Alex in Movieland

Celebrating 100 profiles



As you can see, this is a special post, dedicated to the achievement of writing here, on this blog, about 100 Best Actress nominated performances. There’s still plenty to go, that’s for sure. But I thought it’s a good time to name my favorite 5 performances that I’ve discussed here, and also remember the 5 that I thought least deserved their nominations.

It is also a good time to make some corrections in the number of stars I’ve given over the years. I feel I was too judgmental with 2 performances, and at the same time too generous with one other.

So here we go.



1. Top 5 performances from the 20 Best Actress years analyzed so far

They are in chronological order. Personally, I know which is the best so far (no, it’s not the one you think), but I’d rather keep that to myself as I truly LOVE all these 5 performances. There were plenty of runner-ups, but I’m confident I’ve chosen the ones I love the most:







Bette Davis, in All About Eve (from the Best Actress 1950 nominees)













Elizabeth Taylor, in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (from the Best Actress 1966 nominees)












Ingrid Bergman, in Autumn Sonata (from the Best Actress 1978 nominees)












Geraldine Page, in The Trip to Bountiful (from the Best Actress 1985 nominees)












Marion Cotillard, in La vie en rose (from the Best Actress 2007 nominees)







Not much to say about these performances, right?! One has been with me for most of my lifetime, one I’ve discovered while writing for this blog, but I really respect and admire all of them.

Now let’s go to the less fortunate:





2. Least deserving 5 performances from the 20 Best Actress years analyzed so far

The same, they are in chronological order:

Irene Dunne, in Cimarron (from the Best Actress 1931 nominees)
Jennifer Jones, in Love Letters (from the Best Actress 1945 nominees)
Vanessa Regrave, in Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (from the Best Actress 1966 nominees)
Gena Rowlands, in Gloria (from the Best Actress 1980 nominees)
Anne Bancroft, in Agnes of God (from the Best Actress 1985 nominees)


No mystery on who I think is the worst here, given that Anne Bancroft’s Agnes of God performance received the only 1 star I’ve ever given.
Also: Andrew, sorry for including Vanessa, I know you like her performance, but it just didn’t work for me. :(





3. Some corrections

Because it’s a milestone in my Best Actress series, I’m giving myself the chance to correct 3 of the ratings I’ve given for the past 3 years. These changes do not affect the rankings of the performances in their individual Best Actress years. I just think I should’ve given a different number of stars:

Moving up:
- Catherine Deneuve for Indochine (1992 race): from the current moving up to .
- Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008 race): from the current moving up to .


Going down:
- Ellen Burstyn for Resurrection (1980 race): from to .




And that’s about it.
Thanks for stopping by!
And the Best Actress discussions will continue!