The Muriels: Female Performance of the Decade
By Craig Kennedy - February 9th, 2010; 8:39 am
The Muriel for the Best Female Performance of the Decade goes to: Naomi Watts – Mulholland Dr.
How could it not?
Filed under: Awards
Tags: The Muriels
But alas, I haven’t seen Mulholland Drive (or Inland Empire for that matter). So I’m in the dark on Muriel’s #1 choice.
However, I’m in enthusiastic agreement with Kate Winslet, Sally Hawkins, and Julianne Moore. I’d also rate Christie (Away From Her) way up there, as well as Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) and Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal).
I’d include Linney for The Savages, Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler), and Melissa Leo (Frozen River), with special mention for Catherine Keener (Into the Wild) and Vanessa Redgrave (Atonement).
I think she was #2 on my list, possibly behind Ellen Burstyn, but either way more deserved. I’m actually a little surprised Sally Hawkins landed that high, though. My other votes were Blanchett (I’m Not There), Diane Lane (Unfaithful – the only vote for it?!?!), and Theron (Monster).
This was a fun category.
I would have gone with Cotillard instead and it’s kind of sad to see she wasn’t even in the runners up list. But my goodness, Watts was electrifying (see what I did there?) in MD. Muriel’s 2/2 so far.
Again, happy with my top pick, (watts), less so with the remainder. A decade of acting is a lot to compress into five choices so it’s not surprising there are a number of favored performances that have been overlooked.
I still remember the moment Watts clicked for me in MD. For the first part I was thinking how corny she was and sort of wondering what Lynch was up to and then she goes to the audition and a switch flips and I suddenly realized the girl was more than just a pretty face.
With the caveat that I didn’t see Naomi Watts’s performance, I’m with Dorothy regarding Mlle. Cotillard.
For those of you keeping score at home, here’s how I voted:
1. Naomi Watts, Mullholand Drive
2. Laura Dern, Inland Empire
3. Bjork, Dancer in the Dark
4. Maggie Cheung, In the Mood for Love
5. Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
If I voted again tomorrow, all but the top could be different.
@Dorothy: I thought of you as soon as I saw that there was only one vote for Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose.
Those are great choices, Craig. I had a feeling you were one of the votes for Maggie Cheung in In the Mood for Love.
Same reaction to Watts in MD as you Craig, made worse by the fact that I’d never seen before. It was like “who is this blonde airhead?”, and then BAM, slap to my face during the audition scene.
Man, if there were a “Best Cinematic Moments of the Decade” we would have all gone mad trying to narrow to five, but one would think that scene would be up there.
Daniel~~
That’s exactly why we didn’t do a decade moments category. It’s hard enough narrowing down a year’s worth of moments, let alone ten years.
And not that you asked, but my votes in this category were as follows:
1. Emmanuelle Devos – Gilles’ Wife
2. Isabelle Huppert – The Piano Teacher
3. Mia Kershner – The Black Dahlia
4. Sally Hawkins – Happy-Go-Lucky
5. Hafsia Herzi – The Secret of the Grain
Sort of like yesterday, when I was paring down to my final five, I tried to nominate performances that might not get much love from anyone else. And while I was the only one who went to bat for Kershner, Herzi, and Devos (the performance of the decade, male or female, in my opinion), at least my votes for Huppert and Hawkins helped.
However, it should be said that Watts would have made my now-purely-theoretical top 10.
My top choice is Julianne Moore for “Far From Heaven”
The three runners-ups that push closest are:
Galina Vishnavskaya (“Alexandre”)
Laura Dern (“Inland Empire”)
Bjork (“Dancer in the Dark”)
A lot of great votes from all y’all there, but Watts deserves it after getting shut out for virtually any awards recognition back in the day. Having watched MD again recently, it really is a powerful performance, especially when she turns the whole thing on its heels not once, but twice.
Julianne Moore in “Far from Heaven”!!! See, that’s the thing with these lists, I always end up forgetting people that are incredibly worthy. Excellent choice there, Sam.
Also, it looks like I really need to see “Inland Empire.”
Alison: you probably heard me gasp in disbelief :)
Glad to see Julie Delpy get some votes for Before Sunset and Laura Linney for You Can Count On Me. I will toss in a word for Gretchen Mol in Notorious Betty Page and Q’orianka Kilcher in The New World as well as a shout-out to Zoe Saldana in Avatar.
Why have I never heard of Esther Kahn (#18)? I’m so embarrassed…
I’ll shout out for Rinko Kikuchi in Babel and Charlotte Gainsbourg in Antichrist.
Why have I never heard of Esther Kahn (#18)? I’m so embarrassed…
You should remedy that. It’s easily available via Netflix, and Summer Phoenix is stunning in it. All the awkwardness that manifests in her other performances is used by Desplechin to the role’s (and film’s) advantage. I know I’m in the minority, but I think it’s Desplechin’s best film (he says, despite still not having seen A Christmas Tale).
Thanks, Steve. I will check it out.
And as far as Emanuelle Devos (who I see is also in <i.Esther Kahn) is concerned, I would have picked her performance in Read My Lips. One of my favorites of the decade.
I would even have trouble picking a #1 at this point. Still so much I have to catch up on.
Watts would definitely be up there, although I think Mulholland Dr. as a film is a tad overrated. I’d also thrown in Ellen Burstyn (Requiem), Kristin Scott Thomas (I’ve Loved You So Long), Ellen Page (Juno or Hard Candy), Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road), and many more, but I’d have to really dig deep.
I think I might be one of the only people who didn’t fall head over heels for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I thought that Jim Carrey was absolutely fantastic, but the frantic method of storytelling ended up minimizing the emotional impact for me. Aside from Carrey, I thought the best part was the Wilkinson/Dunst subplot.
Surely Muriel must consider a new category — Best Cameo of the Decade — in which case Paris Hilton would be high on the list for House of Wax.