Number 30: Dianne Wiest as Helen Sinclair in "Bullets over Broadway" (Best Supporting Actress Ranking)

I know, everyone is supposed to bow to Dianne Wiest’s celebrated turn as alcoholic Broadway diva Helen Sinclair in Woody Allen’s Bullets over Broadway. She’s usually considered one of the most deserving winners this category has ever seen and so it may come as a surprise that she is ‘only’ my number 30 – but while I also love and respect this performance, my love and respect has never gone so far as that of most other people. Personally, I prefer Jennifer Tilly and Tracy Ullman to Dianne Wiest but it’s easy to see why her performance was such a sensation in 1994 and still is today.

In a movie that tries to be such as theatrical as the world it presents, Dianne Wiest gives a very theatrical and calculated performance in which every gesture and every line delivery seem to be prepared to the smallest detail. All this works very well and from a technical point of view, Dianne Wiest is truly flawless. Unlike Mary Astor in The Great Lie, she achieved to become a true diva in every sense of the word, self-assured, eccentric, neurotic, strong but also insecure. The way she walks and holds her cigarette, the ways she always talks with such an intense voice as if she is constantly onstage – everything works very well and results in a well-crafted, intelligent performance. Dianne Wiest uses her voice in the most effective way, shouting orders in the deepest tone or charming David with a bird-like whisper. Sometimes I feel that her performance is too calculated and controlled – the character of Helen Sinclair often fails to fascinate me as much as she should because there is something too unnatural in Dianne Wiest’s work. Dianne Wiest also suffers from the fact that Helen Sinclair is a very one-dimensional character – almost every scene with her is the same, she is either talking about the script or talking about David’s future.

Those complaints are also the reason why Dianne Wiest never reaches a higher position in my ranking (the last time I did it, she had a similar position). But the fact that she did manage to make it up to number 30 shows more than enough that, even though there might be some problems, her performance is still extremely memorable, most of all because of Dianne Wiest’s technical skills and her ability to let Woody Allen’s often too contrived dialogue come alive in her mouth.

And even though I don’t think that this performance is truly funny, she does have some amusing moments, like when she is seducing David by showing him her favorite spot in the park and she dramatically declares ‘It’s magical. It’s magical.’ Or when she is in the theater the first time and tells that she is late because ‘my pedicurist had a stroke.’ And of course, then there is her unforgettable ‘Don’t speak’ – again, those scenes are extremely calculated but Dianne Wiest somehow makes them work and turns them into some of the most unforgettable movie moments ever.  

Her overall best moment has to be this: ‘You stand on the brink of greatness. The world will open to you like an oyster. No,  no not like an oyster. The world will open to you like a magnificent vagina…Oh the train is moving so fast! Oh, David it’s so fast! Oh hold me, hold me! No, no, don’t speak! No, don’t speak!’

So, I might not love it as much as most others do but I, too, appreciate and admire the work by Dianne Wiest.

Number 45: Dianne Wiest as Holly in "Hannah and her Sisters" (Best Supporting Actress Ranking)

I used to dislike this performance for a very long time and never got all the praise it received – but this time, I am more on the pro-side and will admit that Dianne Wiest gives a great and memorable performance in Woody Allen’s Hannah and her Sister (but I will forever stand by my opinion that Barbara Hershey was the true stand-out in the cast and should have won that Oscar).

In the part of Holly, a neurotic wanna-be actress with some drug problems in her past, Dianne Wiest gets a chance to display all her qualities for being neurotic, a little crazy, unusual. All these tics combined with her talent for comedy and drama work very well and create maybe not the most interesting character in the movie but one who constantly develops new shades and characteristics.

Dianne Wiest’s Holly is pretty much an extremely unhappy character, something she likes to blame others for even though the truth is that she owes a lot of her unhappiness to herself. She doesn’t get ahead as an actress, the man she likes dates her friend, nobody seems to see her as a serious person but rather as a never-ending cause of trouble and problems. So it’s actually nice to see how Dianne Wiest lets Holly slowly find new self-respect and a new meaning in life – at the end of Hannah and her Sister, all characters have changed but no other change came as unexpected and at the same time gladly welcomed as that of Holly.

Dianne Wiest’s talent for comedy and drama works in great harmony with Woody Allen’s script and work as a director – she constantly finds some surprising ways to make the viewer laugh even in a serious situation while she can quickly bring a certain sadness and hopelessness into more funny moments. Her most memorable moment is easily her date with Woody Allen ('The room is alive with constant vibration!’ or ‘I love songs about extra-terrestrial live, don’t you?’ and ‘I was so bored!!!’ or the way she is always moving while sitting in the restaurant) but she also works very well with Mia Farrow and Barbara Hershey. During their dinner in a restaurant, it becomes clear how extremely difficult Holly is but at the same time it’s obvious that she never acts with the intention to hurt or harm anybody – she simply doesn’t know any better.

Holly’s little self-esteem is also shown when she tells Hannah about an audition for a Broadway musical and lets one remark from her confuse her completely. All these moments are a nice contrasts to later moments when she dares to ask Mickey if he would like to read her script and when she begins to get her life together. Everything that was so annoying and difficult about Holly in the beginning suddenly becomes rather charming and captivating. And her final scene with Woody Allen is, of course, absolutely delightful (and I think that every actress who has to kiss Woody Allen and makes it look voluntarily deserves some kind of award…).

So, it took me some time to really appreciate this performance (but I still probably don’t appreciate it nearly as much as her countless fans) but by now I truly enjoy her work and respect her for all the details and thoughts that went into this performance and made it look completely fresh and original.