OVP: Best Actress (2001)
The Nominees Were...
Halle Berry, Monster's Ball
Judi Dench, Iris
Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge!
Sissy Spacek, In the Bedroom
Renee Zellweger, Bridget Jones's Diary
My Thoughts: And we are coming to a close of six consecutive days of OVP Ballots (we'll do the remaining three next week), with our final acting race, Best Actress. Like Best Actor, I think it's worth knowing some context here. In 2001, the Oscar race for Best Actress was very, very close. Nicole Kidman, Sissy Spacek, & Halle Berry were all neck-and-neck as you'll see with the precursors below, and this was the rare race that truly no one knew whose name Russell Crowe was going to call out.
Well, Renee Zellweger probably knew she was staying in her seat, though it's not because she wasn't good in Bridget Jones. Zellweger, in the wake of Jerry Maguire, had spent a few years floundering in different projects, appearing in daughter/girlfriend roles opposite Meryl Streep & Jim Carrey, and then eventually beating Juliette Binoche for a surprise Golden Globe in 2000 (when she was literally in the bathroom). Her Bridget Jones made her a proper movie star, and she nails the English accent here in a way few American actresses have achieved beforehand. She also is genuinely funny & charming, getting the pathos of a single girl in her thirties down to a tee. The main complaint-it's too slight. The film is too light, it doesn't quite have enough direction outside of her, and isn't good enough. But in a year where Oscar felt the need to get a little creative, this was a solid decision.
The only other American in this field was of course Halle Berry. This is Berry's only nomination, and an historic win in the category...that I wish I could say I enjoy. I agree with pretty much every criticism levied at this part through the years-that she's miscast, that she feels like she doesn't have enough chemistry with Thornton. It feels like the further into the role she gets, the more she loses of the character, and that's not what the script is doing. There's nothing there, other than just a beautiful woman who (while still beautiful) hasn't sat in a makeup chair for three hours prior. When people criticize deglam performances, this is what they're referring to-all physical change, but not enough substance to the work beneath.
Nicole Kidman's work is the opposite. Heightened glamour (though obviously a "cheaper" type given the character), she also finds depths beneath the mountain of makeup and silk dresses. Kidman's work here is remarkable, giving us Satine in all of her facets: as a con artist, as a dreamer, as a survivor. We understand that her life changes with Christian, but unlike McGregor's lovesick writer, who is totally reborn when he meets her, she brings some of the weight of her previous life with her, informing the performance even as she dares to find a change. It's terrific work, atop singing that feels like it's giving us more of the character (not easy, especially for a non-professional singer).
Sissy Spacek also gives us layered work in In the Bedroom. This performance is showy (that plate-smashing scene became iconic for a reason), but only in parts. Much of the buildup to that is Spacek putting in the groundwork. I love the way she always seems a little nervous around the son that she has a distant, prickly relationship with, knowing that she has to guide him to do the things she wants since saying it out loud will just have him go in the opposite direction. This, of course, is a hallmark of being the mother of a defiant young man, one who is desperate to please one parent but not the other, and Spacek (a mother of two) clearly carries that into her work as Ruth.
Finishing off the list we have our only real-life figure (a rarity for this category) with Judi Dench's performance as Iris Murdoch. This was during that period where Judi Dench could get nominated for playing virtually any part, so you'd be fine wondering if this is just a "default" nomination, but it's not. Dench is very good as Iris Murdoch, and has one of the trickier acts in the film, playing a woman who has to both be connected to her younger self (played by Kate Winslet) while also showing flashes of growth and fading away. She does a decent job of giving us a genius on the brink of losing everything, a woman of prose who can no longer find the words. The film is depressing, and that starts to hurt Dench's performance because it goes for easy sentiment toward the end, but it's still strong work during Dench's heyday.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes separate their nominations between Drama and Musical/Comedy, so we have ten women nominated for these awards. For Drama, Spacek won, beating Berry, Dench, Nicole Kidman (The Others), & Tilda Swinton (The Deep End), while Comedy/Musical went to Kidman in Moulin Rouge! against Zellweger, Thora Birch (Ghost World), Cate Blanchett (Bandits), & Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde). SAG went with Halle Berry, besting Dench, Spacek, Zellweger, & Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), while BAFTA picked Dench against Kidman (The Others), Zellweger, Spacek, & Audrey Tautou (Amelie); Berry wasn't eligible due to when the movie was released in the UK, but she was nominated for Best Actress the following year. In terms of sixth place, it's tricky. It's possible that Kidman, because she could only be cited for one film, was not only in sixth but maybe even in fourth for The Others, as both were serious threats for a nomination that year, but if you don't count that, it was surely Swinton, doing the legwork for her eventual win in 2007.
Actors I Would Have Nominated: The Oscars have had a complicated history with Kidman's best friend Naomi Watts, who has been cited for two Oscars for underwhelming films, while her best work they ignored. That happened in 2001, when she gave the performance of her career in Mulholland Drive and they sadly skipped over it.
Oscar’s Choice: Headed into the night, a three-way tie between Berry, Spacek, & Kidman looked as likely as anything, but Berry was able to ride her SAG win to victory, and one of the Oscar's best speeches (it still gets me crying every time).
My Choice: I'm going to go with Kidman over Spacek, because I think her role is trickier given the heightened world Baz has created, and because the singing is so well-done; both will be showing up next week in my My Ballot wrap-up for this category, though. Behind them I'll pick Zellweger, Dench, and then Berry.
Those are my thoughts, but now I want to hear yours! Do you stick with the Academy making history with Berry's choice or do you want to join the Kidman train early with me? Which of Kidman's 2001 performances should Oscar have chosen if you only get one? And why do you think it took Tilda Swinton so long to get into the Academy's good graces? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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