Frances vs Sophie
Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at 10:30AM 
With Sophie's Choice new to streaming on HBO NOW and Frances available to rent from Amazon, Youtube and others, we thought it could be fun to rehash one legendary Oscar race. It's when Meryl Streep and Jessica Lange battled out for the Best Actress trophy of 1982. Come explore this clash of acting titans as we investigate two great women's legacies, the pair of competing films and nominated performances in a detailed deep dive. In the end, who'll be the chosen victor?
THE CONTENDERS
Despite being the same age and having entered the movie business at relatively the same time, by 1982, Meryl Streep and Jessica Lange were viewed very differently by the public and the industry.
The theatrically trained Streep was a respected young thespian who had already amassed three Oscar nominations and one win. She'd even starred in two Best Picture winners (The Deer Hunter, Kramer vs Kramer), signaling her as a performer of great prestige. Thanks to various factors, Streep was always considered an actress first, a star second, her persona never tied to notions of glamour or ephemerous desirability. In the beginning, that may have hurt her, but this sense of respectability would prove valuable to her career.
However, before landing her first movie role in 1977's Julia, Meryl Streep's un-glamorousness would cost her the lead part in Dino De Laurentiis' King Kong remake. According to the actress herself, she was rejected by the producer for being too ugly. The role went to Jessica Lange, instead, who had been modeling professionally until then. That pricey adventure flick might have made Lange famous, but it also resulted in great infamy for the actress whose miscalculated performance was ridiculed by critics and general audiences alike.
After years of inauspicious work, Jessica Lange in the early 80s was finally beginning to rid herself of the public persona of a dimwitted blonde with more beauty than talent. First, there was her turn as an Angel of Death in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz, and next a remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice for which she received some positive notices, though the role was still tied to the pervasive idea of a bombshell. Perceptions of Lange all changed in December 1982, when Frances and Tootsie premiered in the space of two weeks and proved to all that she was an actress of undeniable range and ability. The surprise factor also helped.
THE MOVIES
Adapted from a homonymous novel by William Styron, Sophie's Choice isn't the story of Zofia "Sophie" Zawistowski, no matter what the title may imply. She's not the film's true protagonist either, rather she's its subject matter. The actual protagonist of this sorry tale is Stingo, played by Peter MacNicol, a young wannabe southern novelist who's newly arrived in 1947's New York. It's through his eyes that we meet Sophie, a Polish concentration camp survivor, and her schizophrenic boyfriend, Nathan.
The problem with this structure is that Stingo is a deeply uninteresting figure whose sheer banality makes the detours into Holocaust remembrance feel out of place and exploitative. Because of her narrative placement, Sophie and her bottomless misery become plot mechanisms in Stingo's come-of-age tale. Her life thus reduced to a tragic chapter in a young man's biography.
The filmmakers at least seem aware of this. They are constantly bringing the camera back to Sophie, shooting Streep in close-ups for long stretches, inviting us to be as besotted with the actress as they are. Such an approach might work momentarily, but it doesn't fix the movies' textual problems and, surprisingly, neither Pakula nor any of his accomplished collaborators can spruce up the material into something aesthetically valuable. All in all, Sophie's Choice is an endless drudge, crass and borderline misery porn.
A generous viewer might see the film as an admittance of defeat when faced with the calamity of the Holocaust. Sophie is destroyed by her experiences, jumping into abusive relationships and self-martyrizing out of survivor's guilt. She goes to the extremes of rewriting her life story, lying even to herself. Nathan's dementedness, on the other hand, is fueled by the collective trauma of History. Together, they are a world destroyed by the evil of Humankind that the Holocaust laid bare.
Quite obviously, I'm not a generous viewer for I find Sophie's Choice to be a deep dark pit of joyless mediocrity.
Not that Frances is a masterpiece, it must be said. Still, it's miles better than the Pakula flick. Telling the story of tragic Hollywood starlet Frances Farmer, this is a biopic that takes to heart the idea of printing the legend instead of the facts. Large portions of Farmer's biography are altogether omitted while some tragic events, like the film's memorable lobotomy scene, are pure invention.
That said, there's something in the picture that makes it come alive. It can be ham-fisted and shockingly unsubtle at times, but its emotional intensity makes up for that. During latter passages, when parental oppression and the horror of chauvinistic doctors turn Frances' life into a living hell, it's almost difficult to breathe. One feels suffocated by the agony onscreen and it's hard to disengage, to distance ourselves. The secret to Frances's success is, of course, Jessica Lange's titanic work, which brings us to the matter of the nominated performances themselves.
