Best Actress 1998 - The resolution!

After having watched and reviewed all five nominated performances, it's time to pick the winner!

5. Meryl Streep in One True Thing

Meryl Streep gives a memorable and moving performance that unfortunately doesn’t give her more chances to create her character apart from the guidelines of the average script as she never gets to show how her illness and the thought of death really affect her. One True Thing spends more time letting people talk about Kate than letting Kate talk for herself but Meryl Streep’s qualities as an actress surely add to the overall impact of the story.

4. Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love

                     

Seldom has an actress ever been so radiant and full of light as Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love. It’s a typical star performance that rests on the actress’s own personality but she is smart enough to see the part’s depth and possibilities and how her character is the beginning and the end of the movie. In creating a character as romantic and charming as the movie she stars in, Gwyneth Paltrow makes an unforgettable impression and creates a wonderfully passionate heroine.

3. Emily Watson in Hilary and Jackie

In the part of Jacqueline, Emily Watson never tries to get the audience’s sympathy. Instead, she more than once shows the unlikable, ugly, manipulative and temperamental sides of her character and gives a difficult and hard-to-understand performance that seems to pose more questions than give answers but it’s a fascinating and unique characterization that dominates and controls the movie.

2. Fernanda Montenegro in Central do Brasil

Fernanda Montenegro has a very distinctive, unique face that is perfectly able to communicate anger, frustration and bitterness without becoming too appalling and maybe distance the character from the viewer. Instead, she is able to combine almost grandmother-like qualities with a strong and unfriendly exterior. In playing Dora, Fernanda Montenegro never tries to manipulate the audience but makes her character’s actions and intentions constantly believable and is always in control of what she wants Dora to communicate to the audience without playing ‘for the audience’.      

1. Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth

In the showy and thankful part of Queen Elizabeth I, Cate Blanchett is always a very dominant and controlling power, a woman who is constantly aware of her acts and deeds, a woman who is both strong and weak and learns about the dangers, schemes and possibilities of her life as a Queen. All this is done in a performance that never seems forced but is constantly extremly natural and believable as it combines the typical domineering gestures and movements one would expect of a Queen with various modern and refreshing acting choices. A truly royal performance!