This year was a wakeup call, or should have been, for anyone paying attention to the Oscar race. On the one hand, you had a good many films about men where the women were fashioned as shoehorns, helping to guide the foot into its rightful place. These rendered some of the best supporting performances of the year. There were also way too many women who did nothing more than stare at their men and wait for them to do something, to say something – as though nothing in their own heads mattered. Nothing in their own lives mattered. They didn’t matter except as a soft place to put it.
But from out of the fire, more than a few phoenixes emerged. They exist despite the many arms of the industry that wish they didn’t. They exist partly because women themselves produced the films that women starred in. They dipped a toe in the indie world because the mainstream studio system has forsaken them. Too much money on the line. Too many jittery executives.
MAJOR SPOILER WARNING – MAJOR
1. The Performance of the Year
Rosamund Pike’s Amy Dunne is a golem from the dark underside of the female psyche, one that most cinematic heroines can’t get anywhere near in 2014, but the one Hollywood deserves. She is the revenge for this year’s slate of embarrassingly thin female characters shamefully put on screen in 2014, as though women really weren’t people but just parsley put on the plate to look pretty and help the meat go down more smoothly. With Amy Dunne, delivered ferociously by Rosamund Pike, we have something touching the R. Crumb world of unearthing the true vulgarity beneath the facade. And oh, how sweet it is.
Many men were frustrated by Gone Girl because they thought it depicted male stereotyping and that no man would allow himself to be tricked by a woman that way. A WOMAN after all. Many women were angry at the film for a character daring to use rape or sexual assault as a manipulation tactic, an accusation lobbed at women constantly, and one they have to beat back in real discussions about rape. Women thought it misogynist (some did) because the villain – this monster, this golem, was meant as a stand-in for all women. Then there’s this tricky little thing called the truth – it exists whether we want it to or not. Idealized versions of men and women have their place, but so do the versions of people that fill out the rest of the human experience.
In Gone Girl, Amy wasn’t punished, not the way Glenn Close was — also eroticized, famously, in an elevator, in a sink. Close got “properly” punished for wrecking the stability of marital bliss but boy wasn’t it hot to watch her fuck Michael Douglas for the first hour? We can’t have monsters roaming the quiet countryside so the audience testing determined that Close had to be shot dead by Anne Archer. Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct found her empowerment by uncrossing her legs to reveal blonde pussy hairs. That Stone played an unrealistic serial killer came second to what Basic Instinct was really about: watching her fuck Michael Douglas for the first hour. She isn’t punished and that was meant to be progress but when a woman’s only source of power is her sexuality you are still very much inside the box.
The biggest difference between what Pike does with Amy, and what Fincher does with Pike, is that he never eroticizes her. Pike’s nakedness, her sexuality, is locked up tightly to be used only when necessary – that is your first clue that she’s not your ordinary movie female. Had Fincher reduced her to an erotic plaything — like Kathleen Turner in Body Heat who ultimately uses that eroticism to her benefit, probably men wouldn’t complain about the film as much as they do. They get what they came for. That Amy never gives that over confirms Gone Girl’s primary POV. Fincher only briefly indulges the male desire with Andie’s nakedness, something that continues to haunt Amy throughout the film. That body. That girl. How easy it is to lure men.
In one of the film’s best moments, Amy recounts seeing Nick kiss Andie for the first time. The sequence is tied together through mouths. Nick reaches in to touch her lip, we cut back to smoke coming out of the mouth of her “new friend,” then back to Nick kissing Andie, then back to Amy – seamlessly, as though the director’s lens was biologically connected to Amy’s thought processes.
Amy’s only mistake throughout the film is trusting the “new friend” — underestimating her. Usually, women in film are betrayed not by other women but by men. Gone Girl is full of women betraying other women in dramatic ways (a suffocating mother who needs the perfect daughter) and in typical ways (a young woman fucking another woman’s husband). This is our world, we women know it well. Sooner or later our world is bound to unearth a psychopath.
The Amy Dunne we see in the first half of Gone Girl is filtered through an unreliable narrator. We are not seeing Nick Dunne. We’re seeing the story told to us through Amy’s slanted and deliberately misleading POV. We see Amy as Amy sees Amy — and as she wants to be seen by others. The film and the performance comes alive at about the hour mark when the real Amy is finally unleashed.
This comes together most thrillingly at the one hour mark. The tempo of the music by Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross’ flips itself over with a track called “Technically Missing”. Amy’s voice-over sneaks in just as Nick is finding the shed of purchases and the detective is finding the diary. Game, set, match.
“I am so much happier now that I’m dead. Technically missing. Soon to be presumed dead. Gone. And my lazy, lying, cheating, oblivious husband will go to prison for my murder. Nick Dunne took my pride and my dignity and my hope and my money. He took and took from me until I no longer existed.”
The real Amy Dunne emerges. Fincher could have chosen to continue the myth of the eroticized female blonde but instead he allows her to unpeel from the perfect Amy to the real Amy. What’s the first thing she does? She eats. A lot. Burgers, fries, cupcakes, chips, Kit Kat bars – all the things we women must deny ourselves on a daily basis to stay thin and pretty for the male gaze. Fincher allows her the freedom and honesty to collapse into the imperfect state where most of us women actually do dwell. Why do we relate to the cool girl monologue so well? Because we all know what it takes – we know the false persona of what women should be because it’s broadcast on nearly every TV show, every rock song and in every movie. We can’t be that. Not really.
The very next shot sequence is the best in the film. It leads into the Cool Girl monologue. The music, the camera, Amy’s face a release. Pike holds back a mischievous smile behind her thick sunglasses as we hear the famous “cool girl” monologue.
“And after all of the outrage and when I’m ready I will go out on the water with a handful of pills and a pocketful of stones and when they find my body they’ll know: Nick Dunne dumped his beloved like a piece of garbage. And she floated down past all the other abused unwanted inconvenient women. Then Nick will die too. Nick and Amy will be gone but they never really existed. Nick loved the girl I was pretending to be. Cool girl.