THE PERFORMANCES
Pasty, blond and often dressed in diaphanous fabrics, Meryl's Sophie looks like a ghost fluttering about in her Brooklynite abode. We first meet this spectral entity in the stairs of that pink-walled house, during a caustic fight with Nathan who screams at her with distilled vitriol. From minute one, she's a victim in the eyes of Stingo and the audience, a poor soul in need of rescue. However, it soon becomes clear that she's used to such violence and that this state of affairs isn't necessarily unwanted by Sophie, at least on a subconscious level.
You see, Sophie doesn't love Nathan despite his disdain. She loves him because of it. In a way, he reflects what she believes is true about herself but doesn't dare verbalize – that she deserved to die and should be hated. In the day after that explosive fight, when the reconciled couple takes their newest acquaintance to an afternoon of goofing around in Coney Island, Streep peppers the enjoyment with notes of unrest. Sophie is often awkward, visibly forcing on a mask of cheeriness when she thinks it's appropriate. A longtime victim of domestic abuse, she is tentative around Nathan, constantly trying to find a safe path through his moods.
At the same time, it's because of his presence that we get to see rare flickers of genuine joy from her. During a sleepless night, she sits with Stingo telling the story of her arrest back in Nazi-occupied Poland, her face a sculpture of despondence. That is until she hears Nathan returning home after an unexpected absence. Then, she lights up and it's such a violent tone shift that it could induce whiplash. Streep, for her part, makes it feel natural, finding truth in her character's contrasts and incongruences. The difficulty of this effort is multiplied by the fact she has to do all this while performing an insane dance of linguistic fortitude.
As Sophie, the actress spends most of the film talking in heavily-accented English, but, during the flashbacks, she also needs to express herself in Polish and German. I'm not fluent in either of those latter languages, but Streep's mastery of them has been mostly uncontested since 1982. Moreover, when speaking in her character's non-native tongues, she talks like someone who is translating everything in her head, breaking mid-sentence at precise moments. It's a studiously constructed miracle of acting.
There's very little that's intuitive about this performance, though. Everything but the Choice scene feels calculated to exhaustion but that suits Sophie, who's always negotiating difficult situations – either fictionalizing her life in censored reminiscence, dealing with a paranoid schizophrenic, placating the advances of a foolish boy or trying to manipulate people that can easily have her killed for so much as looking them the wrong way. Yes, we can see all the clicks of the mechanism inside her head, but that's perfect for Sophie. And yes, the Choice scene is as amazing as it is horrifying, a spectacle of sordidness.
We witness as Sophie slowly realizes what's happening and then makes an impulsive decision. It's a nightmare and Meryl's silent scream, her face distorted into a vision of anguish by Edvard Munch, is unforgettable. She might be overstudied in the 1947 scenes, but we'd argue that's the point of the characterization. That is until she gives up the ghost and finally confesses her most shameful deed. It's fitting that only in that moment of unvarnished honesty, when her memory appears in its truest form, does Streep's performance lose the sheen of technical virtue and become something more savage, almost animalistic in its pain.
Speaking of savage, that's an apt description for Jessica Lange in Frances. If Streep sometimes feels like she's depending on too carefully balanced technique, Lange feels utterly overwhelmed. Her Frances Farmer is humanity unraveled, both as a woman inside the narrative and as a performance, as if Frances is taking hold of Lange like a demonic possession. After years hiding her trademark mercurial rage behind a veneer of shallow glamour, Jessica Lange finally lets it all hang out, defying anyone to turn away from this supernova of fire and fury, deep indignation and bottomless sorrow.
Such words can suggest a false dichotomy between Streep and Lange, painting one as an accomplished technician and the other as an inspired wild child with little finesse and a lot of feeling.
"I don't want to see you act desperate – I want you to BE desperate" is what Clifford Odets tells Frances in one of the movie's scenes. Lange follows the advice wholeheartedly. However, she doesn't sacrifice complexity to do so, nor does she create her characterization without some fine-tuned technique. It's a perfectly calibrated performance that only feels out of control.
