A new series by Juan Carlos Ojano
From one nail-biter year to another, this year presents an interesting set of nominees with an interesting lead-up to Oscar night. Kristen Stewart racked up the majority of critics’ awards. Nicole Kidman won the not-televised Golden Globe. Olivia Colman was riding the waves of The Lost Daughter’s late-breaking hype. Speaking of late breakers, Penélope Cruz was another big critics’ push and enjoyed a last-minute surge for a win leading to Oscar night. Ultimately, Jessica Chastain - after winning SAG - squeaked out and won the award.
Another thing to note is the dominance of biopics in this category - three of the five nominees played real-life figures. However, that is where their similarities end. Their films could not be any further in terms of style and tone. Same goes with the other two remaining nominees - one originated from an acclaimed novel and one an original character from a formidable master of world cinema. But for now, we are going to explore how the five characters of the Best Actress nominees were introduced in their respective films.
Are you ready? The year: 2021...
Jessica Chastain as Tammy Faye Bakker in THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE
Directed by Michael Showalter / Written by Abe Sylvia
Whether one is familiar with the titular character’s reputation or not, the film does a summation of the contextualizing Tammy Faye’s legacy through the media frenzy surrounding her. A series of archival footage begins the film, showing the response to her televangelism, from adoration to ridicule. At the end of the opening credits, our first glimpse of her is of her distinctive eyes smacked in the middle of that video collage. Iconography, revelation, and the adage “the eyes are the window to your soul” are all infused in this shot that slowly takes out the other footage and slowly zooms out to her face. Tammy Faye is talking to a makeup artist about not changing anything about her eyes, showing her self-aware image curation. This also announces Chastain’s physical transformation as a selling point of the film.
Olivia Colman as Leda Caruso in THE LOST DAUGHTER
Written and Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal
This thorny psychological drama about “unnatural mothers” commences right with this shot - an out-of-focus profile close up of a woman, walking or on the verge of limping, as we hear crashing waves from the sea. Is she drunk? Distraught? Or lost? We are not given a straight answer. We’ll have to wait until the end of the film to fully know what is going on. Even when the focus of this shot becomes clearer, the coverage on her face never changes. It’s an enigmatic beginning to this character study, with visual proximity not always meaning intimacy. Initial unknowability is already weaponized by Gyllenhaal to capture the complexity of this woman which will be unraveled throughout the film.
Penélope Cruz as Janis Martínez Moreno in PARALLEL MOTHERS
Written and Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
We immediately get a closeup of Cruz’s face taking photos right after this, but the first shot of her - a wide shot - is loaded with visual information. Just a bit off-center, Cruz is still the visual focus with how blocking and lighting is set up - the other actors are in the dark, all facing in the direction of the photographer and the subject is also looking at her. But there Cruz is, also doing the act of looking through the lens of the camera. However, look at the bottom left of the screen - a set of decorative skulls, recalling the massacre during Franco’s dictatorial regime that will be crucial in understanding Janis even more. With the brevity of this shot, this might be an easily overlooked detail. However, this visual distillation effectively synthesizes the personal and the political at the crux of this film.
Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball in BEING THE RICARDOS
Written and Directed by Aaron Sorkin
A radio show broadcasting the news while Kidman is “in the foreground--though out of focus” and "sitting on a couch with her bare feet up" - that’s exactly how it was worded in the screenplay. As Bardem (heard off-screen) greets her, Kidman shouts “Where the hell have you been ya Cuban dimwit?”. A fight ensues. Marital melodrama in direct collision with brewing political tension is at the heart of Sorkin’s behind-the-scenes take on the turbulent marriage behind I Love Lucy. But it is curious how Kidman’s introduction in the film is seen through obscured, out-of-focus shots. One sees a clear image of the dynamic between Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, but the physical transformations of both Kidman and co-star Javier Bardem are not treated as the main priority in introducing their characters.
Kristen Stewart as Diana, Princess of Wales in SPENCER
Directed by Pablo Larraín / Written by Steven Knight
While this is not the first shot of the car driving - it is actually the third - this is the first time that we actually see the person driving the said car. And yes, we see Stewart as the royal icon. However, this introduction resides neither direct (like Chastain) nor obscure (like Kidman). Intercuts reveal Princess Diana driving in solitude on a long road while the royal family is comfortably making their way into the Sandringham House, as if she is going down a perilous journey in an impending battle. The lead-up to this moment, coupled with Jonny Greenwood’s looming score and Claire Mathon’s haunting cinematography, even suggest an entrance into a dimension beyond the literal. Larraín and Knight will further double down on this storytelling strategy as the film goes along.