Tessa is a sort of ambiguous character for me – on the one hand it’s easy to admire her work and her determination to help poor people but on the other hand she is also incredibly...stupid when it comes to her work. An intelligent woman like her should be a little more ‘realistic’ when it comes to fighting in Africa – does she really think that running around and insulting powerful people right and left will help her in any way? Her interest for the live of a young woman in a hospital is admirable but does she even think about her own, dead child for one second? So it is very easy to love Tessa for what she wants to do but also easy to criticise her for how she does it.
But what does all this mean for Rachel Weisz? Well, she is somehow able to ‘sell’ this character – the finds the perfect balance between determination and hesitation, she is powerful without being annoying, charming without being cute. It’s a strong and memorable characterization that helps to turn Tessa into a believable, multidimensional character whose struggle and fights become much more captivating than the screenplay could accomplish.
In the hospital the intentions of her character may not be truly clear but Rachel Weisz is still heartbreaking and powerful when she pleads to Sandy to help her. And later, she communicates so much spoken, unspoken and hidden words when she tries to convince Sandy to give her an important letter.
In some ways, Tessa may only be the set-up for the rest of the story but Rachel Weisz creates Tessa as a domineering presence – when she appears again at the end of the movie, it becomes clear how strong her influence and her presence really are.
It’s a performance that grew on me and that may continue to grow on me in the future – a powerful and dedicated performance that created one of the most fascinating characters in this category.
4 comments:
I don't understand how she won the oscar,i find her underwhelming everytime i see her,adams and williams were much better.
Her acting in this movie as Tessa was WOW! She played her so good! The oscar to her was well-deserved!
I think so too! Both Rachels performance was overwhelming and also the kind of role she played was very complex and worth the oscar. In my opinion it was the best acting performance in 2005 in one of the years best movie.
I read the book and of course the chracters describion is more detailed but they put into the movie what they were able to!
I agree with mrripley.
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