OVP: Best Supporting Actress (2001)
My Thoughts: We talked a little bit about this in the Adapted Screenplay race, but part of the reason that A Beautiful Mind has aged poorly is not because it was a bad movie, but because it beat better movies at the Oscars. When this is discussed, the focus is usually on the Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay races, mostly because people do not enjoy being mean about individual actors winning Oscars. It's weird when there's a star with dozens of characters (potentially in movies you like) behind the win (this is partially why people win in the first place for performances that might not be worthy or are just career-achievement statues). But that's definitely the case here, as it's hard to look at this list of either actors or performances and not think that the least of them won. But let's see if that's actually the case?
Jennifer Connelly is an actress I don't get, though I'd never name check her as an actress I dislike. She's very beautiful, and I think her best role might be The Rocketeer, where she leans in on that, or perhaps Requiem for a Dream (though there she's upstaged by Ellen Burstyn). This work is solid-I think she understands Alicia Nash, and she delivers her monologues beautifully. But I believe this falls too often into the trope of "what if there was a wife?", where the role is largely meant to be a reflection of her husband. That's sometimes called for in a movie, but it's not the type of role I think of when I think of handing someone an Oscar, and that's what we're talking about given the point of this article, so Connelly falls short.
On the flip side, you have Helen Mirren doing everything she can to nail a side character that will come into further focus as the movie churns along. This was still during Mirren's "acting god" phase, before she won an Oscar & was never quite as good again. Every line in this is really something from her, starting off as very cross & devoted to her employer, and as we move on we understand there's more to both that relationship and the relationships of those around her than meets the eye. By the crucial climax of the film, she's done all of the work to get to ace her big monologue, totally devastating the audience as the film closes.
Mirren's definitely going in on all cylinders here, in maybe her best film work to date, and is playing against type as a dowdy maid. Two other actresses in this race are playing into our expectations of them, but doing so beautifully. Mirren's costar Maggie Smith is one of them. I think Smith's role here, which would inspire her part in Downton Abbey, is more substantive than some of her later "comic relief dowagers." She plays her part beautifully between being someone who is mocked (she's poor, and has to rely on her richer relations for money), but also who has lived this life for so long she doesn't know how to be anything other than what she currently is. It's a balance she pulls off with a great deal of wit, but the work she's done, like Mirren, pays off toward the end in smaller moments as she becomes relieved that her problems entering the house aren't what they were when she leaves, showing just below the veneer.
The other actress who is leaning into what we'd expect from her is Kate Winslet. This was during that period where pretty much every Winslet performance was an event, leading up to her inevitable Oscar. Winslet is marvelous here. Yes, she's playing another earth mother role that is sexually liberated, but she does so with finesse. She is given the difficult task of giving us an Iris to mourn as Judi Dench's character shows what has been lost, full of life, vitality, and genius. Winslet does that brilliantly, frequently shocking the audience but doing so with enough specificity that this Iris doesn't get lost alongside some of her other work of this period.
The final nominee is Marisa Tomei, who at the time felt like she was giving a middle finger to the people who, for a decade, had been talking about her My Cousin Vinny win as if it was a gigantic mistake the Oscars made. Tomei is smart in this part, playing her role as someone whose motives aren't always clear-does she love Nick Stahl's Frank, or is he just a way out of a bad life for herself? Is she aware of the danger she's putting Frank in...and does she care if it means that she might get out? Tomei plays this fluttering beneath her eyes, a sense of a pretty girl who generally can play that card to get out of responsibility. It's the sort of role that easily could've been played just for sympathy or sentiment, but she makes her steelier, a bit more ruthless, and that helps make the ending (even when she's offscreen) so powerful.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes went with Connelly, besting Mirren, Smith, Winslet, Tomei, & Cameron Diaz (Vanilla Sky). The SAG Awards put Connelly in lead due to a balloting error, so the winner was Mirren, who beat Diaz, Cate Blanchett (Bandits), Judi Dench (The Shipping News), & Dakota Fanning (I Am Sam). BAFTA went back to Connelly, topping Mirren, Dench, Winslet, & Smith. I'm torn on sixth place. Diaz did the best in the precursors, but Diaz was cited for a lot of precursors during this era (not just for Vanilla Sky, but also There's Something About Mary, Being John Malkovich and Gangs of New York) and couldn't make it for any of them, so I think she just wasn't Oscar's speed. I'm guessing it was between Dench & Fanning, and I'm going to lean toward Fanning given Dench was already in for Iris...Penn getting in for Best Actor makes me think they liked the film, and children do well in this category.
Actors I Would Have Nominated: This is a very good lineup, the best of the four acting lineups that Oscar amassed in 2001. But if they could've squeezed in Cate Blanchett's Galadriel, it would've been even better.
Oscar’s Choice: Connelly spent the entire season giving extraordinarily dull acceptance speeches, but Oscar didn't care and gave her the statue.
My Choice: Mirren is the best of this very good lineup-she's not just playing against type, but she's the emotional crux of her film. Following her I'd go Smith the silver, followed by Winslet, Tomei, and Connelly. The reputation of this race was right-she was out of her league.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Do you side with the Academy in giving Jennifer Connelly her only statue, or would you like to join me in the downstairs with Helen Mirren? Doesn't it feel a bit of a crime that no Robert Altman film ever won an acting trophy given how good he was with actors? And was it Fanning, Dench, or Diaz in sixth place? Share your thoughts below!
1 comment:
I went to see Gosford Park after the nominations came out (but before the awards), so as the movie went along and Helen Mirren wasn't doing a whole lot, I wondered why she had been nominated. I figured, "Well, she must have a big scene at the end...oh, I bet she has to be the murderer then."
After that revelation, I was so distracted that I struggled to pay attention, and I haven't watched it since. So maybe it's worth a re-watch based on your review.
I thought Jennifer Connelly was a bit dull in A Beautiful Mind, so my pick that year (of those nominated) was Kate Winslet.
As for who's missing in the nominations, well, just the greatest movie villain of all time, Parker Posey in Josie & The Pussycats. :-)
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