The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1966

About the field: Well, I expected more from this year and yet I wasn't disappointed. I liked all of the performances and all of the movies (except for Morgan, which was...). My #1 was such an easy win both here and in real life. It's one of those cases when the actress wins for the career-best, right movie. #2 and #5 was also quite easy, however I had some hard time deciding who should be #3. I'm glad that it turned out this way, which I really did not expect. I was quite certain that my #3 becomes #2 before I wrote my review. However, anything can happen, seasons change. Let's see the ranking:

5. Vanessa Redgrave in Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment

After all, I just feel that I don't have much to say about Vanessa Redgrave in this movie. She's great as usual (and that's going to be rewarded), but the movie is working against her as if she was on a boat during a hurricane.

4. Anouk Aimée in A Man and a Woman

In the end, I can say that I loved Anouk Aimée in this one very much, but sometimes I felt that her performance lacked something and wasn't constantly strong. It's an extremely simple, beautiful, clean and loveable work to which the viewer can easily connect.

3. Ida Kaminska in The Shop on the Main Street

In the end I can say that Ida Kaminska gave an excellent performance, which might be a bit uneven achievement and borderline supporting, but you instantly like the character, care about her and she just breaks your heart in the end. It's a great performance in a movie for the ages.

2. Lynn Redgrave in Georgy Girl

I must say that I was impressed by Lynn Redgrave's performance as the innocent Georgy, who has many layers and a real depth, though sometimes the performance was not constantly strong. Great and effective work, which even moved me, but I guess I wanted a bit more.

1. Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

The writing flies away, but Taylor's performance stays with me forever, locked up firmly in my mind. An actress, who was able to show another, unknown and much more interesting side of hers, now really got me. I'm under its effect and I can't be sober. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

 

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Easy win, Ms. Taylor

About the next year: it was so complicated to choose the next year, but after all I picked a brilliant one I really look forward to reviewing. Unfortunately I cannot do posts until next Friday, but after that there's going to be a lot of time. Let's see the clues:

• Dancing queen...
• To Miss with Love (?)
• Don't lose your head! (Sorry)

So what do you think? Any thoughts, request, anything on your mind?

P.S.: Please comment on Ida's profile. :)

Anouk Aimée in A Man and a Woman

Anouk Aimée received her only Oscar nomination to date for playing Anne Gauthier, a repressed young widow in the French classic, A Man and a Woman. I don't know what to think about her chances of winning: on the one hand, she won the Golden Globe, which was pretty much a miracle, considering the fact that the Globes reward exclusively stars, but on the other hand, Elizabeth Taylor was the one to beat. I think Aimée might have been third in the voting, but I imagine that Taylor got about 75% of the votes at least.

A Man and a Woman is quite simply a great movie: yes, simply, as the main principle of this movie is simplicity. Everything is so nice, ordinary and therefore, simply loveable. The screenplay win was, in my opinion, richly deserved. The situations, the dialogues, the characters' thoughts are so damn realistic: it's not a heavy drama with huge scenes, outbursts and breakdowns, it's just a quiet tale of some natural emotions. I think the Foreign Language Picture award was also deserved.

The performances are just like the movie: quiet, simply, subtle and emotional. The chemistry between the two leads is just excellent: you can feel that they love each other, care about each other and want to be happy with each other, but it's as if there was a huge wall of grief between them. It's especially Anne who suffers from the loss of her husband. As she says in the end: he IS dead, but not for me. Knowing these emotions, Anouk Aimée was able to create a beautiful performance.

When we first see Anne, she's nothing special, she's just a smiling mum having fun with her daughter, telling tales and she seems to be perfectly happy. This is the surface, but Aimée showed the soul of this character with such ease, that it's almost invisible. Yes, Aimée is extremely subtle, but I always felt that there was real foce inside.

Again, when she meets Jean-Louis, nothing special happens: they are in the car talking in a very standard, polite way with a bit embarassment. These little nervous ticks are so exciting and show so much of them: we actually get to know a lot about them even at the beginning of the whole story. The movie itself is rather interesting too and it really helps the performances: everything becomes so natural, that you have actually NO doubt that this could happen in real life.

I always felt that Aimée understood her character quite well, she knew what there was inside her head and was familiar with the insecurities, sadness and guilt of this woman. Anne cannot let her late husband go even though she loves Jean-Louis and wants something more from him. Anne just doesn't have the courage to begin that relationship since she would think it's adultery.

As I said, this is a very natural performance, which has such a beauty that might come from the real beauty of Anouk Aimée. Let's face it: only looking at her is enough, as she charms you instantly becauseof her beauty. If you like a character instantly, it's much easier to connect to her emotionally and it's no problem with Anne: you root for her from the beginning, but in a very odd way. You just wish all the best for her.

However, this immense subtlety also makes her performance a bit undercooked and weak sometimes, especially when the movie focuses on Jean-Louis. When it's mostly about Anne, it doesn't bother you, but she should have been had a bit more impact on me, so that I do not lose connection to her. This is in the middle of the movie, and thankfully, in the end she really gains a lot of strength.

The scene where they are making love (and it's the best expression for it, it's not just having sex, there is so much true love there) focuses on the face Aimée and it's just terrific: there is a strange mix of joy and guilt in it, sometimes she feels great, but sometimes her eyes looks teary. Anouk Aimée perfectly handled and combined all the emotions, which really have an effect on the viewer. It's even better when she's on the train, sitting and thinking. That's probably the most memorable scene of Anouk and quite probably the whole movie too. It's just breathtaking.

In the end, I can say that I loved Anouk Aimée in this one very much, but sometimes I felt that her performance lacked something and wasn't constantly strong. It's an extremely simple, beautiful, clean and loveable work to which the viewer can easily connect. Not a huge achievement, but a great one anyhow.

A firm four.

What do you think? Any thoughts, observations? Tell me!

The Next Year

After closing a poll, the conclusion was obvious: you wanted me to do 1966, so let's just go ahead with it. It's a very popular and yet not frequently talked about race. Everyone praises Taylor, but all the nominees have their fans. But let's just start:

1966

So the nominees were:

• Anouk Aimée in A Man and a Woman
• Ida Kaminska in The Shop on the Main Street
• Lynn Redgrave in Georgy Girl
• Vanessa Redgrave in Morgan
• Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

So what do you think? What are your predictions (the contest is naturally on)? Who's your pick? What's your ranking?

P.S. I am not sure how frequent the posts will be but I'll do my best.