In many ways, Lange, who takes the character from teenage innocence to midlife apathy, plays Frances as a woman whose body and mind are essentially disconnected. So many times, we can see her physicality telegraph something opposite to her facial expressions, her voice giving strange colorations to a dialogue that's otherwise performed with no perceived dramatism. By playing up these divorced facets of a person, Lange is making the audience aware of Frances' thinking, her mind, and her soul.
Early on, she is often tense and uncomfortable when dealing with authority figures, her eyes fidgeting about, brow restless and mouth quivering. Her lines express confidence, but the actress' face suggests silent doubt. Only when drunk on libertine abandonment, the passion of a crush or the self-righteous fury of an intelligent person living among idiots, does she calm down that persnickety bearing. In those rare instances, we see Frances and Lange giving themselves over to a single emotion, either relishing in it or using the feeling as a cannonball shot at their enemies.
This movie version of Frances Farmer is doomed by her intellect and she gradually becomes aware of this, growing out of her youthful insecurity into the melodramatic persona of a performer. However, such developments also come hand in hand with romantic disquiet and alcoholism, giving Lange new notes to add to her already complicated symphony. What she does with them is a miracle of feverish obstinance, turning a courtroom scene into a stage. Frances knows she's guilty but she also knows she's being discriminated against because she's female. Furious and loving the operatic buffet of the procedures, she knowingly surrenders to beastly hysteria. Lange plays this with gusto but always delineates these disparate layers of personhood.
As captivating as she is bullish, the actress makes us understand why Hollywood still tried and tried again to deal with Frances Farmer. Even ragged drunk, her hair in disarray and face ashen, she's a star who we can never ignore. To see that bright charisma be systematically smothered by stints at draconian mental hospitals is a terrifying pageant of degradation. Jessica Lange doesn't spare the audience nor does she glamorize the ordeal, continuously finding new variations to Frances' despair. The structure of the movie may be repetitive, but its lead actress never is.
After many cycles of narcotized stupors, mother-daughter wars, and battered resignation, Lange and her movie arrive at their most famous chapter – the lobotomy. What horror there is, and there is plenty, comes from the stillness that overcomes Jessica Lange in these final scenes. For hours we've been drawn to the contrasts in Frances' inquisitive mind and electric constant motion. Now, there's only a sense of quiet numbness. Thanks to some good tricks of lighting, her eyes don't reflect anything, they're cloudy and empty. That kaleidoscope of pure feeling is gone, its absence a void as deep as the darkest black hole. To this day, I consider it one of the most frightening moments in cinema.
THE RACE
The truth of the matter is that, from the moment Sophie's Choice hit theaters, Meryl Streep had won the Oscar. Jessica Lange was Streep's runner-up, but her victory in Best Actress was always a near impossibility, especially when Tootsie gave the Academy a handy way of honoring both women. The New York Film Critics Circle was the first organization to devise a way of honoring both when they deemed Lange a supporting actress for Tootsie and gave her the corresponding prize. Most of the awards bodies that followed did the same, including the Academy, which doubly nominated Lange but gave her the gold for Tootsie.
The other Best Actress nominees, regardless of their exemplary efforts, were non-starters. Missing was a much-ballyhooed polemic that brought with it the Palme d'Or and heaps of great reviews, guaranteeing Sissy Spacek a spot on the line-up. Still, she was never a contender for the win, having conquered the Best Actress Oscar two years prior for Coal Miner's Daughter. Julie Andrews was another previous winner and, in her case, the outré premise of Victor/Victoria as well as its perceived lightness as a musical comedy combined to rob her of any real chance at conquering the statuette.
As for Winger, she got the nod by starring in one of the year's most successful movies, An Officer and a Gentleman. In it, she gave a riveting performance which she would, nonetheless, top the very next year on the Best Picture-winning Terms of Endearment. Even Debra Winger's parents said that they were happy for their daughter but believed Meryl deserved the Oscar when they were interviewed for People magazine. The only person who seemed to be legitimately sour about the turn of events was Teri Garr who considered Lange to be the leading lady of Tootsie. After all, had Garr been the picture's sole nominee in that category, she probably would have won.
THE AFTERMATH
Both Jessica Lange and Meryl Streep have had luminous careers since this Best Actress showdown. The fading glamour that comes of age put a bit of a damper on Lange's movie career, but she quickly pivoted to TV where she has found work befitting her status and her talents. Before those small screen adventures, however, she'd still win a Best Actress Oscar in 1994 for Blue Sky. While not wanting to overstate the importance of Frances in the actress's history, it's safe to assume that her loss of the Best Actress prize back in '82 helped her win this second little golden man.