Men always use that, don’t they, as their defining compliment. She’s a cool girl. Cool girl is hot. Cool girl is game. Cool girl is fun. Cool girl never gets angry at her man. She just smiles in a chagrined, loving manner and presents her mouth for fucking. She likes what he likes. So evidently, he’s a vinyl hipster who likes fetish manga. If he likes Girls Gone Wild she’s a mall babe, who loves football and buffalo wings at Hooters. When I met Nick Dunne I knew he wanted cool girl. And for him, I’ll admit, I was willing to try. I wax stripped my pussy raw. I drank canned beer while watching Adam Sandler movies. I ate cold pizza and remained a size 2. I blew him, semi-regularly. I lived in the moment. I was fucking game.
I cannot say I didn’t enjoy some of it. Nick teased out in me things I didn’t know existed. A lightness. A humor. An ease. But I made him sharper, stronger. I inspired him to rise to my level. I forged the man of the my dreams. We were happy pretending to be other people. We were the happiest couple we knew. And what’s the point of being together if you’re not the happiest? But Nick got lazy. He became someone I did not agree to marry. He actually expected me to love him unconditionally. Then he dragged me, penniless, to the naval of his country and found himself a newer, younger, bouncier cool girl. You think I’d let him destroy me and end up happier than ever? No fucking way. He doesn’t get to win. My cute, charming, salt of the earth Missouri guy. He needed to learn. Grownups work for things. Grownups pay. Grownups suffer consequences.”
Is this how all women are? Of course not. Do all women secretly pretend to be perfect for their men? No. But Amazing Amy, reared to be PERFECT had to. She had no other choice but to live up to the standards imposed upon her by her parents (and society). To satisfy those requirements, she had to shapeshift. Fincher illustrates this beautifully by allowing Pike to be what she never is in movies: anything but the fuckstick.
Pike relishes it. She dives right into this version of Amy, her performance in a glance across the room, a swish of her perfect hair, the way she toys with Nick after they get back together by patting the bed beside her, and of course, the coup de grâce, “I’m the cunt you married. The only time you liked yourself was when you were trying to be someone this cunt might like.”
It’s a bravura performance of the kind we just don’t get the pleasure of seeing anymore. Brilliant, funny, terrifying — a fully realized monster infiltrating the town of Stepford. Pike’s is the performance of the year because she redefined her own capabilities. Her Amy did not come from the collective imaginations of millions of readers of the book – but from a place hidden away inside herself that doesn’t dare show itself unless summoned. She leaves us feeling unresolved about our comfortable definitions of what women are supposed to be on screen. Most were waiting for Nick’s redemptive moment and Amy’s punishment. There is no there female character on screen this year that can touch Pike if we’re just talking about pure performance, which we never are when it comes to the Oscar race.
2. Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars and Still Alice
Moore’s dual performances this year will give her what she needs to finally win the overdue Oscar she’s deserved for years now. In Maps, she plays a desperate, aging actress who is given the chance (by the great David Cronenberg) to unpeel her own kind of monster. In Still Alice, she is afflicted with Alzheimer’s – it is heartbreaking and one of the best performances of her career.
3. Hilary Swank, The Homesman
The Oscar race may not have room for Swank this year it seems, or the Homesman at all, which is a shame for a film that really did shape itself around its female themes and characters. That it ended with a man is what seemed to bother people. But Swank’s performance has stayed with me all of these months after Cannes. While she might not be on the top of everyone’s list, if we’re really talking about best, hers demands consideration.
4. Reese Witherspoon, Wild, Inherent Vice
Witherspoon is reinventing or at least fortifying how actresses can find their place in Hollywood by producing two films and challenging herself — in Wild she plays a hiker grieving for her mother, the love of her life. She also produced Gone Girl and Wild, while starring in The Good Lie and Inherent Vice.
5. Jessica Chastain, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby
Chastain will be nominated in supporting for A Most Violent Year, though she never was able to find her place in this year’s lead actress race. Is it that she has too many options to choose from that voters can’t really align behind any one performance? Maybe. But once again, if we’re talking about best, Chastain is right up there with this grieving mother and estranged wife trying to find her own identity.
6. Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Aniston blows it out in Cake, so much so that, for the first time, I really saw her as a real actress. Moreover, she reveals the kind of versatility that will be well utilized in character turns later in her career. As yet another grieving mother, Aniston’s Claire has decided life is no longer worth living. The character arc takes her from that place to a place of wanting to live. Subtle, moving – easily one of the year’s best.
7. Marion Cotillard, 2 Days, 1 Night
Cotillard has become the critics’ darling this year, verging on martyrdom, which I find strange since it came out of nowhere. Where was this unanimous support with Rust and Bone? Nonetheless, she’s great in the Dardennes film where she must convince her co-workers not to take a bonus so she can keep her job. Only the French […and perhaps the Belgians] would make a film about this and cast a woman in the lead.
8. Anne Dorval, Mommy
Another vibrant, comical, perverse depiction of a broken mother who tries to do her best, under the circumstances. Dolan’s characters push towards extremes, and never play it safe. Watching Mommy is such a thrilling experience because you have no idea where it’s going to take you. There is an element of danger and sadness in each frame of the film. That it wasn’t good enough for the stuffed shirts in the Academy is their loss.
9. Gugu Mbatha-Raw Beyond the Lights and Belle
If 2014 has done one thing it’s deliver Mbatha-Raw as a promising newcomer. Her remarkable versatility in two high profile films. She clearly has a bright future ahead of her as long as filmmakers give her those chances as these two directors have done this year.
