Oscars 101: Best Actress

In which I run down on the nominees (and likely winners) of the Academy Awards.

I always feel bad around Oscar time because while I have often seen all - or at least most - of the Best Actor nominees, my knowledge of the Best Actress nominated films is considerably spottier.  At first I thought that it was some deficiency in the types of movies that I was seeing (and, to some degree at least, it is), but the truth is actually much simpler than that.  Historically, Best Picture and Best Actor nominated films have a considerable degree of overlap, while Best Picture and Best Actress nominated films do not.  The types of films that the Academy nominates for Best Actress are often not seen as being among the best films of the year (but that's a topic for another time).  This year's nominees for Best Actress are:

Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Reese Witherspoon – Wild

It's easy to look at Scarlett Johansson and forget what an utterly fantastic actress she is with a penchant for interesting, nuanced and undeniably challenging roles.  In Under the Skin - a film which I plan on going far more in depth on at a later date - she gives one of the most haunting, melancholy and invasive performances of the year.  Similarly, I am shocked at the lack of recognition for Enemy's Sarah Gadon, The Babadook's Essie Davis and Mockingjay's Jennifer Lawrence.  All three women are incredibly talented and were remarkably engaging in their respective roles.  The only reason that I can come to for why they (and Johansson) were omitted is because of the Academy's historical bias to their respective films' genres (Science Fiction and Horror).

Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl - This year's Best Actress race most assuredly will come down to one of two women.  The favorite of the two is Rosamund Pike for her universally lauded turn as demented housewife Amy Dunne.  While some have charged the novel (and, by proxy, its film adaptation) of sexism and poor taste, Pike herself has attracted nothing but impassioned praise, even from the book's and film's most ardent detractors.

And she has earned every scrap of praise that she has earned with the role.  I have long admired her range and skills as an actress, but her turn in Gone Girl was utterly transformative.  You never once see Pike on screen in the film: only Amy.  Strategically switching between battered wife and sociopath, she plumbs the depths of her infuriating and often contradictory character better than any other woman in any film this year.

Julianne Moore in Still Alice - Going down the checklist of what makes a Best Actress winner, Julianne Moore should by rights be the front runner.  She is a celebrated actress with a respected career filled with challenging roles realized with the utmost skill, in an equally challenging (and thoroughly heartrending) role.  Despite being a frequent Oscar nominee (with five nods in sixteen years), she has never once won one herself, making her one of the most overdue actresses working today in that respect.  And with the most challenging, rewarding and fully realized competition left wihtout nominations, there should (in theory at least) be no reason why she would lose.

This year, however, there are two: Rosamund Pike and Reese Witherspoon.  The former is the energetic up-and-coming with an eye-catching role and a lot of pre-award momentum behind her (and being in a hit movie doesn't hurt anything either).  The latter is an Oscar winning actress who, after a post-award stumble, has resurfaced with a quietly powerful role based on a real-life woman's all too common personal problems (which is always a plus with the Academy).  This sadly doesn't look like it's going to be Moore's year at the Oscars.

Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything - This is the kind of nominated performance that makes me scratch my head.  It's a fine performance, to be sure, afforded a lot of meaty moments and whose narrative has near-equal weight to Stephen Hawking's, but it is otherwise just so unexceptional.  It's pleasing to watch, a driving force in its own story and more of what we should be seeing out of Hollywood, but fails to hold its own not just against its fellow nominees, but against the myriad of better performances that it pushed out of contention.

I cannot see any scenario that will result in Felicity Jones winning an Oscar at tomorrow night's ceremony.  I loved her work in The Theory of Everything and look forward to what else she is sure to appear in, but she's trailing at the bottom of the nominees as it is, and doesn't even have Moore's outside hope of a win.

Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night - Marion Cotillard is fast proving herself to be an actress in the same vein of Meryl Streep.  She is a talented, capable, and well respected actress who frequently takes on nuanced roles that constantly keep her on the Academy's radar.  While this is only her second nomination, I see her becoming an omnipresent Academy fixture whose work in any given year will make her a default choice for nomination.

That being said, she is unlikely to repeat her success with La Vie en Rose in 2007.  With an Oscar already under her belt and appearing in a significantly lower profile movie than any of her fellow nominees, she has nothing going for her to propel her to the front of the pack.  Pike has massive critical and popular appeal, Witherspoon is sporting a comeback narrative and Moore has the weight of past neglect on her side.  Cotillard doubtless will succeed at the Oscars for years to come, but not with this role in this movie in this Best Actress lineup.

Reese Witherspoon in Wild - If anybody stands a chance of contesting Rosamund Pike's Oscar certainty it's Reese Witherspoon.  A little older and a little wiser than when we last saw her in 2005's Walk the Line (which really was the last time that anybody saw her in anything), her role in Wild comes complete with a comeback narrative that's sure to strike a chord with Academy voters.

Beyond her riveting role in a reasonably well regarded film, she has the same advantage that fellow Wild actress Laura Dern has: premiere actors' director Jean-Marc Vallée.  After directing both McConaughey and Leto through Oscar winning performances last year, he stands a strong chance of doing so again with Dern and Witherspoon.

Safe Bet: Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl

Long Shot:  Reese Witherspoon in Wild

Longer Shot:  Julianne Moore in Still Alice

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