It's impossible not to vote for Ingrid Bergman here, as far as I'm concerned. That she won her third Oscar for making funny faces alongside Albert Finney during 5 minutes and not for Autumn Sonata is outrageous. And yes, Liv Ullmann should have been nominated as well, but Bergman is an artistic pleasure.
The others are good, but it's also a shame Fonda won her second for Coming home. I remember she was fine, but this performance turned pale in comparison with They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Klute, or Julia. And it was also a shame when you consider the competition.
Ellen Burstyn had been better in The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist and Alice, but her succeeding with this part confirms how competent and dependable as an actress she is. Alan Alda was good too.
I can buy arguments for Geraldine Page both in lead and support, but she definitely nailed it. Powerful, indelible performance.
Hadn't Bergman been here, my vote would have gone to Jill Clayburgh. An Unmarried Woman is NOT specially brief, nor the deepest movie ever, but she's adorable, and utterly believable.
And by the way, if only there were nowadays a line-up such as this one in the best actress category...
Best Actress 1978
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Re: Best Actress 1978
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Re: Best Actress 1978
I'd definitely include Ingrid Bergman in my top ten list of Best Lead Actress performances of the 1970s. This is my full list
Ingrid Bergman in Autumn Sonata
Diane Keaton in Annie Hall
Liv Ullmann in Face to Face
Liv Ullmann in Cries and Whispers
Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence
Liza Minnelli in Cabaret
Jane Fonda in Klute
Glenda Jackson in Women in Love
Liv Ullmann in Scenes from a Marriage
Isabelle Adjani in the The Story of Adele H.
Ingrid Bergman in Autumn Sonata
Diane Keaton in Annie Hall
Liv Ullmann in Face to Face
Liv Ullmann in Cries and Whispers
Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence
Liza Minnelli in Cabaret
Jane Fonda in Klute
Glenda Jackson in Women in Love
Liv Ullmann in Scenes from a Marriage
Isabelle Adjani in the The Story of Adele H.
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The Original BJ
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Re: Best Actress 1978
My major substitution here would be Liv Ullmann, who I think is dynamite in Autumn Sonata, and nearly as good as her costar.
Despite my great enthusiasm for Ellen Burstyn overall, I'd drop her from the lineup in a second. I think she makes a valiant effort in Same Time, Next Year -- it's not as if she's ever less than professional -- but I just find the material so silly that she really faces an uphill battle in creating a recognizable human being in that context.
I generally find Interiors to be a fairly suffocating affair, but I do think the performances in it are good, maybe none more so than Geraldine Page, whose lonely but also cruel matriarch is one of the most recognizably human figures in the film. I think she's especially good in the church scene, in which the actress's flighty tics give us a real sense of how much pain has built up in this woman over the years. But I agree with those who think it's a fairly smallish part by lead standards, and just not dominant enough to win.
Jill Clayburgh is quite winning in An Unmarried Woman, and like the film itself, her performance serves as a nice time capsule for the era, in the way she represents a kind of modern, liberated woman of the late '70's. The film works best as a character study, and I think Clayburgh's major contribution is the way she makes Erica feel like such a normal, average person, never some kind of self-conscious feminist symbol. There's a relaxed quality to her acting here that feels fully appropriate for the material. And yet, though I like the movie, it is a little bit low-key for me, and I can't say I ever felt Clayburgh had a big enough moment to attract my vote.
I think Jane Fonda is very good in Coming Home, as a lost woman unsure of what her future holds, trying to reach out and make a connection she isn't sure she wants. I guess I don't see the condescension the detractors of her performance do -- at the beginning of the film, Fonda's Sally is average and not especially outspoken, but the tenderness in the actress's work makes it clear that she is a deeply good person. (I love the nervousness and hesitation -- as well as great generosity -- she shows in the early scenes at the hospital. This isn't a woman that Fonda intends us to look down upon, in my opinion.) And even as the film progresses, and her views are changed, Fonda taps into a sense of confusion that feels very powerful -- by delineating this character's inner struggle in such a complicated way, I personally feel she RESISTED giving her an inappropriate sense of bravado about her political awakening. And I do think Fonda's graceful work here is one main reason the film feels far richer than a simple wartime love triangle soap.