10. Amy Adams, Big Eyes
The understated performance of Amy Adams in Big Eyes is better than the critics would have you believe. Thought the film itself loses its way towards the end, Adams’ work is solid and interesting throughout. Her performance and the film might have been better served if they hadn’t played it so straight, but allowed for more humor to crinkle at the edges. Still, she’s one of the greats.
11. Essie Davis, The Babadook – Davis gave arguably the best performance of the year, or damn near close. She’s not up for the Oscar, unfortunately, but that doesn’t take away from what a fully realized breath of fresh this character in this film is.
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Amy Adams in Big Eyes was awful!!! It was Adams’ worst performance to date… just awful…
The only thing I can say about this years Best Actress race is that I wish Julianne Moore won her Oscar back when she first deserved it (Probably in “Far From Heaven”)
That way the most impressive performance by any actress that I’ve seen in probably a decade could rightfully win. Which Is Rosamund Pike for “Gone Girl”. I can’t remember a time that I’ve both loved and hated a character so much simultaneously in any movie. And she pulls it off flawlessly. In my opinion there were 3 keys in making “Gone Girl” as great as it is.
1. Author/Screenwriter being the same.
2. Fincher’s direction. In anyone else’s hands this movie could have easily been cliche, over the top, or even downright awful.
3. Is Pike’s literally jaw dropping performance.
@Yamilah since when is getting an Oscar nomination focus on your entire work and not ONLY the movie you are campaigning for that year. the idea that all Aniston’s movies are shitty is just silly to me just the fact that you don’t like her doesn’t give you the audacity to crap on her films. she has done some great films and you fail to see that based on your hate. stop with this bs now. whether you like it or not she is getting the OSCAR NOM and cant wait for you to lose your shitttt over that. lmao
btw why wont she get recognition for her work if she deserves it. you sound very immature so grow up son
@Yamilah you cant hold a 45% RT against Aniston when only 12 freaking votes. I watched CAKE at tiff and Her performance is awesome that why she has gotten the nominations she has. she is indeed going to get that Oscar nomination though which she deserves. other great actors like streep WON Oscar for iron lady based on her performance alone when the movie had only 56% RT so it doesn’t matter. I have watched still alice free on a movie site and didn’t even like it. have also watched the other female contenders except for wild
I am in love with Rosamund Pike’s performance!
Also, I need to see Jennifer Aniston in Cake. I am so happy for her! And don’t forget about Still Alice. I need to see that, too.
If Jennifer Aniston gets a nomination for Cake, it will be the film’s only nomination. The last time that happened was in 2003 with Charlize Theron in Monster. A performance that is and will be remembered for decades. I don,t think Jennifer Aniston deserves to be the second especially for a film that has 45% in the rotten tomatoes. And I don’t think her performance is near what Charlize Theron did in Monster.
And, if I’m being fair, my main criticism of Pike is that her performance is unintentionally humorous in a part that couldn’t afford that. It’s a campy performance, particularly the last 20 mins. 4 of my other friends disliked the movie and performance, and we’re supposed to like camp, when the movie calls for it.
I hope Aniston doesn’t get nominated. An actress whose done shitty work her entire life, and now for once decides to get out of her comfort zone, shouldn’t get recognize right away. This year performances by actresses are much stronger than 2009 when Sandra Bullock won. People keep saying that the performances are week but there are many great actress overdue of an Oscar nomination including Scarlett Johansson who has done much better work than Jennifer Aniston and keeps getting ignore by the academy. Also there’s Marion Cotillard doing great work after her win in La Vie en Rose, and gets ignore for every work she does.
Sasha; your slavish devotion to GG and Pike is creepy, and not in the way that you think. I think it does border on shark-jumping. It’s not out of the question that Pike might win the GG. The FP loves big flashy, hammy turns by less than stellar ( but curiously Bond Girlish, yes, “fuckable” types. If she does manage the GG, it’ll end there, for the SAG and Oscar are undeniably Julianne’s, an actress that acts circles around everyone in the category.
@CB It really helps to read the article and comments before replying.
Lol. “Essie Davis gave the arguably the best performance of the yes”..
Sure girl, that’s why she s 11 in your list. (Side eye)
I think Patricia Arquette should be in the Lead Actress category. If Felicity Jones is considered lead.
I agree about Mia and Tracks. She was wonderful.
I think Marion Cottilard needs someone in Hollywood like George Clooney or Tom Hanks or an actor like Daniel Day-Lewis to say how much they loved her performance as in the year that Julia Roberts pushed for Javier Bardem in Biutiful. I don’t know if that will happen.
Thanks, Collins. I’ll be sure to take your constructive criticism on board 🙂
… cunt…
jk 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Speaking of great actresses –
Sasha no story on Luise Rainer? Was just watching The Good Earth this year and thinking about her. RIP to the first actress (person?) to win back-to-back Oscars and the longest-lived person (104) to ever win an Oscar.
“The headline “Best Actress” is a clue that the post will single out the women who are most likely to win a prize called “Best Actress” (the name of this site is another tip-off ) 🙂
Sasha goes to Cannes every year, so if you can wait till May then that’s a good time to see Sasha prove that she can read subtitles and admire actresses from all around the world who will likely not be in the conversation when December rolls around, the conversation about winning American prizes called “Best Actress””
I took the name of this post, specifically because the list leaves out one of the presumed nominees, to be Sasha’s favorite leading female performances of the year. Perhaps I was incorrect on that?
I hope that’s the case, actually, as it’d be pretty incredible if a site that laments Oscar voters’ narrow mindsets (particularly when it comes to women) chose its favorite female performances of the year from the Oscar contenders.
I’m also well aware that Sasha goes to Cannes… I’ve been a reader of AD for years.
“Gosh, this whole Jennifer Aniston thing has kinda gotta stop. I’m sure she’s just fab in Cake, but nothing, not a single thing, not a single Golden Globe nor SAG nor Critics Choice nomination can convince me that Jennifer Aniston will ever be an Oscar nominee, for anything! I just do not see voters doing that.”
