From Janet Gaynor in 1929 up until today, only one black woman, Halle Berry, has ever received this recognition. These women are remarkable but in looking at the list, what is striking is who has won this award year after year. It is a testament of just how talented the best actresses are despite the constraints of misogyny. In La Vie en Rose, Marion Cotillard embodies the spirit of Édith Piaf bringing an icon vibrantly to life once more.īest Actress: The History of Oscar-Winning Women focuses on the first 75 women who won the Oscar for Best Actress between 19.
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Charlize Theron brings unexpected nuance and grit to her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos and manages to inspire empathy rather than disgust. In The Accused, Jodie Foster plays a woman who has been brutalized by a gang of men but is determined, with the help of a committed lawyer, to finding justice for herself. These actresses transcend narrow tropes and infuse their roles with heart and courage, grace and intelligence. That is what makes their performances so extraordinary-how these actresses soar past the limitations of their work. Though the roles available to women in film are often quite lacking, though these roles often treat women as caricatures rather than characters, the best actresses make the most of the material they are given. Take, for example The Piano, where Holly Hunter plays a mute woman and evokes so much with her remarkable performance, much of which is rendered in silence. But then, there are the years when women get to be fully inhabited, fascinating characters. Some years, the film industry offers us the distinct impression that we cannot imagine anything for women that doesn’t revolve around derivative stereotypes and the expectation that women are merely decorative and involved in any given story only insofar as she will help a man learn something significant about himself or achieve some grand ambition. Bates’s win was particularly gratifying because she did not fit the typical mold of women who win acting Oscars.Ĭlearly, some years, cinematic offerings are more encouraging than others. Kathy Bates did, for her turn in Misery as Annie Wilkes, a lonely, obsessed fan, who held her favorite writer captive in icy Colorado until he re-wrote one of his stories to her satisfaction. Despite her charismatic performance, Roberts did not win that year. Roberts was incredibly charming-sexy but just innocent enough to be appealing instead of intimidating.
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People are often surprised to learn that one of my favorite movies is Pretty Woman (1990), for which Julia Roberts was nominated for Best Actress, playing Vivian, a prostitute who shows a brooding billionaire how to love and be loved.
Each year, I see as many movies as I can-to be entertained, for sure, but also to understand how movies reflect what we value as a culture, and what we imagine to be possible for women. I’ll laugh at the implausibility of romantic comedies and sit, holding my breath, as I watch Natalie Portman take on the role of a prima ballerina in Black Swan.Īs a feminist cultural critic, I am particularly interested in women’s stories, whatever those stories may be. I can get down with the stylized action of the John Wick franchise as much as I enjoy a taut and intense drama like Room, for which Brie Larson won the Best Actress Oscar.
I love movies-the good, the bad, and everything in between.