As for Streep, she is the most nominated actor in the History of the Academy Awards, and also a triple winner. They're both living legends.
WHO SHOULD HAVE WON?
It's surprising how difficult it is to articulate the wonders of Lange's performance in comparison to Streep's. The controlled nature of Sophie is perhaps easier to process than the primordial rage of Frances. In this case, I shall vote for the performance that most confounds and fascinates me, making Jessica Lange the rightful champion for Frances.
Who's your choice for the Best Actress of 1982?
Reader Comments (91)
Bhuray - My top 5 Lange performances on the big screen are:
1) FRANCES
2) COUNTRY
3) TOOTSIE
4) CAPE FEAR
5) MUSIC BOX
I also think highly of her work in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, CRIMES OF THE HEART, TITUS, and BIG FISH. Curiously enough, I've always considered her second Oscar-winning performance to be among her biggest miscalculations.
Still need to watch MEN DON'T LEAVE, A THOUSAND ACRES, and MASKED & ANONYMOUS.
Regarding her TV work, there's a lot I haven't seen. The two Tennesse Williams TV films are of particular interest to me.
Still, I think she's absolutely brilliant in the second season of AMERICAN HORROR STORY, but find her work a bit patchy on the other seasons of the show. She's also very good in GREY GARDENS, though Barrymore is even better, and I simply can't stand FEUD (sorry to the fans of the show).
I'd go Lange out of the nominees, I think the film is better. However, agree that Keaton (and Finney for that matter) are incredible in Shoot the Moon and she'd get my vote. Return of the Soldier is an interesting one: Christie, Jackson and Ann-Margaet all good but it wasn't released in US that year
Since the 1982 movie that I’ve seen probably a dozen times and liked every time is “Victor/Victoria”, I guess I would have to choose Julie Andrews.
I’ve only seen “Frances” and “Sophie’s Choice” once. I admired “Frances” and thought Lange was great, but I don’t want to see it again.
I hated “Sophie’s Choice”. In trying to film anything by that dumb bunny author William Styron, you realize how stupid his story is and resent him for using meaningful things as a backdrop to his dumbness. I felt sorry for those involved.
CJ is was released but pulled quietly something to do with company distribution,anyway all 3 Females are stellar in it but esp Glenda..
I actually feel the opposite about these movies. Frances for me has always been unwatchable. Amateurish, bad writing, and clumsy. Sophie's Choice has its flaws, but along with Schindler's List, it brings the horrors of World War II into viewer consciousness through the dramatization of movies. And Streep is flawless in a truly memorable performance. It's frequently ranked one of the best of all time along with Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind.
Just an observation, but Streep has been remarkably generous towards Lange, while Lange rarely praises anyone.
Fascinating thread and discussion but I echo FF.
I guess I’m the minority, I’d take Lange over Streep in a heartbeat.
It would take an essay to elaborate on my issues with Streep but I think Sophie’s Choice is actually a pretty extreme trivialization and romanticization or a horrific story and that the title role would benefit from a much starker performer. I think Streep is the best thing about the movie while paradoxically being the element that exacerbates all its problems. It feels like I’m watching an actress showing me a dramatized version of suffering and so the whole thing ends up feeling kind of uncomfortable without actually making the story effective. It needs a more simple approach than what Streep is doing, an actual foreign actress frankly so that “ooooh her accent work” isn’t part of the conversation, and the Pakula of the 1970s. It’s a watered down movie and some of that is on streep IMO. She makes the character a martyr is a way that’s reductive and not all the story being told in the book.
Francis is not very good either but Lange goes for broke without ever romanticizing Francis as someone “unique” or “special” or even especially more talented that anyone else in Hollywood. The movie is simplistic but Lange never is. A version of the character could be played in which Francis is purely a victim of the Hollywood system and that is pointedly not the character Lange is playing (and that is clearly her doing and not the film’s). There is an extreme amount of integrity to her work, she’s not afraid to show you that Francis brings a lot of her troubles on herself. It is also as technically virtuosic as Streep (watch the scene in court and then read Tim Brayton’s write up on Langes performance and you’ll see the balancing act she’s pulling off) without being “precious” the way I feel Streep is. All IMO. I don’t even really dislike streep’s performance per se I just think Lange is pulling off a great deal more with much less fuss and I think Streep only continued to better herself (Silkwood being the most immediate example and her all time best).