Really? What about the performance itself? Perhaps you should save your critique until after you’ve actually seen the movie.
1. Julianne Moore, Still Alice; Maps to the Stars
2. Mia Wasikowska, Tracks
3. Essie Davis, The Babadook
4. Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Beyond the Lights
5. Hilary Swank, The Homesman
@Paddy Mulholland stop fooling and embarrassing yourself you don’t see voters voting for Jennifer aniston eventhough she is great in her performance and is Oscar worthy, you have seen voters voted for her 3 times so stop with the bs now. guess you have to commit suicide when she is announced for Oscars
why are some idiiots so worked up about this lovely woman getting the recognition she deserves for her work
Regarding Jennifer Aniston: like Paddy, I have such a hard time imagining that Aniston is going to become an Oscar nominee for Cake. There’s a part of me that can’t imagine AMPAS will really go there.
But the other part of me says this: if Aniston doesn’t take that fifth slot, then who will? Amy Adams seems doubtful at this point, with Big Eyes doing mediocre box-office and getting pretty mediocre reviews. I suppose she could become an easy filler nominee (and she does have Harvey in her corner), but I have my doubts. Swank? Last month I thought she might be viable as a contender for the fifth slot, but now I question her chances as well. The movie hasn’t generated much excitement, and voters seem resistant to nominating her again. I don’t see Blunt happening, either, for some reason, although I haven’t seen Into the Woods so I’m not sure why I think this, other than reviews tend to single out other performances over hers.
I’m hoping Cotillard can muscle into that fifth slot, but her performances are in foreign language films, which have a harder time getting in, and because she has two performances this year, will she start robbing votes from herself? I don’t know. When I look at the race in this way, Aniston becomes a real possibility just out of process of elimination–at least Aniston has buzz, although the buzz seems more about her and her dumpy, “change of pace” role and her cake-y campaign than about the film or her performance.
“I just do not see voters doing that.”
Brace yourself, Paddy. I plan on having a stick to bite down on the morning they announce the nominees.
It’s great that Essie Davis is getting so much love here. She super talented and by all accounts a delightful person too (not that that should matter.) People outside Australia wouldn’t know but in the early 1990’s she was touted as one of our next big things. She went to drama school with Cate Blanchett, they lived in a house together, graduated at the same time, both had a lot of buzz, both immediately got theatre work etc. But Cate’s career got bigger and bigger and Essie’s never quite did, even though she’s wonderfully talented. (It’s one of the awful things about acting, that you need to have a bit of luck. So many fine actors never have that). She always worked, usually in theatre in London, but without much attention. There were near misses and things that fell through (Albert Nobbs, for example, when they tried to get it made years ago. She got the role Mia Wasikowska later took, but everything fell apart.) She came back to Australia to have kids and then a few years ago her career belatedly took off. (As did her husband’s – she’s married to Justin Kurzel the talented director who made Snowtown and just shot Macbeth with Fassbender and Cotillard). People interested in her work should check out the Australian TV series The Slap and Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Very, very different roles but she’s excellent in both. It’s a pity she isn’t eligible for most big awards, the distribution company mucked around with the release in Australia (it barely got one) and then made the mistake of not giving The Babadook a theatrical run in the US before streaming it.
I think Pike is pretty good in Gone Girl, but the movie is just ok. Most people, even those who absolutely love the movie, acknowledge that what makes it so appealing (and arguably why it made so much money) is the story itself, mainly the twists, and those are the same reasons which made the book so successful. I read Sasha’s review (and endless writing about it, probably more words than the book itself) but I’m not convinced the movie added much to what was already on the pages other than a pretty faithful and well made translation, not a small feat but hardly a great achievement in terms of moviemaking, especially next to grand budapest, under the skin (also based on book, but a wholly original work of art nonetheless), birdman, mr. turner, interstellar, boyhood which made full use of the medium and will undoubtedly be references for all movies in the future.
Sasha also said many times that the true test for movies, performances, etc. is how they survive over time. I’m willing to bet that Scarlett Johanson’s performance in Under the Skin (and certainly the movie itself) will be much more highly regarded, influential, and long-lived than Gone Girl and Pike.
And ‘walk around saying nothing’? really? I guess all those filmmakers, critics, artists, and people (both man AND WOMEN) who were moved by the movie and its central (and nearly only) performance just don’t get it. Good luck there’s someone to point their lack of critical judgement. But who cares, it’s not like movies like Under the Skin will not be made all the time whereas daring work of arts like Gone Girl will have a super hard time to get made and seen…
My favorite female lead performance of the year:
1. Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night; The Immigrant
2. Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
3. Scarlett Johansson, Under the Skin
4. Essie Davis, The Babadook
5. Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Paddy, that minute or two where she stared at herself in the mirror after luring that handicapped man in…I thought that was one of the most controlled bits of acting this entire year has given us. I didn’t know what was going to happen.
Echoing Paddy, while adding that her performance in Under the Skin is such a nice pairing to her all-voice performance in Her. If we want to talk about an actress showing range and delivering stellar performances in a variety of ways, types of films, etc. then there’s no discussion unless Scarlett is included.
As great as Julianne, Amy, JenLaw and Kate are I think there is a fair amount of same-ness to the performances they provide us. Especially when you stand them next to Jessica, Cate, Scarlett and Nicole.
Gosh, this whole Jennifer Aniston thing has kinda gotta stop. I’m sure she’s just fab in Cake, but nothing, not a single thing, not a single Golden Globe nor SAG nor Critics Choice nomination can convince me that Jennifer Aniston will ever be an Oscar nominee, for anything! I just do not see voters doing that.
