Ranking Kate Winslet's Oscar-Nominated Performances
Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at 5:46PM Kieran, here. With this week's wide release of the already heralded Steve Jobs and yesterday's Elizabeth "Lee" Miller biopic casting announcement, it could well be a entering a second era of peak Kate Winslet. Winslet was on a career high with six Oscar nominations, four before her thirtieth birthday. Then things slowed down considerably. Yes, she had that awards run for Mildred Pierce and she was Globe nominated for her turns in Carnage and Labor Day. However, the consensus these past few years is that Winslet has been in a bit of a slump. If her Steve Jobs work does indeed land Winslet a seventh nomination, it'll be thrilling to see her return to the ceremony.
It's been seven years since Winslet last nomination for The Reader (which she won). In honor of one of our favorite actresses/shampoo-bottle-Oscar-speech-rehearsers let's look through her list of nominated performances, and rank them. Heavenly Creatures and Holy Smoke!, two of her best, are missing, but that's another story.
6. Little Children
(Best Actress, 2006--Lost to Helen Mirren in The Queen)
Her turn in Little Children is an excellent example of how Winslet is rarely uninteresting to watch on-screen, even when she happens to be miscast. Todd Field makes good use of her highly-charged eroticism and her gift for conveying inner turmoil. Unfortunately, the screenplay forces her to tell more than show.
5. Titanic
(Best Actress, 1997--Lost to Helen Hunt in As Good as It Gets)
The pendulum swing in terms of regard for this performance and film is very mercurial, either great or terrible depending on who you talk to. I think it's a handsome film and a sturdy performance from Winslet. She was just shy of her twenty-first birthday when she filmed Titanic. Though she would go on to top this performance, it remains a clear marker for her progression as an actress and her ability to project maturity beyond her years.
4. The Reader
(Best Actress, 2008--Won)
There's so much baggage associated with this unfairly-maligned performance. Whether it's gripes about the performances she beat, The Reader's perceived usurping of The Dark Knight and/or WALL-E's spot on the Best Picture roster or that Winslet dared to win an Oscar and be excited about it. This performance and the film that houses it are way more complicated, interesting and worthy of honest discussion than detractors give either credit for. Here's hoping time eventually turns the tide on this one.
3. Iris
(Best Supporting Actress, 2001--Lost to Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind)
Of the six performances on this list, her turn in Iris as the title character's younger self is the one that most people probably think of the least. That's a shame because she's the best thing in the film and the worthiest nominee in her category that year. She manages to play her own read on Iris Murdoch that at once totally tracks with what Judi Dench is doing and is also a creature of her own specific interpretation. Luminous.
2. Sense & Sensibility
(Best Supporting Actress, 1995--Lost to Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite)
Previously discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown. I have to echo the praise she received. I'm not as enamored with Sense & Sensibility as some (I like it, I don't love it), but whenever I do return to it, it's for Winslet's Marianne Dashwood. The scene where she quietly undresses her sister's inability to open up is a masterclass.
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
(Best Actress, 2004--Lost to Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby)
As it happens, many performers don't have the fortune of even being nominated for their best work. So, mope as some may about the fact that Winslet's win didn't come for this contemporary classic, let's be floored and excited that she was even nominated for such a wonderfully specific, prickly and well-drawn creation as Clementine Kruczynski; a star turn of absolute perfection.
How would you rank Winslet's Oscar-nominated performances? If you've already seen Steve Jobs, where would that performance factor in?
Will Winslet's Turn in STEVE JOBS Be Nomination #7?
Reader Comments (50)
I think that's exactly how I would rank them too.
As far as ranking her 6 best performances (nominated or not), I think it goes:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Sense & Sensibility
Holy Smoke!
Heavenly Creatures
Jude
Iris
6. Iris
5. Sense & Sensibility
4. Titanic
3. The Reader
2. Little Children
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Glad someone else thinks "The Reader" is unfairly maligned.
Like you said, all of them are great or at least very interesting. None of them really feel like "name check" nominations (like her Globe nods for "Carnage" or "Labor Day" do).
I'd put her role in Steve Jobs above Iris but below Sense and Sensibility.
1. Eternal Sunshine
2 Sense & Sensibility
3. Titanic
4. The Reader
5. Little Children
6. Iris
1. Eternal
2-6. The Rest.
Not to be all trendy and heap praise on Eternal, but that performance is one-of-a-kind.