But still, I don't even consider voting for her, because I think Ingrid Bergman just towers over the lineup. She's tremendous here, capable of showing great love and appreciation for her daughter, while at the same time being absolutely vicious, in moments both full of rage as well as quieter beats where the precision of her expressions cuts like a knife. The scene in which Ullmann plays the piano piece, and then Bergman makes her scoot over so she can show her how it's really done, is a superb example of the way the actress conveys so much about the built-up tensions in her relationship with her daughter, in a manner that's hugely commanding despite being subtle and internalized. Bergman's work is by far the most challenging, richly complex, and moving of this batch, and she easily gets my vote as the year's Best Actress.
Despite my great enthusiasm for Ellen Burstyn overall, I'd drop her from the lineup in a second. I think she makes a valiant effort in Same Time, Next Year -- it's not as if she's ever less than professional -- but I just find the material so silly that she really faces an uphill battle in creating a recognizable human being in that context.
I generally find Interiors to be a fairly suffocating affair, but I do think the performances in it are good, maybe none more so than Geraldine Page, whose lonely but also cruel matriarch is one of the most recognizably human figures in the film. I think she's especially good in the church scene, in which the actress's flighty tics give us a real sense of how much pain has built up in this woman over the years. But I agree with those who think it's a fairly smallish part by lead standards, and just not dominant enough to win.
Jill Clayburgh is quite winning in An Unmarried Woman, and like the film itself, her performance serves as a nice time capsule for the era, in the way she represents a kind of modern, liberated woman of the late '70's. The film works best as a character study, and I think Clayburgh's major contribution is the way she makes Erica feel like such a normal, average person, never some kind of self-conscious feminist symbol. There's a relaxed quality to her acting here that feels fully appropriate for the material. And yet, though I like the movie, it is a little bit low-key for me, and I can't say I ever felt Clayburgh had a big enough moment to attract my vote.
I think Jane Fonda is very good in Coming Home, as a lost woman unsure of what her future holds, trying to reach out and make a connection she isn't sure she wants. I guess I don't see the condescension the detractors of her performance do -- at the beginning of the film, Fonda's Sally is average and not especially outspoken, but the tenderness in the actress's work makes it clear that she is a deeply good person. (I love the nervousness and hesitation -- as well as great generosity -- she shows in the early scenes at the hospital. This isn't a woman that Fonda intends us to look down upon, in my opinion.) And even as the film progresses, and her views are changed, Fonda taps into a sense of confusion that feels very powerful -- by delineating this character's inner struggle in such a complicated way, I personally feel she RESISTED giving her an inappropriate sense of bravado about her political awakening. And I do think Fonda's graceful work here is one main reason the film feels far richer than a simple wartime love triangle soap.
But still, I don't even consider voting for her, because I think Ingrid Bergman just towers over the lineup. She's tremendous here, capable of showing great love and appreciation for her daughter, while at the same time being absolutely vicious, in moments both full of rage as well as quieter beats where the precision of her expressions cuts like a knife. The scene in which Ullmann plays the piano piece, and then Bergman makes her scoot over so she can show her how it's really done, is a superb example of the way the actress conveys so much about the built-up tensions in her relationship with her daughter, in a manner that's hugely commanding despite being subtle and internalized. Bergman's work is by far the most challenging, richly complex, and moving of this batch, and she easily gets my vote as the year's Best Actress.
Re: Best Actress 1978
No, I'm saying that she did it somewhat effectively here, and, compared to her other nominees (none of whom I'm too excited about), she's the most appealing of this bunch to me.ksrymy wrote:And you're saying Vietnam Jane didn't do that here?mayukh wrote:For all the vanity/measured self-obsession that plagued Fonda later in her career (ie. reenacting the transformation of her public persona through her every damn role).
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OscarGoesTwo
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Re: Best Actress 1978
Ellen Burstyn
Re: Best Actress 1978
And you're saying Vietnam Jane didn't do that here?mayukh wrote:For all the vanity/measured self-obsession that plagued Fonda later in her career (ie. reenacting the transformation of her public persona through her every damn role).
"Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Re: Best Actress 1978
Interiors is horrifyingly bad – stilted and completely uninspired. I don't care very much for what Geraldine Page does in it.