Sasha, if silent performances aren’t your thing, it’s a good job you weren’t alive during the 1910s… srsly tho, Scarlett Johansson’s truly never been better than she is in Under the Skin. She unveils a vulnerability that we’ve never seen from her before, startlingly open and fragile, and does so mere minutes adjacently to playing the role of a steely seductress. In embracing this part as an opportunity to express her own emotions, as a woman still so young coping with immense fame and public scrutiny, she enables herself to fully ingratiate herself as a person into her work as an actor. She’s never been more convincing in the part of an object of sexuality, and she’s never been more compelling in the part of a lonely, fearful alien in an unforgiving world.
An actor who can deliver such a complex performance without the aid of dialogue is, for me, more skilled than one who relies on dialogue to shape that performance. But, if you’re looking to evaluate her abilities in delivering lines, what about the early scenes in the van? Most of those exchanges were entirely improvised – again, a skill that elevates a performer, for me, over the standard procedure of simply interpreting words on a page.
I get that this is a site aimed at the Oscar race, but in a post called “the performances of the year” I’d hope to see more names than just the ones circling the awards circuit. No mention of the incredible performances by leading women in Ida, Force Majeure, Lucy/Under the Skin, We Are the Best! or Into the Woods–most, if not all, are better performances than a majority of the ones listed and ALL are the centerfolds of their respective films and treat the female condition with much more grace–and here my opinion differs greatly from the POV of this site–than Pike/Fincher/Flynn do.
I guess my lament is this: after my first year reading and engaging with this site I’m disappointed that it follows the race rather than leads it. That is to say that the focus of the films/performances mentioned here are the ones that the race tells the writers to focus on rather than the writers seeking out great films and finding a place for them in the discussion. I hope that the moderators take that not as a jab, but as encouragement & constructive criticism heading into 2015.
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Scarlett Johansson – Under The Skin
Shailene Woodley – The Fault in Our Stars
Tilda Swinton – Snowpiercer
These performances are so great!
Haven’t seen the others yet
Mina Nagy
It is not really about the actual numbers, it is more about perception. Anyone paying attention to Box Office – and I assume most industry types (voters) do – read at last three articles about this weekend and in all three Big Eyes was portrayed – quite literally – as “the disappointing loser of the weekend” and that is not the kind of press you want about your film the very day before Oscar voting starts. Having said that, the Academy LOVES Amy Adams (clearly if they nominated her even for American Hustle) and she is Weinstein’s strongest contender in Best Actress so he may do his magic once again and get her in the top5 (the TODAY controversy sure generated some serious Amy Adams Love only last week) …but I’m doubtful. At this point if anyone can crack the consensus five (Moore, Pike, Witherspoon, Jones, Aniston) – and that is a big IF – then Emily Blunt (famous role in a big studio hit alongside Meryl Streep) may have more going for her this time than Adams. We’ll see!
P.S. Right now Big Eyes is considered to be a flop, Dallas Buyers Club and The Artist had never been. Both had impressive limited debuts and respectable theatrical runs that turned profit (DBC cost 5M to produce and made 55M worldwide, The Artist cost 15M to produce and made 133M worldwide). Also, unfortunately The Homesman doesn’t seem to be a contender, and Foxcatcher hasn’t done all that well precursor-wise, either BUT The Theory of Everything and Birdman are both guaranteed to finish their respective US theatrical runs at least in the 35-50M range and though it would be great if Big Eyes had a better second weekend than first (not out of the realm of possibilities, this time last year Saving Mr. Banks improved 44% on its second weekend), right now it looks like a 20-30M total at best, it would need a damn impressive second weekend and semi-unexpected Oscar-love to go higher than that…good news that it only cost 10M to produce (22M with marketing) so it WILL make money sooner or later…if it gets to 40M+ in the US (unlikely), then it is in the green already, if it delivers 50M worldwide (likely), then again, green zone.
1. Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
2. Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
3. Hilary Swank – The Homesman
4. Julianne Moore – Still Alice
5. Essie Davis – The Babadook
6. Emily Blunt – Into the Woods
7. Tilda Swinton – Only Lovers Left Alive
8. Mia Wasikowska – Tracks
9. Gugu Mbatha-Raw – Belle
10. Charlotte Gainsbourg – Nymphomaniac Vol. 1
Marion Cottillard in Two Days, One Night was hands down the most raw, real and heartbreaking performance of the year!! And they’re talking Jennifer Aniston?? Seriously? Urrrgh. However I still want Julianne Moore to win even if for the wrong movie… she was insanely good in Maps to The Stars!!! I think she gets to win for everything that she’s ever done!
I don’t know what great or excellent is in Rosamund Pike performance. She was good, but i think Moore, Witherspoon or even Aniston were much better than Pike. This same i think about supporting actress category. Patricia Arqette has won almost sfery critics circle award and probably she will win an oscar, but Stone, Streep and Chastain are brilliant in their roles and they deserve an oscar.
THANK YOU for the knock on ScarJo’s performance in ‘Under The Skin.’ I thought I was taking crazy pills in being totally underwhelmed by that performance (and movie) while everyone else was praising it. Does she do anything in that movie that literally just about any actress couldn’t have done in the same role? It’s barely even a performance.
Re: Ryan Adams. In fact, Pike gave the best lead actress performance I’ve seen this year, so she’d be atop my list too. It’s also quite true that Sasha can write whatever kind of post she wishes, and naturally most “best of the year” types of posts are inclined to give more time to the top choice than the later choices, you’re quite right. It just struck me as odd as Sasha devoted 90% of her post to Pike and then sloughed the rest together at the end….it would’ve made more sense, in my eyes, had she just devoted the entire thing to Pike and not bothered with the 2-11 candidates. Just my opinion.
Aniston and Pike blew me away with their performance, just one of the year bests for year.