Sadly, you rand my favourite performance as her least memorable.
Matthew--I wouldn't say that it's the least memorable, at least not for me. Little Children is the performance of these 6 about which my opinion has changed the most. I loved it when I first saw it, then I cooled on it, then I thought she was terrible in it for a while. Now I still like her in it, but I think she's miscast. I actually think almost everyone (Patrick Wilson aside) in that movie is miscast, but that's another story. I have a lot of feelings about Little Children, a movie I watch a lot even though I'm not sure that I like it.
Winslet was on a career high with six Oscar nominations, four before her thirtieth birthday.
Please revise.
Out of Kate's six nominated performances she would have won twice if it were up to me.
Actress in a Supporting Role (2001) for Iris
Actress in a Leading Role (2004) for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
I like The Reader. It was attacked because it was another holocaust movie.
I like your overall rankings as is.
I still live in a world where Nicole Kidman has won the 2004 Best Actress Oscar for her breathtaking work in Birth.
I am shocked to report that Kieran's ranking is exactly my ranking and we didn't even confer about it.
Will never understand any sort of passionate positive reaction someone has for The Reader, sorry. That movie is totally offensive, stuffy, culturally tone deaf and directed with zero genuine empathy. Remember that godawful scene when the main character visits a deserted death camp and it's supposed to be sobering and illuminating? I was barfing. Kate Winslet barely has much to work with and to think she finally won her Oscar for that is totally depressing. Thank god for Lena Olin's performance and character who cuts through the bullshit and takes the film by the horns in her short screentime in the last act.
And let's be real, if Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack weren't listed among the producing credits, the film wouldn't have crept into all those categories and esp. Best Picture. Those two were BELOVED and seeing their last passion project get off the ground posthumously drove industry people (those unlucky enough to be manipulated by Harvey) to checkbox their names like crazy.
Anywho.
I'll throw my hat in the ring for Little Children, a fascinating movie with some miscast actors who are nonetheless giving nuance texted performances. Winslet is endlessly compelling in this even if you wonder what Vera Farmiga, the original choice for the part, would've done in her place.
But yes, Eternal Sunshine all the way. S&S a distance second, Iris and Little Children third/fourth.
Holy Smoke is a relic of its time and needs to be seen for the stunning and cloudy Dion Beebe cinematography alone. Kate's amazing in it even when the film descends into a postmodernist mess in the final act.
@Yavor: Choosing between Nicole and Kate in 2004 is my eternal struggle.
Kate looks positively delicious in the promos for the Australian outback farce 'The Dressmaker'. If it gets released in time for this years Oscars it may score a Best Costume nomination and hopefully a Best Supporting Actress nom for the under-rated Judy Davis!
MarkTheFirst--I had no idea Vera Farmiga was the first choice for Sarah in Little Children. That's so funny because she and Toni Collette are the two actresses who I wanted to re-cast when I was thinking about Winslet's performance.
@Yavor and @John
Then don't! Choose Imelda :)
Am I the only one who think she should have won for Revolutionary Road and NOT the Reader??
Joe Gouveia - Hell no. I'm still irrationally bitter about that.
I would rank Titanic to be a bit higher because she's the heart of that film and it would have been a total failure in a lesser actress' hands.
This is like ranking one's favorite desserts.
Of her nominated turns that I have seen:
1) Eternal Sunshine
2) The Reader
3) Sense and Sensibility
4) Little Children
5) Titanic
And I love her in Little Children! Titanic is the only performance in this listing that is unexceptional.
I feel like Little Children should be higher just for that washer/dryer scene
Ryan T.-- Great analogy. Little Children is like my pumpkin pie. Tastes good. Not the first thing I'd reach for, but a couple times a year...sure. Why not?
Joey -- we're not voting on Patrick Wilson's ass!
Ryan T -- okay okay 1) ice cream 2) chocolate anything 3) sweet crepes 4) carrot cake 5) cookies
Joe -- we were just talking about that one.
OMG i can't believe i forgot pumpkin pie.that's #2
Kieran Scarlett - It's an imdb tidbit so don't hold me to it but apparently Farmiga was indeed the original choice. Toni Collette would be interesting but it's such a tricky character to try to assign to one type of actress. She needs to be slightly frumpy but still undeniably attractive/sexy and believably suburban while maintaining a clear erotic streak. If they were the right given age, I could see it on actresses like Marisa Tomei, Elisabeth Shue, Emily Watson, Gillian Anderson, Helena Bonham Carter, Juliette Binoche, Jennifer Ehle or Julie Delpy.
