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The Top 10 Female Performances of 2012

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With 2012 coming to a close, it’s time to reflect on the year’s cinematic treats, and then crowbar each work of art into a numerical position on a comparative chart. Comedies versus dramas! Thrills versus chills! The great versus the very good! This is the business we list-makers have chosen. Come, shoulder the burden.

Stanislavski famously said, “I have no problem with the craft of acting being reduced to a silly list in which disparate performers in vastly different productions are compared and then ranked. Just try and limit the number of Jessica Chastain entries this year.” I may be paraphrasing, but I will go ahead and assume the father of modern acting would be cool with my choices below. Yes, this is perhaps the most subjective craft in all of moviemaking. Thankfully, we’re not here to evaluate the specific intricacies of each actor’s decision making process, and then objectively state how that makes them better or worse than her peers. Rather, it’s a celebration of the twenty best (including honourable mentions) female turns of the year. And if we know anything about Stanislavski, he loved a good celebration. Wait, no, now I’m thinking of Kanye West. I think I’m confusing this Stanislavski guy with someone else. What did he sing again?

Honourable Mentions (in alphabetical order):

Amy Adams in The MasterCarlen Altman in The Colour WheelJeannie Berlin in MargaretAnne Hathaway in The Dark Knight RisesHelen Hunt in The SessionsRashida Jones in Celeste and Jesse Forever, Aubrey Plaza in Safety Not GuaranteedAndrea Riseborough in Shadow DancerSarah Snook in Not Suitable for ChildrenJuno Temple in Killer Joe.

10. Zoe Kazan in Ruby Sparks

Kazan wrote for herself this part; an imaginary nymphet invented by lovelorn author Calvin (Zoe’s real life beau, Paul Dano). Though the premise – and the red-haired, bike-riding, bad boy-loving, sundress-wearing flibbertigibbet born of it – seems like an excuse to indulge in the worst manic-pixie dream girl clichés, her screenplay eventually takes a dark turn. She follows it down the rabbit hole with her wholly committed, fragile performance.

9. Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games

She’s a favourite to take home the Best Actress Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook (as of publication, I’ve not seen it), but Jennifer Lawrence delivered an awards worthy performance in the YA blockbuster The Hunger Games early in the year. Katniss Everdeen is a bolder, much more interesting and morally complex character than the young lady she’s often compared to: Bella Swan. Lawrence, carrying on her brilliant work from Winter’s Bone, proved that she’s talented enough to anchor a small-time indie and a worldbeating franchise.

8. Leslie Mann in This is 40

Reprising the role of Debbie from Knocked UpMann plays the matriarch of a troubled and relatable Californian family opposite Paul Rudd’s Pete (something of a stand-in for director Judd Apatow, Mann’s husband). We already know that Debbie is a brash, brusque, firecracker of a woman; this time around we get to see more of her frailty. One sequence, in which she tries to tempt her bored hubby with an exposed breast, is played for laughs, yet Mann’s embarrassment reveals true pain. She’s also really, really funny.

7. Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild

This pocket rocket was six years old at the time of shooting Benh Zeitlin’s New Orleans’ tribute Beasts of the Southern Wild. Should she be celebrated for convincingly playing a six-year-old? Maybe not. She should be celebrated, however, for her star power as storm survivor Hushpuppy. Wallis carries an entire flick on her tiny back, and conveys her character’s journey – which involves her grasping the inevitability of death – with uncanny ability. 

6. Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt in Your Sister’s Sister

Technically, a tie is a cheat. Hey, it’s my list and I’ll do what I like. As two-thirds of the love triangle in Lynn Shelton‘s mumblecore marvel, DeWitt and Blunt share the kind of lived-in chemistry that few screen sisters have ever displayed. Lovelorn Iris (Blunt) and unpredictable Hannah (DeWitt) have little in common, though you only need to spend a few moments in their company to understand their deep-rooted history. That both actresses – not well-versed in improvisation prior to this – are able to keep up with Mark Duplass is a miracle in itself.

5. Kara Hayward in Moonrise Kingdom

Flanked by an impressive supporting cast, young Kara Hayward walked away with Wes Anderson‘s Moonrise Kingdom as depressed, violent runaway Suzy Bishop. Her and co-star Jared Gilman go ahead and jettison their innocence on their sleepaway camp. Hayward excels in capturing the pathos of unhappily married couple Bill Murray and Frances McDormand‘s spawn.

4. Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty

Chastain earned a spot on last year’s Top 10 Female Performances list for her turn as the ethereal mother in The Tree of Life (her supporting roles in The Help and Take Shelter were honourable mentions). Her winning streak continues in Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty, where she plays Maya, the CIA operative who spends 10 years hunting down Osama Bin Laden with dogged determination. Though based on a real woman, Chastain’s character will no doubt be compared most to Claire Danes‘ Carrie from Homeland (a great show, and an even better performance). However, where Danes gets to act out mental breakdowns and proclamations of love, Chastain is left only with her character’s unblinking professionalism and hard-nosed fervour. Even when derogatively referred to as ‘the girl’ by her colleagues, she doesn’t flinch. She’s got work to do.

3. Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables

The moment Hathaway was cast as Fantine, the Oscar buzz began. Anyone who sings ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ would surely stop the show, seeing as that is, well, the showstopper. Never could we have anticipated a performance of that musical standard as stripped-back, spine-chilling, and broken-hearted as hers. Director Tom Hooper keeps the camera on her face, and in one unbroken take she convinces you that you’re watching a real feat in filmmaking (when in reality the picture is just pretty good). It’s the ‘drop the mic’ moment of 2012.

2. Emmanuelle Riva in Amour

During awards (and end-of-year list-making) season, it’s easy to hyperbolise the power of movies. Obviously, I’m a fan, and I think they’re fantastic expressions of our humanity. Still, let’s be reasonable here: they’re not fixing any cleft lips in Cambodia. 85-year-old Riva’s performance in Amour is the argument that movies can, in fact, be so much more. Hers is nothing short of magic. As the stroke-afflicted wife of Jean-Louis Trintignant’s adoring husband, she gradually loses the function of certain body parts and faculties, eventually devolving into a mere shell of the vibrant woman she once was. It’s not easy to watch, and living through it would be a nightmare. She brings us as close to that reality as celluloid could possibly allow.

1. Anna Paquin in Margaret

Anna Paquin is now 30, and that she could convincingly play a teenager in Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret is a hint at how long it took to reach our shores. Her Lisa Cohen is easily one of the most polarising characters of recent memory; a righteous, defensive, argumentative teenager somewhat responsible for the death of a woman struck down by a bus in a busy New York street. As both a stand-in for America, particularly in the years following 9/11 – she tirelessly seeks someone (else) to blame to quiet her shrieking conscience – and a haunted teen having to deal with the traditional coming-of-age trials and tribulations, Paquin achieves the unthinkable and builds a fully-realised human being in the mire of Lonergan’s ethically complex masterpiece.


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