@Phantom
Disagree with you there about Adams’ chances
Voters look at box office only for blockbuster films, last years Dallas Buyers club (and before that TWC’s The Artist) flopped at the box office yet won Oscars. Big eyes will make more than theory of everything, possibly Birdman, foxcatcher, the homesman and yet the film’s Best Pic chances aren’t close tp Birdman or ToE. I think box office won’t hurt Adams especially if the film rebounds after the holidays yet so I think she will replace Felicity.
I know this will never happen, but I’d love to see Kristin Wiig (The Skeleton Twins) and Rose Byrne (Neighbors) recognized. Byrne is a really underrated comedic actress–she was the best part of Bridesmaids, and after I Capture the Castle, Damages, Marie Antoinette, etc…I’m glad that she’s getting higher profile roles (however slight the movies).
I’m rooting for Pike all the way. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be unhappy if Moore won the Oscar, she is an amazing actress and really overdue.
Davis and The Babadook not being eligible for Oscars this year is a crime. The Academy needs to change its outdated rules to include films that were released simultaneously on VOD and theaters. Film as a medium is evolving with the ways people watch movies. The academy needs to follow suit.
Robyn Buck!!!! Sorry
My favorite female lead performance of the year was Robyn Bunch in the small indie “Hard Sun” I would put her performance up against anyone’s this year to bad probably not a lot saw it
I’d also like to add my favourite actress of most of this year (until I had the chance to watch more stuff): Robin Wright was absolutely brilliant and crazy brave in “The Congress”, and her work should have gotten much more praise than it did.
still one of my favourite performances of 2014, no question.
Andre, such personal and meaningful sharing – thank you. Essie Davis has been kicking around the industry for 20 years or so; and i have never forgotten the experience i had with her in 1995 when i was working in television and we were auditioning actors for roles in a sitcom. I had the (un) fortunate job of reading opposite those who read for the parts.There was a reason i was always behind the camera! I was so dazzled by her intensity and presence nearly two decades ago! Essie literally sucked the air out of the room with her focus and verve. She didn’t get a part with us, but i watched her score supporting roles in movies; major theatrical roles both in Australia and England; more tv work recently and feature film. She is nominated for Best Lead Actress at the AACTA awards next month.
I haven’t seen THE BABADOOK yet, buy I discovered Essie Davis just a couple weeks ago.
I started watching the Australian tv series MISS FISHER’S MURDER MYSTERIES on NETFLIX.
She plays a liberated woman in 1920’s Melbourne who is also a detective.
The whole thing is a delight. And Davis is sensatiional.
It’s funny how, if an actor is not in Hollywood movies, he or she just doesn’t exist, no matter how good or successful in other countries.
So I guess here’s hoping Hollywood takes notice of the wonderful Miss Davis.
I wonder how many treasures are out there to be “discovered”
I could honestly write 10 paragraphs about how Essie Davis gave the most accurate portrayal of bipolar disorder (which I unfortunately suffer from) I have ever seen in film. I have honestly never felt so understood by a film as I did with “The Babadook”.
this year was an embarrassment of riches for great female characters and performances. if only every year were like this..
— if this post was a solar system, Pike is the sun and everyone else is a mere planet.
Sounds about right. We could all write more about our #1 favorites than our #8, #9, #10 favorites, yes?
This isn’t network TV where there are laws about giving equal time to every candidate. This is place where we come to be opinionated and play favorites and be biased. We don’t fake our enthusiasm or hide our allegiance around here. You don’t, I don’t.
Nobody imposes artificial equity on 50 movies or 50 performances that we all know are not equal in our own estimation. (and all of us have our own reasons).
Q Mark, if you have a different favorite actress, you’re invited to write 10 paragraphs about her. Please do. Do it here or do it in the “Oscar, hear my plea” post. I look forward to reading your praise for any alternatives you care to write about.
🙂
I see a lot people are putting Rosamund Pikes performance down because they are scared she will win the oscar. Sorry guys but her performance is one of the best female leads in years.I just cannot start begin to describe how amazing her performance was.Her unblinking stare,her whole performance especially in the second act was mind blowing.Come on guys give credit were credit is due and leave the politics behind.How on earth can people say Julianne Moore is the frontrunner without even seeing her film ? Rosamund Pike can win this oscar.Its not a popularity contest . Its not about your acting resume,its about the performance that stands out the most in the year.You may not like Rosamund Pikes performance but you cannot relegate her to a brides made.She was outstanding.
Essie Davis was my favourite actress of the year (so far, though I can’t imagine anyone beating her), but I want Moore to win the Oscar because
a) she deserves it and
b) watching “Still Alice” with my mum next to me was one of the loveliest movie-watching experiences I ever had. Seeing my mum react to her saying “I don’t have to be fair; I’m your mother!” with complete delight and agreement is one perfect examples of why I love movies so goddamn much.
amazing choices in your list, ma’am! =)
Felicity Jones DID made me cry, though… that doesn’t happen often
Did the last 10 actresses on this list even need paragraphs? Just from a post-writing and structural perspective, it makes no sense to even expend the time on token paragraphs for those ten after writing so many words in clear and unequivocal praise of Pike. This post isn’t “The Performances Of The Year,” it’s the “Performance” Of The Year singular — if this post was a solar system, Pike is the sun and everyone else is a mere planet.
Just saw Big Eyes yesterday. Christophe Waltz chews up so much scenery that it’s hard to really notice Adams’ performance (as much as I love her). It was like watching two different films at the same time
Marion Cotillard for Two Days, One Night the best female performance of the year.
My ideal candidates for Best Actress thus far would be
Marion Cotillard – The Immigrant
Tilda Swinton- Only Lovers Left Alive
Gugu Mbatha Raw- Beyond the Lights
Essie Davis – The Babadook
Agata Kulesza- Ida
You make a good argument for Pike and Gone Girl, but I must say I found that the film and Pike didn’t really grab me. I found her performance to be really up and down, but never hitting the right notes. I found her to be overly gimmicky when she assumed different personalities. Usually I am a big Pike fan. She was so brilliant in Barney’s version and she was really convincing at aging throughout the film. I thought she’d bring that same layeredness to Gone Girl.
