Definitely not a bad group of actresses this year, even if the films are not the greatest. There was a clear cut winner for me and the Academy but I want to return to a couple to see how the measure up a year later.
2014 Best Actress
Julianne Moore - Still Alice
Yay, Julianne Moore finally won an Oscar! I say that more because now every Oscar season I don't have to read about how every. single. performance. of hers is going to be nominated and deserves to win and blah blah blah. Moore was absolutely the darling of the online commenters of every single blog and website. That doesn't mean I don't like Moore because I do, she's a wonderful actress who has some stinkers and some brilliant performances out there. Still Alice was a culmination of sorts for her career, I think. It's like everything finally came to a head here. Like she took everything she had ever learned from all her performances and focused it for her depiction of a middle aged woman with early onset Alzheimer's disease. She's an important person in the linguistics field, which is the study of languages so you can see where this is heading: a woman who is at the top of her field of studying language is now faced with forgetting everything she's learned about it and with losing her family in a way. When you watch Still Alice and it finally ends, you'll probably have the same reaction I did which was "wow, that was an amazing, almost perfect performance and that's a film I never want to watch again." I don't say that because it's a bad film but because it's so raw and real and clinical. Clinical is the big word for this performance and film. It's as if this film were made with the idea in mind to show to families on what to expect with their family member who has been diagnosed with the disease. It's not hitting any sappy, feel good notes, it's not over-exaggerating what Alzheimer's looks like, and it's not treating the subject too harshly or too innocently. It's presenting a picture of what this early onset Alzheimer's really looks like - life as it really is. That clinical feel is due partly to Moore's seriously almost perfect performance of Alice. She doesn't fall into the trap of overacting her character (which we've seen on this blog before!) with Alzheimer's. She plays it as a woman who is slowly becoming affected by the disease but who tries to fight it and keep her family together in a tough time. That why her performance feels more like a real life documentary subject than an actress pretending to have Alzheimer's. Her reactions and the reactions of her family seem very plausible and natural and sort of run the gamut of what you could expect lending to the clinical feel. There's no doubt that Moore deserved her Oscar for this performance even if it's not something I want to keep returning to.
Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night
Probably one of the bigger, if not the biggest, surprise from announcement day was hearing Cotillard's name among the Best Actress nominees. She was pretty off the radar and considered such a long shot that most people didn't even bother to talk about her other than well, she might have a chance and it would be cool if she made it kinda thing. Well she made it and I'm not sure how except for maybe on the strength of her being so well liked among the Academy members and maybe due to the European Academy members voting for her. I don't know if very many people actually saw this film and I'd wager most people still haven't. It was hard enough for me to track down with English subtitles but I'd say that search was pretty rewarding. It's a really interesting concept for a film. Cotillard's character has been on leave for depression/anxiety type illness and she comes back to find that her coworkers held a vote to fire her so they could all get more money. She convinces the boss to let her speak to and try to persuade the others to change their vote to let her stay there and work. Hence the Two Days, One Night title which is how much time she has over a weekend. Having seen a few of Cotillard's performances now, one thing that always jumps out is how dedicated she is with her characters. She dives in deep into these characters and delivers some very strong, committed performances. That's true for this film, as well. She goes through a whole smorgasbord of emotions throughout the film. I'll say that her portrayal of the depression/anxiety part of her character is somewhat frustrating to watch because it does come off as a bit annoying. Her character just gives up so easily, too often and acts so much like a child instead of an adult. I think that was a deliberate acting choice but it still grates. But Cotillard also goes through desperation as she trudges along to all her coworkers' houses or wherever she can find them, sadness and joy and ecstasy and fear and confidence and determination and a million others as she tries to convince them to change their vote. Some of the people are easily persuaded, others take a lot more effort and time, and still others berate her and are mean to her for their own personal reasons. We start to root for her but we also start to wonder what we would do in both situation's - on the side of having to beg for your job back and on the side of having someone try to convince you to give up money so they can work and provide for their family. It's an interesting look at our day to day interactions with other humans and Cotillard really does bring maximum effort in her performance. It's certainly one that I would have overlooked if not for it being nominated even though I was aware it was a possibility. Don't let the whole French film with subtitles thing scare you away either, or you'll be missing out on a truly interesting and profound performance from an actress we know is one of the best going these days.
Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything
Alright, so I was actually a little bit interested in watching this again to see if I could find what a lot of other people saw in this performance. I thought it was an average to good performance at best, yet there was a big contingent of people who were pushing this for the win. Sure, Jones is super cute and is a very capable actress, but my beef with the performance and the movie is that it's so superficial. The beginning of the love story is so rushed as to make me ask why do they love one another, other than that's just what it says in the script? Jones' character Jane comes off as very loving and determined but the whole time I'm watching, I'm left wondering why exactly I care about her doing any of this. This kinda just comes off as acting which makes me unsure about whether or not Jones is exceptionally good or just alright. Because she's steadfast in playing the supportive wife and mother and being the rah rah champion for Stephen to keep going despite his illness. But, I can't find the heart to her performance, there's no soul in the character. I just kinda feel like I'm watching Jones act instead of becoming her character, instead of inhabiting and owning her character. I almost feel bad for having this reaction but unfortunately that's what Jones' performance does for me. Maybe it is purely a product of the movie itself because I do think that Jones could probably offer up a performance with much more depth and charisma, it's just not in The Theory of Everything. I was really hoping to find what everyone else saw in this performance, but I'm starting to think everyone else was blinded by the hype and the pretty face. Just give me an honest performance - that's all I ever want.
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
This is the kind of performance I like to see get recognized. Instead of just choosing Meryl Streep or Judi Dench for the 200th time, give a nod to an up and coming actress who actually delivers an incredible performance in a big hit of a film. Now of course I'm not saying to only nominate younger actresses just because they are young, but I feel you get a better range of actresses and performances this way (if they are deserving). Pike is so good at playing so many different characters which is why I think this role is pretty impressive. She's an Ivy League grad, who comes from affluence, becomes a housewife and gets cabin fever and then turns into a sociopathic, scheming, manipulative cunt (borrowing that word from the film). She has to play the perfect wife while at the same time concocting this insane plan to frame her husband for her murder. Pike is at times so expressionless which I think is what the character calls for, like a stoic warrior or something raging inside but putting on the air of domesticity. It lends a good kind of creepy quality to the film and the way she delivers lines adds to it, as well. It's like a soothing voice when she speaks and the style of the dialogue is very glib and film-y - ya know, the way everyone has a quick, perfect comeback to anything. I just really like Pike in it because it seems so pitch perfect with how Amy's character should be portrayed. How she can quickly change from tender and loving to brutal and bitchy takes a lot of talent to pull off both convincingly and Pike does that with this performance. It's also a kind of fun performance for Pike, there's a lot of craziness going on and it can be fun to watch her act it all out. The easiest thing with this performance is to just go along with the ride and enjoy it.
Reese Witherspoon - Wild
Witherspoon's performance kinda tricks you into thinking it's really great acting because the film can be very stylish and make her character out to be more important and deeper than she really is. I don't exactly know why I'm supposed to be sympathetic towards this character or be rooting for her in any capacity. She is/was an alcoholic drug addict also into banging anyone, anywhere for any reason. Not exactly a character you can rally behind but if the turn around is believable that would actually make for an interesting and compelling story. But what we get from Witherspoon's character is a woman who decides to hike the Pacific Coast Trail after destroying her marriage and it is just simply not an interesting or compelling story. There are brief flashbacks to the marriage and to Witherspoon's childhood and young adult years showing how her mother was free spirited and then dying of cancer. I'm not sure if that's supposed to explain her dangerous behavior with sex and drugs or what but it felt mostly out of place and pointless. So she's thinking about these things on her hike...okay? And then don't even get me started on those stupid, pretentious literary quotes she writes in the trail logs. Like are those supposed to actually mean something?? This lady is everything I loathe about society. Be a terrible person, blame your childhood or a tragedy and then doing some big event like hike a trail and write about it like it actually means something or that people will care about it. This is honestly one of the most boring stories I've seen. Maybe the book is better but I highly doubt it. As for the performance itself, Witherspoon does a fine enough job at the physical aspect of hiking and all that but she can't escape a dull character and it's not really her fault. It just kinda exists for me but we know the Academy loves going back to the well whenever it can instead of finding new people. I think that the character isn't very well defined in this film and that leaves Witherspoon hanging.
Julianne Moore is a very deserving winner and I'm so glad that she won for something deserving instead of getting a make-up award because they felt bad for not rewarding her yet and felt she was due. It's pretty great when those two things can line up, isn't it? Now, there's no make-up awards needed to be given out in the future for this group. Moore is the easy winner but damn if Pike didn't give her a good run for her money. It was never going to happen but I really like the nomination. Cotillard shows why she's an Oscar winner by getting on for a film you never saw or even heard about but when you (presumably, hopefully) did watch it, you realize is pretty dang good. That's just what Cotillard does. Jones feels more like a star making turn. A chance to honor an up-and-comer for a film the Academy loved (way too much) and set in motion future nominations as long as she lives up to the hype. We'll see since I wasn't as impressed here. Witherspoon brings up the rear and, well, that's about all you can say about her on this list. Would have rather seen a different woman nominated but the Academy likes it's security blankets, so there you go. All in all, not a bad year.
Oscar Winner: Julianne Moore - Still Alice
My Winner: Julianne Moore - Still Alice
Rosamund Pike
Marion Cotillard
Felicity Jones
Reese Witherspoon
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