1. Little Children
2. Eternal Sunshine
3. Titanic
4. The Reader
5. Iris
I haven't seen S&S. I actually thought the Iris nod was undeserved and the film is a total snooze-fest.
Little Children is messy, but she's awesome in it. That book club Madame Bovary scene--wow.
I actually like Carnage. I even watched it in French, which makes the whole thing even more pedantically fun.
For me it would be -
1. Eternal Sunshine
2. Sense and Sensibility
3. The Reader
4. Titanic
5. Iris
6. Steve Jobs (fingers crossed!)
7. Little Children (though I think I enjoyed the film and this performance more than most)
Have to rewatch Sense and Sensibility and maybe Iris. Can't wait to see her get that seventh nomination and let's not forget the Lanthimos's British Royalty project!
I cannot believe Revolutionary Road got snubbed.
I love her in Little Children! She was at her most erotic since Holy Smoke, and I love Erotic Kate.
She's so subtle, so gloriously carnal, so tense, so many things happening in that performance!
Beautiful work.
I echo Nathaniel, this is my exact ranking also. And thank you for singling out Holy Smoke as well. Whilst it's not quite on the same level as Kidman's immediate career post-Oscar, her turns in that and Hideous Kinky after breaking out made me fall in love with her. And I'm pleased to see some defense of The Reader, even as a conversation topic. I'm not a fan of the movie either, but there's plenty *there* to dig into, and it's certainly not a forgettable or distracted performance from Winslet.
Question: If Kate was nominated for Revolutionary Road instead of the Reader, how would these rankings change?
I am living for The Favourite. Kate, Emma Stone and Olivia Colman directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Heaven.
1. Eternal Sunshine
2 Sense & Sensibility
3. Little Children
4. Titanic
5. Iris
6. The Reader
1) Eternal Sunshine... - What else is there to say?
2) Sense and Sensibility - I've loved this performance and film so long it's too easy to take them for granted
3) Little Children - Miscasting as perfect casting. Really clicked once I read the book.
4) The Reader - From overrated to underrated. Great moments.
5) Titanic - From underrated to overrated. Great moments.
6) Iris - Really the worst performance of her career, bar one moment of freaking out Hugh Bonneville with some comic sapphic mystery. Such a cut-and-paste 'freethinking woman'. I remember that slide down the staircase and cringe. Has nothing to do with Dench's (really thoughtful & specific) performance as the older Iris.
For me ...
1. The Reader
2. Sense and Sensibility
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Little Children
4. Iris
And waaaaaay down the list (at like #215,901,866,732,132) would be Titanic. Her sole purpose in that movie was to scream "Jack!" ten billion times. Sink ... the ... MFing ... boat ... already. Take ... them ... all .. with ... it.
1. Eternal Sunshine
2. Little Children
3. Sense & Sensibility
4. The Reader
5. Titanic
Never understood the lack of love for her in Little Children. But then again I was sold during the first scene with the handbag and based my opinion on that.
1. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
2. Revolutionary Road (I believe the Oscar for "The Reader" is just a big lie. She never won for that role. It´s just to keep the Holocaust-Prestige-Movie-Shit alive. What did you say Sophie? "Nehmen sie das Mädchen!" Alrighty then...)
3. Little Children (When she sees Jennifer Connelly for the first time. Gold.)
4. Iris
5. Sense and Sensibility
6. Titanic
1. Sense and sensibility (still her best oscar-nominated performance IMO)
2. Iris: possibly her most underrated oscar-nominated work, so natural and effortless and absolutely endearing
3. Titanic: many people dismiss this, but it was a very demanding role (both physically and emotionally speaking) and she pulled it off brilliantly
4. Eternal sunshine: the more i watch this, the less the impact, but still a pretty good performance (but Carrey was much better)
5. Little Children: some stunning moments, but in the end it feels like a filler nod
6. The Reader: the less said about it, the better
And JOBS where would we put it,no 5 maybe.
Sense & Sensibility
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Little Children
Iris
Titanic
Am I forgetting something? Lemme see...
Nope, all good.
Ben1283-- You are the only person in 40 comments to mention Hideous Kinky!! I love that movie, and it's one of my favorite performances of Winslet's as well.
