Sophie’s Choice

[bleary 333]

10 minutes ago, ol' eddy wrecks said:

I was going to ask if you meant lead actress or actress in a lead role? I think actresses can be considered the lead actress even of their role isn't the primary part of the movie.

Let's say top-billed or second-billed.  That would exclude Amy Adams in The Master.  Michelle Williams is a good pick, but as you allude to, I don't anticipate any of her films ending up on AFI ballots.  (Except for Brokeback, which she's not top- or second-billed in.)

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

1 hour ago, bleary said:

Let's say top-billed or second-billed.  That would exclude Amy Adams in The Master.  Michelle Williams is a good pick, but as you allude to, I don't anticipate any of her films ending up on AFI ballots.  (Except for Brokeback, which she's not top- or second-billed in.)

Lost in Translation could conceivably make the next list (and then spend the subsequent decades falling off of it), but that would be one for Scarlett Johansson. After that, I really liked Under the Skin, but that's my sensibilities, and probably not the AFI's sensibilities (though I'm also trying to think of answers for my own sensibilities for myself since my sensibilities matter more to me than the AFI's tastes). And Her is more of a Joaquin Phoenix centered movie though she does play a lead role.  So that's potentially a stretch for three.

I'd have to look, but maybe Nichole Kidman had multiple great movies? I mean, there was a stretch where she was in a lot of movies. I'm assuming for this we can count non-American movies, e.g. Lars von Trier movies, if we need to stretch/reach.

ETA: Charlize Theron has both Monster and Fury Road (which lots of people felt like she was the real lead in that movie, though people love it more for its world and caricatures).  Those are both movies I could conceive as showing up in some version of the AFI list (disclaimer: I haven't seen Monster. I just know it had a lot of praise, though I don't remember if it was standard Oscar-fare type of praise).

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

I also want to point out based on @AlmostAGhost's post, gifs on twitter agree with Pauline Kael.  You can't picture Meryl Streep from the neck down.

[WatchOutForSnakes 807]

18 hours ago, grudlian. said:

Yeah, but Meryl Streep doesn't have Look Who's Talking Now.

Meryl Streep does have She-Devil, which could make very easily for a HDTGM episode. 

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

13 hours ago, bleary said:

Are there examples of the opposite?  Can you name an actress in the last 30 years (good or bad) who is the lead actress in multiple great films?

Part of me wonders if films where a female is top billed are just less likely to be considered great.  And for better or worse, Streep seems to choose great roles over working with so-called prestige directors (possible exceptions being Sydney Pollock for Out Of Africa and Robert Altman for Prairie Home Companion).

It's either that movies with a top-billed female aren't seen by the public as "important" enough to be great, or that the opportunities for such movies are fewer in the first place and thus there are not as many to choose from. Maybe a little of both.

I'm not necessarily restricting it to "top billed" (Streep certainly wasn't the top billed in Adaptation), more that you'd consider them one of the lead characters. That would disqualify examples like Streep in The Deer Hunter or Manhattan, where she's on screen for a pretty small amount of the running time, but could still include something like The Devil Wears Prada, where Anne Hathaway is really the lead but Streep is certainly playing a major character.

Given that, you could make cases for Scarlett Johansson or Amy Adams.

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

Belated comparative list post

AFI (2007 | 1997): 91st | Not on

BFI Critic's poll, 2012 (ranking, US filtered ranking, votes): --, --, 0 votes

BFI Director's poll, 2012 (ranking, US filtered ranking, votes): --, --, 0 votes

IMDB (rank, rating): ??, 7.6 rating (it looks like number 250 on the list has a 8.0 rating)

Metascore: 68

TSFDT (ranking, US filtered ranking): not in top 2000

Oscar BP status: not nominated, winner Terms of Endearment

 

[Josh Duggan 1]

On 11/30/2018 at 8:29 AM, WatchOutForSnakes said:

Meryl Streep does have She-Devil, which could make very easily for a HDTGM episode. 

She-Devil and Death Becomes Her are both very HDTGM-able.