I would have given Lange the Oscar for Frances (with Keaton in Shoot the Moon as my runner up, insane she wasn’t nominated) and Garr would have been supporting for Tootsie. I think Lange in Tootsie could have been slotted into either category. I think she’s better there than pretty much everyone else who was nominated for best actress that year.
Streep takes this for me very easily. She towers above the competition.
Hope this Actress vs Actress article becomes a regular series. It’s so delicious and inspires great discussions (for the most part). My suggestion for the next article is Burstyn vs Rowlands in the 1974 best actress race. Other suggestions include Cher vs Hunter vs Close in 1987 (as some have suggested), Cotillard vs Christie in 2007, Hepburn vs Streisand in 1968, Davis vs Swanson in 1950 (though both famously lost) and so many others.
I’m sorry Nat, but once again, you’ve displayed your strong bias against certain actresses. You admitted you don’t get Lange. Reminds me of your dislike of Zelwegger and Swank. You can never ever be subjective with these actresses. There will always be bias. That is why I am enjoying Claudio’s articles. Such a breath of fresh air.
Anyhoo, I love Meryl Streep with all my heart, but Lange should have won this one. She gave an outstanding performance, but it is what it is.
Sad they never worked together. They are almost identical in age and were often up for the same parts until Jessica moved to TV. Count me in with people who never took to Frances. Sophie’s Choice was a real phenomenon at the time due to Streep. But I can’t watch it again, not all of it.. It’s too upsetting when the film throws you into a concentration camp, and the scene with her kids at the train station is very traumatic. It’s gorgeously shot by Nestor Almendros, and I do remember it vividly.
Lange, hands down. I recognize Streep's triumph with Sophie, but I find the performance a bit too mannered and calculated (and, in the end, manipulative). She would come in third in that BA lineup, with Andrews (who balances the comedic, dramatic and musical elements in Victor/Victoria so effortlessly) the runner-up.
But I didn't applaud and still don't agree with Lange's consolation prize. Garr (who should've won BSA) had every right to be miffed at Lange's placement when she is indeed the leading lady of Tootsie (well, one of them anyway lol).
Oof Peggy Sue, your Susie Diamond was a rough attempt even for you. It wasn't stunning.
goodbar -- this makes me scratch my head. Do you think there exists a single person in the world who watches lots of movies who "gets" all actors equally? We all have our favourites, our 'not for me's, and our learned unfavourites (based on past performances), as well as our instant besotted relationships to certain performers... I dont believe this person exists and it certainly isn't Claudio (this is not an insult. I love Claudio). But claimiing he doesn't have his own biases is claiming he isn't human. And he's definitely human. A very talented human!
But it is hilarious to me that in praising Streep (who readers often attack me for disliking even though i dont remotely dislike her) i am now accused of being unfair to Lange! So for a second I thought your comment was satirical and then realized you were being serious.
Jono - i suddenly need to research if any other BA/BSA winning pairs are identical in age.
I love Meryl, but I don't mind people preferring Jessica Lange.
I'd prefer Glenn Close as the Supporting Actress winner in 1982.Now that photo would have been worth GOLD!
Sonja -- the 1982 supporting actress race was so stellar. Any one of them would have made a good winner.
@Mark-Alexis Lange
It's actually true. I am anti-Lange. In my opinion, Lange is always about over the top, she's not working to create a character but to force her own sensuality/mannerisms on every role. This is especially visible in her later work. She does not create complex characters but types. But this is my opinion, of course.
@Cláudio Alves
It's probably not the actual piece but its presence as one of many that somehow downplay Streep's importance and quite significant achievements.
NATHANIEL R - Thank you for the kind words and I apologize that, once again, one of my pieces seems to have brought on a bunch of meanspirited comments against you.
As always, I'm glad people like my writing, but I also wish they could compliment these efforts without lambasting the work of the other writers on this wonderful site. So many of TFEs writers are people whose work I admire, that it makes me feel bad when I come to the comments and find some readers comparing them negatively to me. People like Nathaniel, Jason Adams, Tim Brayton, Murtada Elfadl, Glenn Dunks, Kieran Scarlett, Angelica Jade Bastien, Jose Solís, Chris Feil, Anne Marie Kelly and many other contributors to TFE over the years are the reason I started writing about cinema in the first place.
