It's Her Time, Glenn Close Will Not Be Ignored
Monday, January 7, 2019 at 1:00PM 
Glenn Close won Best Actress - Drama at the Golden Globes for her performance in The Wife. And she gave a performance in delivering her acceptance speech that is almost as great as the performance she won for. While we have no doubt that Close was genuine, it was also fantastic television. It started with her shocked reaction - did her publicist’s keep telling her that the Globes wouldn't miss a chance to reward Lady Gaga like all the pundits did? She continued by kissing Michael “Fatal Attraction Dan” Douglas and Lady Gaga on the way to the stage. Once she got there she she gave an eloquent, emotional, yet composed and smart speech.
She didn’t forget her “category sisters"...
She thanked the writers Meg Wolitzer who wrote the book and Jane Anderson who adapted it for film. As savvy an actor as she is she thanked her director for all the closeups he gave her, she knows that’s why she won. Building the crescendo of the speech she came to the meat of it where she blended her narrative - an actor of 45 years with a great body of work who has not yet been been embraced fully by her industry - with the struggle to make the movie “14 years because it was called The Wife” - with a personal ode to her mother which mirrors the story of the character she plays. And finally she combines that personal ode with a rallying cry for all women to demand more for themselves. Take it away Glenn:
“To play a character is so internal. And I’m thinking of my mom who really sublimated herself to my father her whole life and in her 80s she said to me, “I feel I haven’t accomplished anything.” And it was so not right and I feel what I’ve learned through this whole experience is that, you know, women, we are nurturers, that’s what’s expected of us. We have our children. We have our husbands if we are lucky enough, and our partners, whoever. But we have to find personal fulfillment. We have to follow our dreams. We have to say, “I can do that and I should be allowed to do that.”
What a speech!
She was emotional, cracking her voice as she spoke. She inspired the audience to give her a standing ovation right there and then. We all could see the love for her in the room. We saw it in the faces of Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman, Michelle Yeoh and others as the camera cut away. There is no denying it, they were inspired and moved. Earlier in the evening Olivia Colman gave a delightful and pithy speech that was just as endearing as Glenn’s but not as grand or poignant. This is now a two-way race for the Oscar that does not include Lady Gaga and that has Glenn Close firmly in the lead.
What did you think of Glenn's speech?
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Reader Comments (61)
She must win the Oscar this year.
The speech sealed the deal.
What a legend.
I LOVE YOU, GLENN CLOSE
I keep hearing about how this won’t just be a career honor and she’s actually good in it, and I’m hopeful that’s true, but.... people also said the same about Julianne Moore in Still Alice. The less we say about that Lifetime/Hallmark movie, the better. Doesn’t even exist in the same realm as Julianne Moore’s ten best performances and it’s a shame that’s the one she has an Oscar for.
@Steve: Your opinion. It's in my top 5 Julianne performances and she carries the movie. And I know I'm not alone.
Bruno: Steve isn't alone, either.
@ken s: Then people have different opinions on the matter. Fancy that!
@Steve
I saw almost anything g Glenn did as an actress and The Wife is on top 5 of her cinema work easily! Go for me: it is a silence performance that eclipses everything g she has done from Reverse of Fortune till now. It is a towering, subtle and silence work. You will be surprised!
Love the fact that Gary Oldman told Glenn (on the stage) that he saw the film, felt her performance was extraordinary and was really happy she won! I love both of them very much!
I saw THE FAVOURITE last night and I am still thinking in the movie. I need a second view soon as possible! Yorgos clean all the period films to bring life to them! A towering achievement !!
But Olivia is supporting! Rachel too! Emma is on the wrong category. I don't know if AMPAS will change the things, but Emma is lead and the other girls are supporting.
and I loved Nicholas Hoult! I hope he surprises us with a nomination for best surpporting actor! He deserves for The Favourite!
I am predicting nominations for Best Picture, Directing, Actress, S Actresses (2), Original Screenplay, Costume Design, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Editing and Cinematography. Go Yorgos!
Michael, you are correct . Nicole has 30 minutes (three minutes less than Julianne). Both should have been up for Supporting (against Meryl in ADAPTATION), and Meryl, the true lead of THE HOURS, should have been nominated in place of Nicole (and far above Salma Hayek) for Best Actress. I would have loved a Julianne Moore win for FAR FROM HEAVEN.
Bruno: I respect your difference in opinion, and I certainly don’t disagree that she carried that movie. And there were many who shared your opinion on this site. I remember lots of commenters saying it was one of her best. Once I finally saw it (about two days before that year’s Oscars) I was shocked at how much I did not like it. But I’m thrilled she has an Oscar even if I really hate the performance she won it for.
Soshua: I’ll take your word how good Close is in The Wife! She is one of the best, so I’m certainly looking forward to it and looking forward to seeing her back at awards shows.
I don’t think Colman is out of this race, yet, though. Gaga losing the Globe (the one she was most likely to win) probably takes her out of the race. But Colman could still win SAG/BAFTA.
@Steve: I think comparisons between Moore's movie and Close's are inevitable. Can't speak to what you'll think of The Wife, but I suspect that a lot of people are holding their opinion of the film as a whole against Close's performance. In my opinion, if the performance is great, it shouldn't matter if the rest of the movie is flawed. I can't help but feel that for some Moore's performance was downgraded because they didn't like the film as a whole. The same seems to be happening with Close, where I've seen very few people complain about the actual job she did, instead deciding to pass it off as a "small film" that "no one saw." Arguing against the film instead of the actor. You're one of the few people that I've seen directly say Moore's performance was sub-par in "Still Alice," so I respect that.
If Oscar voters look at the For Your Consideration ads and feel fed up by such abundance of category fraud, they may pull a Revolutionary Road/The Reader and wreak some havoc in the final lineup. Can you imagine particularly Emma Stone and Olivia Colman both splitting their own votes between Lead and Support and being left out all together? At least one instance of this would delight me. And what about also getting fed up with prosthetics? The following Best Actor lineup would have me roaring with laughter:
Mahershala Ali
Timothée Chalamet
Bradley Cooper
Ethan Hawke
Viggo Mortensen