I will never forgive that her sometimes annoying performance in 'Titanic' stole the slot of Julia Roberts (for 'My best friend's wedding'). Indeed, I must admit I find Kate Winslet quite annoying at times, but I like her so much in 'Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind'...
Flip your 1 and 6 and we'd have the same list. I hate everything about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but love Winslet in Little Children.
vladdy-- The way she says 'Hello you' to her kids, bouncing into bed after she's just had sex is one of my favourite line readings of hers. It's such an interesting film and performance.
Jude
Heavenly Creatures
Holy Smoke
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Sense and Sensibility
Quills
Iris
Romance & Cigarettes
Hamlet
Little Children
Extras, 2005
She is the worst 'great actress' we have, so often uninteresting to watch because she does not master subtle, nor mysterious. She has been best in Holy Smoke!, Sense and Sensibility, and Romance & Cigarettes. I think most of her nominations are a waste. Her relatability and openness makes her easy to identify with, but she seldom understands how to elevate material. To me, she almost ruined Eternal Sunshine.
1. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
2. "Sense & Sensibility"
3. "Little Children"
4. "Iris"
5. "Titanic"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
666. "The Reader"
Great list! I loved her in Eternal Sunshine. Have you seen Mildred Pierce? She rightfully won a golden globe for her role in that; it was spectacular.
First at all: She should have easily have more noms to date: Heavenly Creatures, Jude, Hamlet, Quills, Revolutionary Road (should Double Nominated that Year) and some would say Holy Smoke, Finding Neverland, Labor Day and Carnage are Oscar Worthy Performances and how in the hell she only had one oscar for "The reader" is beyond me! Hopefully She is nominated for "The Dressmaker" AND "Steve Jobs" at the Globes and for "Steve Jobs" at this years Oscars, so that she can scream to Leo for his first Oscar win for "The Revenant"... some can dream! ^^
I grown as a Fan since Titanic, but for me its now the last Place of her Nominations.
06) Titanic (She makes Titanic work and timeless!)
05) Little Children (Patrick & Kate are soo hot together in it!)
04) Iris (underrated! Should be her first Oscar, when not for Sense & Sensibility!)
03) The Reader (I love her Screen Chemestry with David Kross)
02) Sense & Sensibilty (Oscar Number One easily!)
01) Eternal Sunshine of the spotless Mind (maybe her best, but Staunton is still my Winner)
They're all so different, it's so hard to rank them but here it goes:
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (An acting masterclass. It's one of the earliest memories I have of forgetting an actor by the end of the movie; she IS Clementine.)
2. Little Children (This remains one of the most fascinating performances of her career. Dark, humorous, even tense at times. It's a refreshingly unique infusion of longing in suburbia.)
3. The Reader (Haunting, mysterious, tender. That was a difficult character to play and she nailed it. Her courtroom scenes in particular are extraordinary. The backlash for the movie is a bit much. Had she won for Revolutionary Road instead, I'm sure people would've argued she deserved it for The Reader.)
4. Sense and Sensibility (Gosh, it's a performance that bursts with passion and fire. She's so perfect, it's as if Jane Austen wrote the book with her in mind.)
5. Titanic (She deserved to win for making THAT dialogue ring true. She also deserves credit for carrying that movie on her shoulders. No one else could've played Rose.)
6. Iris (Despite the nomination, her work here tends to go unnoticed when it shouldn't. It's subtlety done right. One of her most spirited performances.)
She's also terrific in Steve Jobs. I would place it somewhere between The Reader and Sense and Sensibility.
You know, it's funny. Do a quick google search of "best actress of all time" and she's up there, rightfully so in my opinion. But for an actress who's regarded as one of the best in the world, with heaps of wins and nominations under her belt, I actually think she doesn't get as much credit as she deserves for a lot of her work. Maybe it's because she chooses a lot of smaller, sometimes odd projects instead of the typical big budget studio pictures. She's still so young and yet has this incredibly rich array of characters. It's really great that she basically created her own career path. Just think: Heavenly Creatures, Hideous Kinky, Holy Smoke, HAMLET (!!!), Romance & Cigarettes, Extras, Revolutionary Road, Carnage, Mildred Pierce. What a diverse bunch of performances. Even in sappy stuff like Labor Day and The Holiday, she makes those movies a whole lot better than they would be without her presence.
This lengthy response was brought to you by Kate's (longly awaited) return to Oscar season. Great to see that at 40, she's a frontrunner to get her 7th nomination. I'll be rooting for her!