1. Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (1939)
2. Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
3. Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress (1949)
4. Anne Bancroft in The Graduate (1967)
5. Janet Gaynor in Seventh Heaven (1927-1928)
6. Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
7. Edith Evans in The Whisperers (1967)
8. Greta Garbo in Ninotchka (1939)
9. Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
10. Bette Davis in The Little Foxes (1941)
11. Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965)
12. Glenda Jackson in Women in Love (1970)
13. Barbara Stanwyck in Ball of Fire (1941)
14. Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun (1951)
15. Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)
16. Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
17. Meryl Streep in One True Thing (1998)
18. Katharine Hepburn in Guess who’s coming to dinner (1967)
19. Teresa Wright in The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
20. Jennifer Jones in Love Letters (1945)
21. Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year (1978)
22. Diane Keaton in Marvin's Room (1996)
23. Loretta Young in Come to the Stable (1949)
24. Shirley MacLaine in The Turning Point (1977)
25. Irene Dunne in Cimarron (1930-1931)
26. Diana Wynyard in Cavalcade (1932-1933)
9 comments:
Here are my two cents on Diane’s performance:
Marvin’s Room is the early version of One True Thing, another family drama that deals with the usual ingredients – death, estrangement and reconciliation. Unfortunately, Marvin’s Room never knows what it wants to be – it mixes the drama so many times with sudden comedy but never subtle or appropriate but always in a way that completely destroys the effect. How can you take the back pain of Aunt Ruth serious when the electric device that helps her to stand the pain opens the garage door? How can you take the news of Diane Keaton’s illness serious when Robert de Niro as her doctor constantly goofs around? And this unfortunately also affects Diane Keaton’s overall performance. Of course, mixing comedy and drama comes to her as naturally as breathing and therefore it is not surprising that she was singled-out at the Oscars but her performance is always shockingly flat and thin with nowhere to go and nothing to do.
It’s rather amusing that I constantly complain about the nominations of Meryl Streep but if someone had to be nominated from this movie, I would have preferred to see her. Her character at least has something to do – the problem of Diane Keaton is that the movie is always on her side and puts all blame on Lee: she is the one who is to blame for the lack of contact, she is the one who doesn’t want to take care of her father or her Aunt and she is the one who needs to change. Diane Keaton’s Bessie is constantly put on superior level of morality and Diane underlines this with a too saintly approach, constantly smiling and putting the needs and worries of others ahead of her own – this might work in context of the character but a movie that concerns itself on her serious illness should at least give her a little chance to worry, too. Nothing that Bessie does truly affects the movie apart from her being so endlessly nice. And every chance that the script might offer to deepen the character is wasted: when Lee shouts that she raised two children by herself and neither Bessie nor her father nor her aunt ever contacted her, the issue is dropped again immediately and when she says that she invited Bessie to the Christening of her children and Bessie did not come, Diane Keaton only shrugs with her shoulders to push the topic aside. The movie so openly takes Bessie’s side in everything, ignoring every chance to give the conflict between these two sisters more meaning and Diane Keaton unfortunately wallows in this, giving Bessie a broad and saintly smile in every situation of life.
Don’t get me wrong, in the context of Marvin’s Room, Diane Keaton’s performance works – because it is the goal of the movie to make us cry and offer some heartwarming moments and when you just accept the style and theme, this approach works. But the lack of Diane’s work becomes apparent too quickly afterwards. Just take the scene when she talks about a former boyfriend she had when she was young and who drowned in front of her eyes while she thought he was just clowning around: nothing in Bessie suggests that she would talk about such a horrific experience in such a light and even amusing tone, telling the whole story in a way that would make everyone expect a funny punchline. Instead, Diane suddenly changes her acting to teary-eyed before laughing again – and then the topic is dropped again. Seriously, wtf? Again, it works in the context of the movie – the scene makes you smile and suddenly makes you cry. But this emotional satisfaction still doesn’t make it a great performance – I would have loved to see more doubt in Bessie, telling the story more reluctantly and with more awareness. This is also true of her final monologue: again, her “I had such love in my life” speech works and makes even a cynic like me soft. But again, Diane Keaton’s tells it with such a wide smile that I just wish she had shown more doubt – maybe Bessie just says this to convince herself, not Lee, that her life had worth, now that she is facing death. But Diane is just too convinced of Bessie’s goodness to even think of this. This is also true for the relationship with Lee’s son Hank – Bessie faces a terminal illness but everything in the movie is always about the others and her own dying process becomes a backstory behind Hank’s juvenile delinquency. Does Bessie never think about her own mortality? Did she not only get in contact with Lee because she needs them to be tested so that they might save her? Diane Keaton never explores this possible selfishness and instead always reminds the viewers that she is *that* nice and she only wants to have a good relationship with everyone.
As I said, the performance works in context of the movie and is able to warm and break your heart. But Diane Keaton rejected many chances to provide more dimension in this character and was ultimately too flat and uninspired.
I haven't seen her, surprised she's so low though. Louis, I'd like to ask you - in your old reviews the ratings were a bit different, I mean Ellen Burstyn (1978) and Diane Keaton (1996) were 3,5 and now they're 2. So the performances that used to be a 3 (Dorothy McGuire, Fonda in Coming Home) are now 1,5? Great write up BTW.
Hi Ano (and you can call me Fritz since I am not Louis :) ). Yes, my old reviews are outdated now :) That's why I am doing this ranking now, I am re-doing all performances and judge them newly since I always felt that my old rankings were not right. But you don't have to go by ratings - at the moment, I have no idea which performance will get a 2, which a 3,5...everything is new again :)
Whoops I'm so sorry I got a bit confused 'cause I comment both on your blog and Louis's *palmface* sorry about that. And thanks for the explanation anyway, now I understand.
No problem :)
Fritz, what are your thoughts on Bessie Love in The Broadway Melody? And do you think she's leading or more towards supporting?
I really liked her - I don't know where I would put her in my ranking but I think she was pretty good and stood out in this boring movie. And I would defenitely consider her lead.
What do you think of Pamela Franklin and Celia Johnson in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie?
Post a Comment