2012 Calvin Awards: Best Actress
By Kim Hollis
February 16, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The 2012 Calvin for Best Actress goes to… Bérénice Bejo of The Artist. Savvy readers will realize that Bejo isn't even nominated in the Best Actress category for this year's Academy Awards. Instead, they have chosen to recognize her as a Supporting Actress. BOP wasn't buying it, though, because as far as we were concerned, she was every bit a lead in The Artist as Jean Dujardin. The character of Peppy Miller is critical, and when protagonist George Valentin isn't onscreen, she is. We see her ascension from a wide-eyed, unknown performer just hoping to get a role as an extra to the biggest movie star in the world and America's sweetheart. As her star rises, George's falls. The movie's trajectory has them inextricably connected. And Bejo is simply marvelous in the role. From the moment she stumbles in front of George during a photo op, her sunny persona shines through. Even though she becomes a huge star, she remains George's biggest fan, constantly in awe of his larger-than-life presence.
Second place - 25 points behind Bejo - is Rooney Mara, who burst into our collective consciousness last year when she wowed in her short but effective appearance in The Social Network. This year, she gave us her interpretation of one of the most popular characters in 21st century literature, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo's Lisbeth Salander. She had a bit of a tough task ahead of her, as not only is this character vividly imagined in the novels by Stieg Larsson, but she has already been portrayed within the last couple of years by Swedish actress Noomi Rapace. Mara played the character differently and stamped her own individual interpretation on Salander. More restrained (but more obviously full of fury), Mara was somehow able to show that Lisbeth is entirely insular and impressed upon the viewer how very unusual it would be for her to allow any person, let alone a person like Mikael Blomkvist into her life. Since the film has managed over $200 million worldwide to date, we're betting the sequels move into production soon enough, and we'll be able to see her explore this character more fully.
Our third place spot goes to Viola Davis, who gave a performance to remember in The Help. Although she was working alongside a number of terrific actresses in the film, her portrayal of Aibileen Clark was easily one of the standouts. The film really unfolds through Aibileen's eyes, and Davis is the ideal vessel to depict the highs and lows. Like Lisbeth Salander, Aibileen is an insular character, which means that the portrayal is challenging to do effectively, but Davis imbues Aibileen with gentleness and respect, making it easy to root for her. We want to hear her story.
Elle Fanning had a pretty good year in 2011, especially considering that she's all of 13-years-old. She starred in Super 8 and We Bought a Zoo, but it's the former film that made us really sit up and take notice of her talent. She played Alice Dainard, the girl who all the boys seemed to have a crush on in Super 8, but she was more than just that "unattainable beauty." Instead, she had no hesitation in hanging with the dudes and taking on the role of either damsel in distress or femme fatale in the group's self-produced film. Fanning's chemistry with her co-lead, Joel Courtney, is amazingly strong for kids of their age, and it's striking how sweet the two of them are together. A lot of times, kids that start acting at a young age (Fanning had her first role before she was three) don't develop into anything particularly special, but she is proving that notion wrong almost every time she appears onscreen.
Fifth place goes to Michelle Williams, who seems to be a consistent presence on the critics' lists each year. This time around, she took on a legendary persona as she played Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn. She is able to deftly move between portraying the character as big-time movie star and vulnerable lost girl. It's always tough to play a person who is so enshrined in the public consciousness, but Williams was more than able to pull it off.
Our sixth and seventh place actresses are both up-and-comers who really received notice for the first time in 2011. Elizabeth Olsen made her mark with Martha Marcy May Marlene as a young woman who sees her life begin to unravel after she flees from a cult. It's frankly hard to believe that this is Olsen's debut performance, and she is able to keep us deeply engaged with this fragile, inscrutable character. Chastain had her coming out party in 2011, appearing in The Debt, Take Shelter, Coriolanus, The Help and The Tree of Life, and while she's notable in almost all of these roles, we single her out here for her role as young Rachel in The Debt. This was a tough part to play since she effectively had to convincingly portray a younger version of Dame Helen Mirren, which is no easy task. She was more than up to the part, though, and had us believing Rachel was both strong and vulnerable.
We wrap up the top ten with Charlize Theron, who behaved badly in Young Adult, Tilda Swinton from We Need to Talk About Kevin, and Academy Awards front-runner Meryl Streep in Iron Lady. With Theron, we appreciate that she takes roles that don’t necessarily rely on her gorgeous looks and truly winning personality. With Monster and now Young Adult, she has proven that she can play a character who is ugly either inside or outside. For Swinton, she is detached and far away as a mother with a child who has become monstrous, but even though she seems untouchable, she is heartbreaking nonetheless. And much has been said about Streep and her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. Streep is spectacular in the role, and the primary reason she doesn’t finish higher is because we simply knock her down some notches since the movie is not as good as it ought to be.
Some of the actresses who came close to reaching the top ten were Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids), Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia), Keira Knightley (A Dangerous Method) and Emily Blunt (The Adjustment Bureau).
The Calvins: An Introduction
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Album
Best Cast
Best Character
Best Director
Best Overlooked Film
Best Picture
Best Scene
Best Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best TV Show
Best Use of Music
Best Videogame
Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
Worst Picture