Glenn Close still gave the best “psycho bitch” perf in Fatal Attraction.
Scarlett Johansson does much more then walk around she emotes through her body language and while her face may be stoic throughout it is the way she moves that makes the performance all the greater.
The Dardenne brothers (directors of 2 Days, 1 Night) are Belgian, not French.
Recently, they did a survey of the perfect female body. Women chose the tall thin body of Cameron Diaz. Men chose the curves of Kate Upton. Men don’t force women to be thin and pretty. Women do it because of other women and then blame men for it.
Why do people keep praising a performance where she basically walks around saying nothing?
walks around naked saying nothing. nakedly silently walking around in the nude, with no clothes on. naked butt, naked boobs, naked frontal parts, you name it, it had a lot of hot naked stuff. (creepy hot. but still.), like 50 times more naked than ben affleck ever was.
(in all honestly, Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin was hypnotically riveting. even with clothes on. which was seldom. but still.)
Sasha, because her expressions were so powerful she didn’t need any lines. I’m not by any means a Scarlett fan but she was given one of the best career roles.
+ Shailene Woodley’s understated turn in The Fault in our Stars was probably her best performance to date.
I forgot to add. Angelina Jolie was excellent in Maleficent. Not an Oscar role, sure, still, after a four year hiatus from acting, she sure showed she’s still got it.
Honestly Sasha and everyone who is fans of the Pike performance in Gone Girl I personally do
not get it. Maybe it’s because the amy character on screen was not what I read on the page or
most likely it is because the work done by Pike in the film was quite inconsistent. You may praise
her performance to the heavens but sadly I never get the fuss about the performance and find
from her dodgy american accent to her acting choices being quite weak that her getting a actress
nomination is because of the weakness in the category and more so based on buzz over actual
performance.
If I were to run down a list of some of the year’s best female performances it would consistent of
Julianne Moore in Still Alice because while I have not seen her work in Maps that counts as a
2015 film and I will wait till next year to praise her work. Going back to Moore in Still Alice I do
not get why many people judge the film harshly and write it up as a lifetime film of the week for
me it is Moore’s performance that makes the entire film more worth the watch and makes it a
much better film. This Moore performances reminded me of her work nearly 20 years ago in
Todd Hayne’s brillant Safe film where the less she does makes the performance the better. In
each of her scenes you can see the great talent Moore posses as she adds such minor details to
her performances and these all add together to make this one of the better leading actress
performances of the year.
I have not seen Wild, Into the Woods, The Theory of Everything, Cake, Mommy or Big Eyes so
maybe my judgement of leading actresses is not the best but outside of Moore some other
women I would suggest who did stellar work this year are. Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin:
talk about a villian female performance, people easily go towards Pike’s work but it is
Johansson’s work that is the more effective to me from her stoic movements to her subtle passes
at other presences on screen her performance like the film is a unique experince. Marion
Cotillard in The Immigrant/Two Days, One Night: Cotillard since her oscar winning turn in La Vie
en Rose has been doing stellar work and once again she shows her imence talent giving two of
the year’s best performances. As Ewa Cybulska in The Immigrant Cotillard is able to show such
strength and passion to one character within the limits of a character trying to survive only the
worse of circumstances in life. Then as Sandra Bya in Two Days, One Night once again she gives
what could be seen as a quiet performance but exploring the journey of this one women and
how her story ends it helps to form probably some of Cotillard’s strongest work throughout her
entire career which still is blossoming seven years following La Vie en Rose.
Gugu Mbatha Raw in Belle/Beyond the Lights: What a breakthrough this actress has had with the
sad part being most of americagoing unaware of her incredible work. In Belle she gives such a
great restrained performance but it is Beyond the Lights where her full range is explored playing
both the damaged soul of a pop star and the oversexualized vision the music industry has for her
character and balancing both of these sides to the character makes her work that bit even more
impressive. Jessica Chastain in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: While I have only seen the
them version of the story in the feature it is clear as always Chastain is an actress of emense
talent and while I may have some problems with cutting the two features into one nothing of it
involves Chastain’s performance and as always she is stunning to watch on screen and similarly to
The Immigrant if Weinstein had not messed with this film maybe Chastain would have a chance
of happening. Other women like Rose Byrne (Neighbors) and Kristen Wiig (The Skeleton Twins)
provide some of the pure comedic performances of the year and with the golden globes have a
seperate category for comedy it is sad that women like Mirren, Wallis and Adams are getting in
above actual comedic performances. One of the discoveries of the year is Essie Davis in The
Babadook who in my opnion gives the best actress performance in a horror film since Sissy
Spacek in Carrie. Playing a mother not wanting to be a mother it is her performance that makes
the film worth the watch and she is captivating from her first minutes on screen to her final ones.
Since I have not seen all the female performances for this year so far at this moment my top 5 at
the moment are:
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Essie Davis, The Babadook
Scarlett Johansson, Under the Skin
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Gugu Mbatha Raw, Beyond the Lights
I love Cotillard in TWO DAYS ONE NIGHT, but I think her role in THE IMMIGRANT is far more demanding and glorious. She is simply sublime as Ewa, her best role yet together wit RUST AND BONE.
Excellent list! I agree that Pike’s performance is the most powerful of the year, she doesn’t just play Amy Dunne, she IS Amy Dunne, giving a multi-layered portrait of an extraordinary anti-hero that will linger for years.
I would have included Tilda Swinton in the list. She was great in Snowpiercer, another role that anybody would’ve thought more suitable to a man (Tiny correction: the Dardennes are Belgian). And she was awesome in Only Lovers Left Alive, which I’ve just watched. I thought 2014 had just so many good films that I really don’t find it a weak year.