I feel similarly about Autumn Sonata, where Ingmar Bergman appeared to have lost any awareness of basic narrative structure. I can admire Ingrid Bergman's work in it, but it's in service of a story that lacks any variation. (I think Ullmann is better in it, though, and more affecting)
Burstyn is so warm and likable in STNY, but her approach to the role is too externalized – as if she was building her character from the outside in. This very academic approach is interesting but not entirely effective.
Jill Clayburgh didn't have the career she deserved, and she's wonderful in An Unmarried Woman. But she unfortunately doesn't do enough to sustain this totally maddening narrative – yes, I do have a problem with the fact that her character seems to do so little about her life and have the luxury to complain so much, and Clayburgh, charming as she is, can't negate that.
She beat Jane Fonda at Cannes that year. Coming Home is odd, and Jane Fonda is odd in it. She seems totally wrong for the role at first – way too old, for example, and she's clearly straining to express the character's blatant naivete. But, strangely, her performance works, and it's very affecting – she starts to do things with the role (the frozen hands) that you don't expect. For all the vanity/measured self-obsession that plagued Fonda later in her career (ie. reenacting the transformation of her public persona through her every damn role), what she does here is, in its own twisted way, deep and honest.
I feel similarly about Autumn Sonata, where Ingmar Bergman appeared to have lost any awareness of basic narrative structure. I can admire Ingrid Bergman's work in it, but it's in service of a story that lacks any variation. (I think Ullmann is better in it, though, and more affecting)
Burstyn is so warm and likable in STNY, but her approach to the role is too externalized – as if she was building her character from the outside in. This very academic approach is interesting but not entirely effective.
Jill Clayburgh didn't have the career she deserved, and she's wonderful in An Unmarried Woman. But she unfortunately doesn't do enough to sustain this totally maddening narrative – yes, I do have a problem with the fact that her character seems to do so little about her life and have the luxury to complain so much, and Clayburgh, charming as she is, can't negate that.
She beat Jane Fonda at Cannes that year. Coming Home is odd, and Jane Fonda is odd in it. She seems totally wrong for the role at first – way too old, for example, and she's clearly straining to express the character's blatant naivete. But, strangely, her performance works, and it's very affecting – she starts to do things with the role (the frozen hands) that you don't expect. For all the vanity/measured self-obsession that plagued Fonda later in her career (ie. reenacting the transformation of her public persona through her every damn role), what she does here is, in its own twisted way, deep and honest.
It is almost unrelentingly dreary, but I can't really cosign Mister Tee's comment that Autumn Sonata is somehow "generic Bergman". The themes he explores in this film are universal without losing their specificity: loss of a dream, the pain of regret, the complicated relationship between mother and daughter. It's one of his most deeply felt and moving works, especially when you reverse your lens and view the whole thing in miniature (the film is, after all, a rather claustrophobic domestic drama). And Ingrid and Liv act the hell out of it. Is there a greater master class in acting than the scene in which Eva plays Prelude No. 2 for Charlotte and then Charlotte shows her how it's really done? I'd love to hear of one that rivals it. Ullman was robbed of a nomination for this.
Jill Clayburgh, meh. I've commented on her elsewhere in this thread. There is something hawkishly annoying about her, especially in An Unmarried Woman. I couldn't vote for her here in good faith (although, I enjoyed her performance in Starting Over a year later).
Ellen Burstyn is delightful in Same Time, Next Year, but Alan Alda just brings the whole affair down to his usual level of annoying smugness (which only works when the charcter IS smug: see Crimes & Misdemeanors, Manhattan Murder Mystery, etc). I wish they had stuck with Charles Grodin in the lead role.
As Damien, rightfully acknowledged, the power of Jane Fonda's performance in Coming Home comes from her effortless transformation from complacency to awakening. Sally is such an attractive and endearing persona, and seems such a de-amplification in the beginning of the film from the more all-knowing Jane, that Fonda's performance takes on a greater sense of accomplishment when viewed in this context. The film may ultimately belong to Jon Voigt, but her performance completely stands on its own and it is marvelous.
Page's tics and mannerisms are used to no better effect than in her portrayal of Eve, who is very much the lead of this film (appropriately nominated in that category). She drives the central conflict of the narrative and is present in all the major scenes, even at the film's conclusion when Mary Beth Hurt is speaking to her and you don't actually think she could possibly be there. It's a devastating performance turned in by one of my favorite actresses of all time. My vote goes to her.