Anyway, sorry if this comes off as a bit emotional or unduly angry. I love having feedback, of course, and thank you all for reading my pieces.
goodbar - As Nathaniel said, I' human and, as such, also have my biases and there are performers whose appeal I just don't get. While I've appreciated their work occasionally, Greer Garson and Reese Witherspoon are two examples of actresses I don't fully get, for example.
Oh Claudio. Sophie's Choice contains the single greatest performance by a man or woman ever put on film. I am so sorry the story did not speak to you. I first saw the movie when I was 14 and it has haunted me since. Pauline Kael famously wrote a book called I Lost it At The Movies. This was my time.
Zooey: It's actually true. I am anti-Lange.
I respect you for admitting your stance!
Zooey: Lange is always about over the top, she's not working to create a character but to force her own sensuality/mannerisms on every role.
This sentence is hilariously inaccurate and over the top in and of itself! Lange’s striking beauty and presence have always been simultaneously praised and held against her yet despite this, she has created a varied oeuvre of characters that range from painfully subtle (Tootsie, Country) to ordinary (Music Box, Men Don’t Leave) to mysteriously alluring (King Kong, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Cape Fear) to real (Frances, Sweet Dreams, Grey Gardens, Feud: Bette and Joan) grand and mythic (Rob Roy, Blue Sky, Titus). In each of the aforementioned performances she creates a striking character ranging from the trashy to the sublime, and she does so with a master’s technique and attention to detail. As with all great stars, Lange is undeniably and irrepressibly charismatic, AND insanely talented and genius.
Zooey: She does not create complex characters but types. But this is my opinion, of course.
This can be said of Streep, too, who seems perpetually stuck in creating accents and with the help of her longtime collaborator, wigs and teeth, rather than flesh and bone, lived-in characters. Streep, too, has her well organized toolkit of mannerisms ranging from scratching at her nose to imply mischief or embarrassment; to scratching at her ear to indicate confusion and irritation; to darting her eyes left to right or visa versa to imply the depth of subtexts undisclosed; to covering her top teeth with her tongue to imply that she’s withholding something; to brushing her fingers under her neck for more subtext. Streep’s shuffling and scratching is duly noted, dear. And these mannerisms can be found in ALL of her characters. Still, I consider Streep one of the greatest and I love her for the ENTIRETY of her craft just as I do Lange for hers.
Most telling is Streep’s undeniable admiration and fascination with Lange. Whenever someone falls over themselves praising Streep and her “exquisite taste and choices,” I like reminding them of whom she mentions most in interviews.
Again, check out this 2010 interview (after Lange’s film career was deemed over and BEFORE American Horror Story) and fast forward to 4 minutes:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=whqATHvd9Ew
I love them both.
Nathaniel --
Thank you -- Jessica Lange's Men Don't Leave is #1 for me. So real and lived in, believed every minute of the performance.
I love how Jessica wondrously delivers this classic line to Joan Cusak in Men Don't Leave:
"Hey, what's your story? Why don't you hit the streets and pick up a 12-year-old and then you can really go to town."
Just perfect.
Streep's Sophie is a thing of wonder, there's not even a discussion for me about her win, she is undeniable. The runner up for me would be Andrews, a delightful performance all around. I find Lange's Fraces a bit too over the top at times but it is a solid performance.
I also think Sophie and its status as a monumental piece of work is what made it so difficult for Streep to get that third statue. She was simply phenomenal in Silkwood, A cry in the dark and latter on was also deserving in Bridges, Adaptation (I think she deserved to be a double nominee that year and Julianne was my winner in supporting) and Prada.
@Nat. Sure we all have our own biases. I have never been fond of Brie Larson and Alicia Vikander, for example, as I feel they are bland, and way, way overrated, but I am not a film critic. IYou are and, when you diss the same actresses over and over again due to bias, the merit of your reviews and criticisms diminishes. When you say, for example, Renee or Hilary suck in this or that movie, I do not just take it with a grain of salt. I consider it not at all a credible review.
That’s just my gripe. I do enjoy reading your reviews of performances when it doesn’t involve performers who you overtly like or dislike. They feel more credible. 😊
Both classic performances in movies that are total slogs. I don't know who I would have voted for.
I agree with the poster way above who said that Lange's performance in Tootsie was one of his all time favorite Supporting Actress wins. Recently rewatched it (great quarantine viewing) and still believe it.
Teri Garr needed more to do in the movie to deserve the nomination or the win.
