does that quite well. Her work in the film demands her to go from a perfectly
ambulatory person to an invalid, and the physical strain of being lifted up and
down by her husband in the film was likely exhausting and incredibly
limiting as an actress.
Riva does succeed in putting a face to
old age, and proves the adage “old age is not for sissies.” There’s nothing remotely bad about what
she’s bringing to the role, and she’s quite good. I never feel the same way, though, about her as I do some of
her competitors. As I’ve mentioned
a few times, this is a film that I wasn’t necessarily wowed by, even if I can admire the craftsmanship on display by all
involved.
Another actress that relied heavily on physicality
in her work, though not to the same emotional depth that Riva does, is Naomi
Watts. Watts is a conundrum as an
actress-I truly love her work in Mulholland
Drive, King Kong, and The Painted
Veil (though I need to see a few more from 2001 to pronounce this, I
believe I would have nominated her for all three). I have yet to see 21
Grams, but I’ve heard nothing but awful things, and after the disappointment
of The Impossible, I’m not excited.
It’s not that Watts is bad in the film,
she’s just not remotely special.
The nomination almost certainly came from the endurance that Watts had
to have to be able to take acting in torn clothes, covered in blood makeup, and
in a sea of water. This takes a lot of work, but if they gave Oscars for the literal difficulty of the role Jean-Claude van Damne would have several. The reality is that Watts character, though obviously depressed, never rises above the grief-stricken mother, a role you could find in any Lifetime movie. It doesn't help Watts that she's getting less than zero from her young costar, but she never rises above the material and creates something unique and specific about her grief-stricken mother.
For a way to rise above, look no further than Jennifer Lawrence. This is a woman who is saddled with a relatively cliched role, particularly if you look at it from the route of the romantic comedy (lest we forget from these write-ups, Silver Linings Playbook is most definitely two different films, and the latter half is all romantic comedy). Lawrence is given the woman trying to charm the man in love with someone else, despite not really being his "type." Of course, as we learn along with Cooper, she was his "type" the entire time, and so everything works out well in the end.
Lawrence, though, manages to take her considerable charm and moxie (she has screen presence to the nines), and add a little bit of danger and unpredictability. The dinner scene, where she's trying to both titillate Cooper and still appear bored-you don't see the lines with the character and the acting. Usually you can see an actor acting when they're trying to juggle so many balls, but all you see is Tiffany. That's true of all of her great moments onscreen: Tiffany's arguments with him about his promises, the moments where her disease starts to become more uninhibited, the way she can occasionally control it to her advantage and at other times it just rips free. De Niro gets the least saddled by the cliched ending, Cooper the most, but Tiffany's the character it probably fits the most-she has wanted a happy ending the entire film. It's a testament to Lawrence that we almost let it slide, because of how greatly she's instilled this character into us.
Finally, we have another master of realism, Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild. I find that with a lot of Oscar-nominated child performances, the role is toggling between a great performance and the Academy saying "how precocious!" This is somehow a performance that hits both thought bubbles with equal speed. It's impossible not to fall in love with Wallis's Hushpuppy-her line readings have such inflection, her "I'm the man!" scene sealing the deal-this is a girl with spunk, with character. As this is Wallis's first film role, it's difficult to see how much of herself she was playing in the movie, but she nails this character's wandering journey down cold. She's a dreamer, an explorer, and her daddy's girl. It's a tour de force, and I'm glad it got to be called Oscar-nominated.
Lawrence, though, manages to take her considerable charm and moxie (she has screen presence to the nines), and add a little bit of danger and unpredictability. The dinner scene, where she's trying to both titillate Cooper and still appear bored-you don't see the lines with the character and the acting. Usually you can see an actor acting when they're trying to juggle so many balls, but all you see is Tiffany. That's true of all of her great moments onscreen: Tiffany's arguments with him about his promises, the moments where her disease starts to become more uninhibited, the way she can occasionally control it to her advantage and at other times it just rips free. De Niro gets the least saddled by the cliched ending, Cooper the most, but Tiffany's the character it probably fits the most-she has wanted a happy ending the entire film. It's a testament to Lawrence that we almost let it slide, because of how greatly she's instilled this character into us.
Finally, we have another master of realism, Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild. I find that with a lot of Oscar-nominated child performances, the role is toggling between a great performance and the Academy saying "how precocious!" This is somehow a performance that hits both thought bubbles with equal speed. It's impossible not to fall in love with Wallis's Hushpuppy-her line readings have such inflection, her "I'm the man!" scene sealing the deal-this is a girl with spunk, with character. As this is Wallis's first film role, it's difficult to see how much of herself she was playing in the movie, but she nails this character's wandering journey down cold. She's a dreamer, an explorer, and her daddy's girl. It's a tour de force, and I'm glad it got to be called Oscar-nominated.
Other Precursor Contenders: Like Best Actress, with the Globes we get a ten-wide list, though even here we didn't get Wallis or Riva, so we get seven new names (it's worth noting that Best Actress this past year was wildly competitive for nominations, and really a joy-keep that in mind this year Academy, especially since you get a bit staid during lackluster years). Chastain and Lawrence both won, with Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bone, Helen Mirren in Hitchcock, and Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea joining Naomi Watts as the dramatic losers, and Emily Blunt in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Judi Dench in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Maggie Smith in Quartet, and Meryl Streep in Hope Springs falling to Jennifer Lawrence (her "I beat Meryl" line-I knew instantly it was from The First Wives Club). The BAFTA Awards skipped both Watts and Wallis, and gave the trophy to Riva, with Marion Cotillard and Helen Mirren both joining them as nominees. Finally, the Screen Actors Guild Awards went with Lawrence as their trophy-snagger, with Mirren and Cotillard both taking out Riva and Wallis (the smaller films always suffer at SAG). My gut tells me that Cotillard, who is always a bridesmaid since her trophy, was probably in sixth place, but you could make a strong argument that Weisz or Mirren were also in the "just missed" slot.
Films I Would Have Nominated: Most of the names that were in the running last year were the ones that I considered as well-Best Actress wasn't a field of great depth, and hopefully this year is more promising when it comes to lead performances from women (I want many, many, many). That said, I was so bummed that my favorite female performance of last year (in lead or supporting) came so close to a nomination but missed: Rachel Weisz. Weisz's film was very little seen, made almost nothing at the Box Office, but as you may remember, I just adored it, and she managed a surprise Best Actress nomination at the Globes and an even more surprising Best Actress win at the NYFCC Awards. She would have made my selection for the winner below a slam-dunk instead of a horse race.
Oscar’s Choice: Like most acting races lately, this was probably a rather overwhelmingly one-sided one toward Jennifer Lawrence, with Emmanuelle Riva and then Jessica Chastain taking the place and show slots, respectively.
My Choice: Without Weisz, this comes down to Wallis, Chastain, and Lawrence (I nominated all three of them personally, along with Cotillard), and I think that I have to vote for Chastain. Her character is the most difficult of the three to pull off, and if nothing else, she's in the best film of the three. I'd follow her with Lawrence, Wallis, Riva, and finally Watts.
And we are now finished with the acting races-just the top two before we put a close on our summer-long project of the OVP of 2012 (I make a solemn vow that 2009 will be a faster affair). Before we go, though, what are your thoughts on the women of 2012? Did you think I was too hard on Watts (and too easy on Lawrence)? Were you also in the camp of Team Chastain, or did you have another crush in the race? And finally-who was in sixth place: Weisz, Mirren, or Cotillard (and which should have made it)?
Also in 2012: Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Animated Short, Live Action Short, Previously in 2012
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