In my opinion, Marion Cotillard in The Immigrant was simply the best. A silent movie performance, a Garbo-like star turn in a very difficult role about a woman who seems to be losing all her battles – but that never stops her from saving her sister. She suffers, she may be a victim, but a victim that knows how to be resilient. It’s a very very complicated role, and the fact that she excels in it and still projects one of the most charismatic performances (everybood feels for her) of the year tells you volumes about Cotillard’s skills as an actress.
yes Essie Davis is fabulous.
I would also add Scarlett Johansson in Under The Skin, Marion Cotillard in The Immigrant and Mia Wasikowska in Tracks.
I’m not totally sold about Pike’s performance. I mean, the role is incredible, well written and ground-breaking on every level, but something about the performance didn’t fully convince me. Pike’s stylized approach is intriguing but I didn’t believe her. For me, she was always acting the multiple faces of Amy without really being them. Only in the “cunt” moment I felt that Pike let the real Amy finally emerge. Don’t know…. I felt the performance was not credible as a REAL character.
Julianne Moore as Havana Segrand remains my first choice as the best female performance of the year.
Too bad the big screen can’t provide the same canvas of opportunity for actresses as the small screen can.
Yes. Although, in all fairness, I hate to think how 5 hours of HBO Olive Kitteridge would have to be abbreviated and downright mutilated in order to fit into a 2-hour or even a 150-minute theatrical film. Long-form TV gives writers, directors and actors the luxury of leisurely scope and sprawl that movies cannot offer.
It’s also hard to imagine as many people buying individual movie tickets to see Multiplex Olive Kitteridge as the millions who were able to see HBO Olive Kitteridge for the price of their monthly subscription.
True, TV offers opportunities that movies do not. But this is true too: thanks to TV, new opportunities exist that never existed before and otherwise never would.
1. Charlotte Gainsbourg – Nymphomaniac
2. Mia Wasikowska – Tracks
3. Marion Cotillard – Deux jours, une nuit
4. Nina Hoss – Phoenix
5. Essie Davis – The Babadook
Good slate to choose from, but from what I have seen so far this year, all fall short of the best performance by a female actor in any medium this year: Frances McDormand in Olive Kitteridge. Too bad the big screen can’t provide the same canvas of opportunity for actresses as the small screen can.
Haven’t seen Moore yet, but I’ll be satisfied if she or Pike take the prize. It should be noted, though, that McDormand created the most memorable, fleshed-out character onscreen this year without relying on either physical nor mental illness issues.
Two Days, One Night is not French, it’s Belgian.
Having just seen Into the Woods, I am completely enamored with Emily Blunt and her performance. Her portrayal is kind-natured, naturalistic, warmly sly, and yet, shes also a flawed human being (what she doesin the woods). Lastly, she sings SO well. Who knew?!?! I was touched by her performance and it will definitely land in my own Top 10. I feel like early “she was okay” buzz + Disney studios (not known to be great Oscar folks) will prevent her from a possible nomination. Thats a shame because official reviews point her out as MVP and that 5th slot is/was ripe for the picking.
I’m also glad that Sasha pointed out Hilary Swank again, who certainly has gotten a raw deal this awards season. She now seems like the type of actress who wont be nominated again until she’s in a barnburner Oscar movie.
P.S. I love those screenshots from Gone Girl.
As much as I would LOVE to see Julianne Moore finally win, I am rooting for Rosamund Pike. She delivered the most memorable, iconic, instant classic female performance of 2014 and if there were any justice, she would win so when years from now we look back at 2014 we won’t have to ask ourselves “and Rosamund Pike did NOT win ?” Having said that, I would be just as happy for the very deserving and very overdue Julianne Moore (who regardless of this year, may very well take Best Actress for Freehold next year).
As for personal favourites, my top3 are Rosamund Pike (epic), Jessica Chastain (SO memorable and utterly heartbreaking) and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (how she is NOT a huge contender, that I don’t know). Having said that I am fully aware that the consensus five is Moore, Pike, Witherspoon, Jones and Aniston and considering their rock hard precursor track record (SAG-GG-CC for all five), they will be probably the Oscar nominees, as well…if there is any wiggle room, I think Jones will be snubbed (the others carry their films, hers is all about the male lead) in favour of either Amy Adams or Emily Blunt. A few days ago I would have said Adams, but now that the voting started the most recent memory in voters’ minds about her film is that it is a “flop” so that horrible timing may have crushed her chances this year. Blunt on the other hand is in a big fat (very recent) hit, playing a famous role alongside the great Meryl Streep, and considering she has been around for a while now (came close to Oscar twice (Prada, Victoria)) and had a great year (Into the Woods, Edge of Tomorrow), I wouldn’t be shocked at all if she made it in the end. I guess we’ll know more about how strong she is after the Bafta nominations…if she (or Adams or Mbatha-Raw) sneaks in there, an Oscar surprise might just be in the works…
An embarrassingly thin slate?! The 10 you listed were great apart from the others you haven’t listed! Maybe the slate of actresses the academy is considering…sure. I may have to agree with you about the best performance of the year. If it’s not the best performance, which it probably won’t end up being to me, it’s certainly the most memorable.
Damn these middle aged eyes! Mia Wasikowska!
Mia Waskiowska in Tracks i thought was superb.
Great reiteration of the power of superlative acting. There may have been less of them; but they are there to be embraced. It will still be a wonderful category come Oscar night.
Ah Essie Davis! Thanks.
Where does Essie Davis fit on an extended list? I thought she was great!
From what I’ve seen this year, in Best Actress, I liked Anne Hathaway’s astronaut in INTERSTELLAR, Scarlett Johansson’s Alpha female in LUCY, and Emily Blunt for both the baker’s misbehaving wife in INTO THE WOODS and her warrior woman in EDGE OF TOMORROW.
when a woman’s only source of power is her sexuality you are still very much inside the box.
um, so to speak…
🙂