Streep and Lange are both brilliant. I guess Streep wins by the fraction of a fraction of a hair.
Debra Winger is marvellous in "An Officer and a Genteman." Julie Andrews has some wonderful moments in "Victor/Victoria" (Her "Le Jazz Hot" number is thrilling), and Spacek gives a solid performance in "Missing." The 1982 lineup was stellar.
But Diane Keaton in "Shoot the Moon" is in my top five for thatyear. And the "Jimmy Dean" ladies are all remarkable. But how should we categorize them? Sandy Dennis is a lead, but what about Cher and Karen Black?
With all this brilliance, it was Anouk Aimee who won at Cannes for "Leap Into the Void." I don't suppose anyone here has seen it; finding a copy has proved pretty much impossible. I'd love to watch it. Anyone have any ideas?
Streep and Lange are both brilliant. I guess Streep wins by the fraction of a fraction of a hair.
Debra Winger is marvellous in "An Officer and a Genteman." Julie Andrews has some wonderful moments in "Victor/Victoria" (her "Le Jazz Hot" number is thrilling), and Spacek gives a solid performance in "Missing." The 1982 lineup was stellar.
But Diane Keaton in "Shoot the Moon" is in my top five for that year. And the "Jimmy Dean" ladies are all remarkable. But how should we categorize them? Sandy Dennis is a lead, but what about Cher and Karen Black?
With all this brilliance, it was Anouk Aimee who won at Cannes for "Leap Into the Void." I don't suppose anyone here has seen it; finding a copy has proved pretty much impossible. I'd love to watch it. Anyone have any ideas?
Matt L. - I have seen "Leap Into the Void", but I'm not a fan. However, that's from 1980, I believe. The 1982 Best Actress winner from Cannes was Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak in "Another Way" which I've never watched, unfortunately.
@dtsf Garr is a supporting actress in Tootsie but she "needed more to do" to earn her well-deserved BSA nod or the win? LOL
I also wish room had been made for Diane Keaton's brilliant turn in Shoot the Moon (both Spacek and Winger are good but serviceable).
Diane's heartrending scene in the bathtub when she's singing that Beatles song should have nailed down the nomination.
Great article - probably the first from the author.
I really don't like his previous pieces; however, this one is terrific.
I'm with Lange. She gave the strongest performance.
Claudio, that's great that you got to watch Bellocchio's "Leap Into the Void." Although Aimee won at Cannes in 1980, the film itself was eligible for Oscar nominations in 1982, since that was the year of its U.S. release. Do you remember anything about her performance?
Even if you didn't care for the film, you might want to check out his black comedy "Fists in the Pocket." A strange film, but it features a great performance by Lou Castel that seems unbelievably spontaneous.
Lange’s most underrated works include:
1. Men Don’t Leave
2. Titus
3. Crimes of the Heart
4. Losing Isaiah
5. Everybody’s All-American
6. Prozac Nation
7. Don’t Come Knocking
8. Far North
9. A Thousand Acres
10. Rob Roy/Cousin Bette/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof/Normal
Special mention: Sybil and Night and the City
Really, Lange’s entire filmography is iconic in that best-for-late-late-night-discovery-when-you’re-simultaneously-bored-and-losing-your-mind type of way. Watching Lange is like listening to jazz or zoning out on film noir at 2am. She’s both soothing and electrifying.
Of her film work:
1. Blue Sky/Frances
2. Music Box
3. Sweet Dreams
4. Men Don’t Leave
5. Titus
6. Country
7. Cape Fear
8. Tootsie
9. The Postman Always Rings Twice
10. Prozac Nation/Don’t Come Knocking
TV:
1. Feud: Bette and Joan
2. Grey Gardens
3. AHS: Coven
4. Normal
5. Horace and Pete
6. A Streetcar Named Desire
7. AHS: Murder House
8. AHS: Asylum
9. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
10. AHS: Freak Show
The love for Diane Keaton on this thread. <3
I think the 80s were her best decade (yes, better than the 70s). REDS, SHOOT THE MOON, MRS. SOFFEL, BABY BOOM - she deserved nominations for all of them.
To echo Anjelica Huston - Why oh why is she making old lady cheerleading movies? I'd rather she simply retire and continue making money solely through L'Oreal commercials.
To add to my comment above...if you've never seen "Missing," it is riveting and terrifying. In any other year, Sissy Spacek would have been a leading contender for Best Actress. Jack Lemmon overdoes it a bit, but still...Just the scene alone where Sissy Spacek gets caught after curfew in a locked down Chile is worth the price of admission.