Jill Clayburgh, meh. I've commented on her elsewhere in this thread. There is something hawkishly annoying about her, especially in An Unmarried Woman. I couldn't vote for her here in good faith (although, I enjoyed her performance in Starting Over a year later).
Ellen Burstyn is delightful in Same Time, Next Year, but Alan Alda just brings the whole affair down to his usual level of annoying smugness (which only works when the charcter IS smug: see Crimes & Misdemeanors, Manhattan Murder Mystery, etc). I wish they had stuck with Charles Grodin in the lead role.
As Damien, rightfully acknowledged, the power of Jane Fonda's performance in Coming Home comes from her effortless transformation from complacency to awakening. Sally is such an attractive and endearing persona, and seems such a de-amplification in the beginning of the film from the more all-knowing Jane, that Fonda's performance takes on a greater sense of accomplishment when viewed in this context. The film may ultimately belong to Jon Voigt, but her performance completely stands on its own and it is marvelous.
Page's tics and mannerisms are used to no better effect than in her portrayal of Eve, who is very much the lead of this film (appropriately nominated in that category). She drives the central conflict of the narrative and is present in all the major scenes, even at the film's conclusion when Mary Beth Hurt is speaking to her and you don't actually think she could possibly be there. It's a devastating performance turned in by one of my favorite actresses of all time. My vote goes to her.
Last edited by flipp525 on Wed Apr 08, 2015 8:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
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To me, Mulligan was at his best when dealing with kids (To Kill a Mockingbird; The Other), adolescents (Summer of '42; Clara's Heart; The Man in the Moon) or young men going through emotional crises (Fear Strikes Out; The Pursuit of Happiness; Blood Brothers) but at his worst in his attempts at comedy (The Rat Race, Come September, Same Time, Next Year; Kiss Me Goodbye).
He also made a number of films that either fell flat or were less than the sum of their parts: The Spiral Road; Love With the Proper Stranger; Baby the Rain Must Fall; Inside Daisy Clover; Up the Down Staircase; The Stalking Moon).
He also made a number of films that either fell flat or were less than the sum of their parts: The Spiral Road; Love With the Proper Stranger; Baby the Rain Must Fall; Inside Daisy Clover; Up the Down Staircase; The Stalking Moon).
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Obviously, you're right -- now I recall Saks was the stage director. (And he was better -- anyway, less hackish -- onstage than onscreen)Damien wrote:Tee, Same Time Next Year was not firected by Gene Saks, but by the great Robert Mulligan, and his special ability to convey connectivity between characters is very much in evidence here, making it a much richer, heartfelt and moving film than Bernard Slade's Neil Simon-esque script had any right to hope for. (I, too, saw Burstyn and Grodin on stage and enjoyed the play, but it was pretty much disposablr entertainment. The movie is something memorable.)
Now, for me, this is the peril of auteurism. I like some of Mulligan's work, but I wouldn't follow him to the ends of the earth as I have seen many auteurists do. Plenty were calling The Other -- a respectable thriller -- "great" in '72, and it felt like tautology: a certified auteurist had directed it, therefore it was a great film. I just think much of Mulligan's post-60s work -- Same Time Next Year most definitely included -- doesn't measure up to his earlier films. Your mileage of course is free to vary.
Reza wrote:Damien wrote:Uri to get a picture of what John Simon is like, Peter Bogdanovich had Kenneth Mars model his performance in What's Up, Doc? on Simon.
LOL.
Mars deserved an Oscar nomination for that performance. He was hilarious.
What ever became of Kenneth Mars?
I agree, that priceless performance was definitely nomination-worthy (although Eddie Albert still should have won Supporting Actor in '72).
Edited By Damien on 1257755875
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Interestingly, both Coming Home and An Unmarried Woman opened very early in the year (if memory serves they were February releases) and it was Clayburgh about whom the critics were rhapsodic. Indeed, for most of the year she felt like the clear front-runner.
But by Oscar season, it was a two person race between Fonda (Golden Globe, L.A. Film Critics) and Bergman (NY Film Critics, National Board, National Society).
As for me, Geraldine Page was her usual lollapalooza of tics and mannerisms (only more so) in an embarrassing movie I loathed (Maureen Stapleton and E.G. Marshall were its only saving grace.)
