Monday
Dec292014
Beauty vs Beast: Tilda vs Tilda
Monday, December 29, 2014 at 7:29PM Jason's on vacation but while he's away I thought we'd have a funhouse mirror episode of his Beauty vs. Beast series to celebrate another great year for Tilda Swinton and.... uh... Tilda Swinton. What an inimitable career she's had. So this week we're pitting two of the most memorable women of 2014 against each other, an ancient beauty who literally owns The Grand Budapest Hotel and a beastly politician who acts like she owns the Snowpiercer and all of its passenger citizens.
You have one week to vote. Make your case in the comments and may the best Tilda win!
Reader Comments (17)
To give just a little bit of dissenting opinion from a Tilda lover, I think this year veered into indulgent self-parody and cartoonish fluff, sometimes for the better (Grand Budapest) and sometimes for the worse (Snowpiercer).
Sure, Tilda was entertaining in 2014 but she has been umpteen million times better in many recent years. I am Love, Julia, and We Need to Talk About Kevin is a trilogy of devastating, humane performances that I'd love to see her build on.
She's too smart and gifted to become a female Johnny Depp but I'm afraid that's what some auteurs would have her be, like a mad visual gimmick in their films. It's just about the laziest way to use Tilda.
The make-up for both of these characters is undeniably brilliant...noms for both please! And a nom for Tilda too.
HAYDEN -- well, that's what you have ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE for this year, right? to balanace it out with a full role?
For displaying impeccable taste - i.e. getting Ralph Fiennes' M. Gustav in the sack - my vote goes to Madame D.
I voted for Mason because, I mean, COME ON. The shoe monologue. GENIUS work all around. But I think she was not only an inspired choice for Madame D in Grand Budapest, but turned in incredible work - name one other role that had such a small amount of screentime that was as memorable as this. Her reading of the most-spoken three words in the English language ("I love you") is one of the best line readings of the year, but it's part and parcel with the great work she did with her body and face. Fantastic, fantastic stuff.
I really, really, want to rewatch Grand Budapest Hotel, but I have way too much to catch up on to justify it. But it's still one of the most entertaining films I saw this year (even if I'm not sure where all the "Anderson's GREATEST WORK EVER" stuff came from), and I hope it gets all the Oscar nominations it so richly deserves.
I think Tilda in Snowpiercer was the supporting performance of the year. Showy and even a little cartoonish maybe, but it meshed perfect with the art design and surreal feel and everything else about that movie. It was perfect for a fantasy world take on real sociological problems.
Also liked her in GBH, in which she has does a little of the same thing come to think of it.
No no no! Not even Tilda can get me to vote Thatcher. Madame D all the way!
Only Lovers Left Alive trumps them both. Eve is beauty *and* beast!
I'm going with Mason if only because I can't get how wonderful Angela Lansbury would have been as Madame D. out of my head.
I might've used Eve as the Beauty, butTilda is glorious no matter what
Hers was my favorite performance in Snowpiercer, and my least favorite thing about Hotel, so this was easy. It isn't that she is bad in the latter, but there is no reason why she needed to be in the role as opposed to someone "age-appropriate" like Maggie Smith or as Henry said above, Angela Lansbury. Any actress in that age group would have been more fun, and it really felt like they put Tilda in that movie just because.
At first I thought forcing us to vote on this was just cruel, but nope, Jay is right.
Thinking of age appropriate actresses: Leslie Caron (83), Joan Collins (81), Sophia Loren (80), Anouk Aimée (82), Gina Lollobrigida (87), Emmanuelle Riva (87), Liliane Montevecchi (82), Bardot (80)...........
Suzanne & Jay -- it is a very compelling argument. I voted for her, too. But we appear to be losing. Minister Mason NEVER got anybody as hot as M. Gustav into her power suit.
Jay - I was coming here to say the exact same thing.
Dame Angela Lansbury was the first choice to play Madame D., but had to dropped after after the filming was pushed back for a month, which conflicted with her Australian production of Driving Miss Daisy. Such a shame, really. Here's hoping Wes Anderson will offer her another part and soon.
I would reason that if Angela had played the role, she would be a front runner for a supporting actress nom and would have elevated the film's presence from the start. No disrespect to Tilda intended.