Pauline Kael - thank you for mentioning Everybody's All American. Deeplt flawed but features great work from Lange and Dennis Quaid.
The only lead in Tootsie is Hoffman. Lange has a big role but it's his film. So even if someone does like Nathaniel and rounds up, no one can really deny that Hoffman is a clear #1, and so fraud is too much.
Streep in "Sophie's Choice" is untouchable. There was no other choice (pun fully intended). Next.
I'll concede that Lange was Streep's runner-up and would have won for "Frances" in any other years. Both of her actual 2 Oscar wins I find atrocious.
Did you mean to say that "Sophie's Choice" was a "sorry tale"? That connotes the story being badly rendered or lowbrow. Maybe "sorrowful tale" or "tragic tale"?
Both of Lange’s Oscar wins are insanely and infuriatingly underrated, especially when one considers that the two performances she won for are diametrically opposed variations of the same archetype: the elusive blonde beauty or the Marilyn Monroe archetype.
As a long time Lange fan, it took me years to fully appreciate the depth, nuance and brilliance of her work in “Tootsie”. I got snagged on the couch one afternoon during house-cleaning just as she began reminiscing about staring at the buds patterned on her wallpaper as a young girl, waiting for them to bloom, and I felt the ache of recognition. I rewound it.a few times before realizing I had always taken her performance for granted, not realizing how much of the dramatic tone and depth she provided the film with such subtle, delicate poignancy. A performance like this can be flippantly overlooked and underrated but is by no means easy to accomplish. It takes skill, charisma and intelligence. As far as I’m concerned, she deserved both Oscars in 1982, though I would’ve given her a tie with Meryl for Best Actress.
“Blue Sky” has been a favorite since I first saw it at thirteen on VHS a few weeks after Lange won the Oscar. I was already a big fan at that point so I didn’t need much selling, but when I say my jaw dropped and remained that way even after I emptied the bucket I had placed under my vagina midway through the film, I mean it! For a little gay boy in the closet in the mid-90’s, Carly Marshall represented everything I felt: enraged, depressed, repressed and horny. She was glamorous, sexy and dangerous, and her mania spoke to me.
That being said, no other actress of her generation - or before or after, quite frankly - could do what Lange does in “Blue Sky”. She makes it look easy, but few would dare or even be capable of going where she goes her, physically or emotionally. In her forties with an array of awards and box-office flops behind her, the blush of youth fading, and rumblings of her career as a lead actress being effectively over, Lange reminded critics and audiences alike of exactly why, despite no box-office clout and minimal public notoriety, she had ascended from “dumb blonde model” to one of the most revered and admired actresses in film history. Her work in “Blue Sky” turns the ordinary into the mythical. It’s her best performance, in my opinion, and the film reminds me of the old-Hollywood vehicles churned out by the dozen back in the day. I love it!
Lange’s Oscar-winning performances make it easy to understand why David Lynch had planned to direct a Marilyn Monroe biopic starring Lange. I imagine Norma Jean was a lot like Julie Nichols and Carly Marshall like Marilyn Monroe. Of course, this is all conjecture but it’s late, I’m writing stream of consciousness...
MICHAEL R:
I love “Everybody’s All-American”! I think it’s one of the best sport films out there. I think it’s underrated and I know Lange wasn’t happy with the final result, but I find it. Incredibly bittersweet and moving. Her work is really strong here, too. So many great moments. I love the bar breakdown scene.
Ian - Thank you for the feedback. I did mean sorry tale as in a badly rendered one. I'm really not a fan of the film or the novel, for that matter. Sorry to those who love it, I wish I could see what you do in the picture.
I'm really late to the party, but this is really a Sophie's Choice between two iconic performances!
The perfect scenario wld've been Lange winning and Streep wins the following for the even better Silkwood, but then MacLaine wld've been Oscarless!! She shld've totally won for The Apartment! but what a convoluted history the Oscar has....
I guess all is well now tt all three did manage to win Best Actress at some point in their career.
I totally agreed tt Keaton shld've been nom for Shoot the Moon, a much betta perf than her subsequent nom for Marvin's Room!! Well at least Bafta recognises both her & FInney.
Jessica Lange was definitely Best Actress for Frances, and Frances was the better film. A shout out should also be given to the wonderful Kim Stanley in support.