Autumn Sonata is one of those movies which make you want to cry out, "Would someone please give Ingmar some prozac" I love INGRID Bergman and she's
excellent, but she couldn't alleviate the dreariness of the picture.
I never understood the appeal of Jill Clayburgh or her stardom. She has very little screen presence and whatever little appeal she might have had disappeared completely with her snot scene in An Unmarried Woman. I think Paul Mazursky is one of the best filmmakers of his era, but this movie struck me as facile and not terribly interesting.
Whch leaves two wonderful performances in two movies I love. Tee, Same Time Next Year was not firected by Gene Saks, but by the great Robert Mulligan, and his special ability to convey connectivity between characters is very much in evidence here, making it a much richer, heartfelt and moving film than Bernard Slade's Neil Simon-esque script had any right to hope for. (I, too, saw Burstyn and Grodin on stage and enjoyed the play, but it was pretty much disposablr entertainment. The movie is something memorable.)
Burstyn's lightness of touch is a joy to behold, and beneath the jokes and one-liners she creates a complex, intriguing and surprising character. It's probably her best performance.
Jane Fonda moved me to my soul in Coming Home, and I think she expresses naivite and then a poltical awakening beautifully -- which is actually the story of her own life, as she went from rich-offspring-turned-sex-kitten-turned radical political activist. You can palpably feel her connection to the role.
I'd love to split it between Burstyn and Fonda, but having to choose one, I go with Fonda.
And, yes, liberals and leftists ARE better lovers!
Edited By Damien on 1257730762
But by Oscar season, it was a two person race between Fonda (Golden Globe, L.A. Film Critics) and Bergman (NY Film Critics, National Board, National Society).
As for me, Geraldine Page was her usual lollapalooza of tics and mannerisms (only more so) in an embarrassing movie I loathed (Maureen Stapleton and E.G. Marshall were its only saving grace.)
Autumn Sonata is one of those movies which make you want to cry out, "Would someone please give Ingmar some prozac" I love INGRID Bergman and she's
excellent, but she couldn't alleviate the dreariness of the picture.
I never understood the appeal of Jill Clayburgh or her stardom. She has very little screen presence and whatever little appeal she might have had disappeared completely with her snot scene in An Unmarried Woman. I think Paul Mazursky is one of the best filmmakers of his era, but this movie struck me as facile and not terribly interesting.
Whch leaves two wonderful performances in two movies I love. Tee, Same Time Next Year was not firected by Gene Saks, but by the great Robert Mulligan, and his special ability to convey connectivity between characters is very much in evidence here, making it a much richer, heartfelt and moving film than Bernard Slade's Neil Simon-esque script had any right to hope for. (I, too, saw Burstyn and Grodin on stage and enjoyed the play, but it was pretty much disposablr entertainment. The movie is something memorable.)
Burstyn's lightness of touch is a joy to behold, and beneath the jokes and one-liners she creates a complex, intriguing and surprising character. It's probably her best performance.
Jane Fonda moved me to my soul in Coming Home, and I think she expresses naivite and then a poltical awakening beautifully -- which is actually the story of her own life, as she went from rich-offspring-turned-sex-kitten-turned radical political activist. You can palpably feel her connection to the role.
I'd love to split it between Burstyn and Fonda, but having to choose one, I go with Fonda.
And, yes, liberals and leftists ARE better lovers!
Edited By Damien on 1257730762
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Uri to get a picture of what John Simon is like, Peter Bogdanovich had Kenneth Mars model his performance in What's Up, Doc? on Simon.
Simon's most infamous comment may be this critique of Liza Minnelli in The Martin Scorsese Broadway musical, The Act: "I always thought Miss Minnelli's face deserving—of first prize in the beagle category. It is a face going off in three directions simultaneously: the nose always en route to becoming a trunk, blubber lips unable to resist the pull of gravity, and a chin trying its damnedest to withdraw into the neck."
Simon's most infamous comment may be this critique of Liza Minnelli in The Martin Scorsese Broadway musical, The Act: "I always thought Miss Minnelli's face deserving—of first prize in the beagle category. It is a face going off in three directions simultaneously: the nose always en route to becoming a trunk, blubber lips unable to resist the pull of gravity, and a chin trying its damnedest to withdraw into the neck."
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell