OVP: Best Actress (2017)
The Nominees Were...
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Meryl Streep, The Post
My Thoughts: We are finishing off our acting trophies with the leading ladies of 2017. Similar to Best Actor, four of the five women cited here were in Best Picture nominees, though unlike Best Actor, Margot Robbie's work in I, Tonya was definitely part of a Best Picture contender. Though we had more than one real-life person in this lineup, only two biopics is actually pretty good for a category that increasingly cannot handle anyone that isn't part of a real-life story. This is also, arguably, a category where the winner didn't age well less because of the content of the film, but more because she'd win just three years later.
We'll get the Frances McDormand of this category out-of-the-way, and I want to be forthright in saying-McDormand's the best part of Three Billboards, and I don't mean that as a backhanded compliment. She's very good, end of statement. The way that she plays a mother of a girl (a dead girl) whom she had a truly complicated relationship with in life, and finding that girl's killer is the only way that she'll ever find some sort of absolution with a relationship that she struggled to maintain in real life...it's good stuff. McDormand is better in her other two winning roles, but this is stronger than Streep in The Iron Lady (which, to be fair, is also a very good performance even if its real-world connections make it harder to embrace), and it's certainly not Bergman in Orient Express. In hindsight, knowing that Nomadland was around the corner, Oscar probably would've gone with someone else, but that's been my main lesson of the OVP-you should only consider the year at-hand.
Had McDormand lost, one assumes that it would've been a race between Sally Hawkins & Saoirse Ronan for the win, though Hawkins role in the Best Picture winner might've given her the advantage. Playing a mute woman, she uses her expressive eyes and body language to communicate what her voice cannot. This isn't Holly Hunter in The Piano, though. Hawkins doesn't play Eliza consistently enough for my tastes. The script, but also her own actions, feel like she is reacting always and it feels like both writer & actor are underestimating the strength of their character. It's not bad, but it's not an Oscar-worthy turn.
Ronan, on the other hand, might be turning in her best work-to-date in Lady Bird, which totally upends the mannered loveliness we are used to from her in roles like Brooklyn. Here she plays Lady Bird as a young woman, perhaps a great young woman, who cannot see beyond what's in front of her. She's wise...for her age. The way that Ronan rips through Lady Bird's emotions, eventually finding moments of tranquility that she'll remember into old age, but never modulating the rough teenage emotions here (there's never a knowing wink to the adults in the audience over how much Lady Bird will clearly treasure her mother by the time she turns thirty), is so smart & exact. Ronan's accent work is flawless (there's no hint of Ireland in her vocal work), and her chemistry with every costar is perfect.
Like Ronan, Margot Robbie arguably hits her best performance-to-date with I, Tonya. The tone of I, Tonya I found unfortunate (aren't we over the faux documentary aesthetic yet?) & I struggle with my real-world attitudes toward Harding (the film is too sympathetic to her, in my opinion), but neither of those things take away from Robbie's excellent work in the lead. She finds depth in Harding that other actors might've ignored. Look at the way that she can't understand why a poor girl in a trailer park's idea of glamour isn't glamorous enough against that exuded by Kristi Yamaguchi or Nancy Kerrigan. I love that we see her frustration as the film continues, with her succeeding, but never enough, never in the way that her peers do. It's thoughtful work from Robbie, and she makes the best parts of the film.
Meryl Streep's most recent acting nomination (if she's not cited in 2022, it'll be the longest Oscar drought of her career) for The Post is definitely a nice change-of-pace for the actress. Ever since 2006, the woman who became famous for her precise realism in the 1980's has played increasingly cartoonish, exasperated characters onscreen, not always to the grand effect she achieved in movies like Silkwood or the Bridges of Madison County. I don't quite think there's enough here for it to count alongside those pieces-of-work (there are times when Streep feels a bit lost in Katharine Graham's worldview), but she finds an aesthetic here of a hard-working, ambitious, talented, but also otherworldly wealthy (and occasionally unaware of it) newswoman that feels like it's the work of a character actress rather than a movie star, something late-stage Meryl has been reluctant to try.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes separate their nominations between Drama and Musical/Comedy, so we have ten women nominated for these awards. For Drama it was McDormand who took the prize against Hawkins, Streep, Jessica Chastain (Molly's Game), & Michelle Williams (All the Money in the World), while Comedy/Musical went to Ronan against Robbie, Judi Dench (Victoria & Abdul), Helen Mirren (The Leisure Seeker), & Emma Stone (Battle of the Sexes). SAG skipped Streep but kept the rest of Oscar's lineup, putting Dench in instead while BAFTA also skipped Streep in favor of Annette Bening (Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool), with McDormand taking wins for both. In terms of sixth place, I honestly have no idea. It's clear Streep was vulnerable, but reading my notes at the time I favored Bening for the potential shock runner-up, given she was overdue at the time for a trophy (still is), a "build-the-momentum-for-a-win" nod might have made sense. You could make an argument for Chastain, Dench, or Williams though and I wouldn't disagree.
Actors I Would Have Nominated: In a different universe, where Woody Allen's name on a movie wasn't considered a death knell for a film's awards chances, Kate Winslet would've returned to the Best Actress category for the first time in a decade. Her work in Wonder Wheel is extraordinary, the best performance Allen has gotten out of an actor this century.
Oscar’s Choice: McDormand could not be denied all of 2017, and took the victory against Ronan & Hawkins.
My Choice: I'll do the reverse, giving Ronan's work the nod against silver medalist McDormand, though both are better than I think they get credit for in retrospect. Third is Robbie, followed by Streep & then Hawkins.
Those are my thoughts, but now I want to hear yours! Are you with Oscar & Frances, or do you want to join Team Lady Bird in my corner? What's it going to take for Meryl Streep to get another Oscar nomination? And who the hell was in sixth place here? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Also in 2017: Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Score, Original Song, Production Design, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup & Hairstyling, Previously in 2017
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