Emma Stone gives the performance of her career in Yorgos Lanthimos’ brilliant, funny and very R-rated Poor Things. Even if it has more in common with, say, Deep Throat than it does Orlando, and edges a little too close to soft-core porn – none of that keeps it from being a showcase for the brilliant actress. Stone must, by default, take the frontrunner spot for Best Actress, even if she faces some stiff competition from Annette Bening, who gave a fearless, vanity-free performance as Diana Nyad in Nyad, not to mention Fantasia Barrino in The Color Purple (sight unseen), Carey Mulligan, also buzzed in Venice. Margot Robbie in Barbie and perhaps Helen Mirren in Golda.
But Stone’s performance has electrified the race, even for those who were mixed on the film overall. Stone plays a Frankenstein’s-monster-like figure who is brought back to life after a successful suicide attempt. Her still-alive baby’s brain is implanted and the two of them — mother and daughter — are brought back to life. She therefore has a infant’s brain that is fast-developing but the body of a woman. Details like whether she still menstruates and therefore can get pregnant again are never really brought up, though one does wonder about that, considering Stone mostly f*cks her way through the entire movie.
The movie absolutely would not work if Stone wasn’t so good. She’s almost upstaged by Mark Ruffalo who also gives the performance of his career as one of the men Stone’s character chews up and spits out on her path to self-awareness. The only question that remains is how Academy voters might take to the movie, which has some uncomfortable scenes and overt, explicit sexuality, and whether they would be ready to give Stone a second win.
The thing to remember is that we’re still five months out from voting. Here is the calendar:
Key dates:
- Preliminary voting, December 14 – December 18
- The Oscar shortlists, December 21
- Nominations voting, January 11-January 16
- Nominations announced, January 23.
- Finals voting, February 22- February 27
If nomination voting still took place over the holidays, as it used to, the focus would be more on what happens here in Telluride, at Venice and in Toronto, etc. Maybe that will hold true this year, what with the strike taking out so many movies, or maybe it won’t be.
At the moment, Emma Stone is getting the kinds of raves that are likely to earn her a frontrunner slot, at least for now. As we know from last year, the narratives that shape the race can effect the outcome, ultimately. How many of us were certain Cate Blanchett had it in the bag for TÁR. In the end, Michelle Yeoh was able to pull in a win for the favorite, Everything Everywhere All at Once. The race was also impacted by the Andrea Riseborough incident which caused enough of a fuss that the Academy had to reconsider its rules for campaigning.
We don’t need to go into all of what happened last year, but, as always, there will be a push-pull between awarding a contender that is highly praised but a white woman versus a contender who is highly praised and representative of a marginalized group. There is no point in pretending the elephant is not standing in the middle of the room. It is. It doesn’t seem to be going anywhere as long as the Oscars, like everything else, are subject to the collective hive minds on social media and in op-eds. They want to push society forward more than they want to award, say, artistic achievement.
Jodie Comer gives a strong performance in Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, playing a tough-talking wife of a James Dean-type of biker. The chameleon that Comer has become will eventually be recognized because no one that talented can be ignored for long. There is also Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall, which will likely become a critics darling (if that isn’t already taken by Emma Stone). And we shouldn’t count out Killers of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone. She’s currently positioned as a Supporting Actress contender, but it’s definitely a lead role.
Where Best Actress is concerned, however, there are things to consider, like how much the actress is liked or loved, how much the film overall is liked or loved, and how much the character they play is liked or love. Maybe some find that bothersome — but it is what it is.
The actress that I think should be considered this year is Juliette Binoche in Pot-au-Feu (retitled in English as The Taste of Things). She plays the wife and cook of the film’s main character. The first 20 minutes or so of the film is just Binoche dripping sauces and sautéing meats, illustrating why she is such a genius in the kitchen. There wasn’t a minute where I didn’t believe Binoche was really cooking, though there was a professional French chef orchestrating the cooking scenes. Even though met with not much fanfare at Telluride, it was genuinely one of the best performances I saw during the film fest.
Natalie Portman has also been considered a strong contender by many of the Oscar folks, and that could possibly happen, depending on how well the movie is received overall. It’s also worth nothing that Past Lives is still beloved among film critics, and it’s possible Greta Lee is recognized, though at this point, hers could be drowned out as a subtle performance competing with powerhouses.
I would currently rank the Best Actress race this way:
Emma Stone, Poor Things
Annette Bening, Nyad
Fantasia Barrino, The Color Purple (sight unseen)
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Margot Robbie, Barbie
Then the next tier would be:
Helen Mirren, Golda
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
Jodie Comer, The Bikeriders
Greta Lee, Past Lives
Juliette Binoche, Pot-au-Feu
Next up, Best Actor out of Telluride.
