Oscar Countdown - Best Actress Race
Elizabeth falls SO flat that it doesn’t do the first one any justice despite the caliber of talent in the second. The story is far from compelling as the first and the actors are almost too comfortable. Clive Owen who is rarely bad distracts as Sir Walter Raleigh and is pretty much there for his hotness. Geoffrey Rush returns as Walsingham and seems bored the whole way through. Blanchett has enough smarts not to merely phone this performance in but what happens is, she pulls off a performance that I think many actresses could have done whereas the first movie, I don’t think anyone else could have done that role. Despite it being historic, it was overly contrived and at one point even bordered on shades of Pirates of the Caribbean. The movie was simply boring and while Blanchett is never bad, she never convinces me this time. Her nomination might have been just a “who else is there” pick and is perhaps the least likeliest of winners.
On the complete other end of the spectrum, Marion Cotillard kills as Edith Piaf in Rose. This, to me, might be one of the greatest performances of all time. How this petite French ingenue pulls of this vast array of emotions and ages is unbelievable. From her days of singing on the streets as a teen to her early death at 47, Cotillard hits every note just right and you almost feel voyeuristic. As if this is actually Piaf and not a retelling of her life. Maybe it’s the unfamiliarity with the actress or its just that good (it is) but she blows pretty much every actress in the runnng out of the water. Some might see it as overacting but I could see Piaf being this kind of high maintenance diva…and according to the film, she was! Oh, it’s so hard because based on acting alone, the Oscar should go to Cotillard but nostalgia might give it to an oh-so-slightly less, if not equally, deserving Julie Christie.
Skip Elizabeth and get your hands on Rose now.
