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My Rankings & Thoughts On Five Nominees For Best Actress For The 96th Academy Awards
My Rankings & Thoughts On Five Nominees For Best Actress For The 96th Academy Awards
Working my way through the 96th Academy Awards. It’s time for the Best Actress nominees.
No. 5
Annette Benning
Benning’s nomination shocked me when it came up on the screen for the Oscar nominations. I wasn’t angry. More shocked. After watching Nyad, Benning was third on the list in terms of performances that stood out. Jodie Foster was great as Bonnie Stoll, and Rhys Ifans was great as the ship captain John Bartlett.
Benning has the lead role of Diana Nyad, the psychotic (in the best way possible) swimmer who swam from Bimini, The Bahamas to Juno Beach, Florida. It is a remarkable feat that truly happened, and for Benning to even emulate a piece of that accomplishment must have taken eons of training. That is commendable, no doubt.
Perhaps my hesitation with having Benning up for Best Actress comes from the fact that all of her best moments are propelled by Bonnie Stoll. The report that Benning and Foster have is legit great, and in my eyes it was Foster who was stirring the salty drink.
By no means is Benning bad. She is very good. She was worthy of being on the shortlist. But imagine if Magot Robbie was in this race along with the two top contenders?
Annette Benning has been nominated for five Academy Awards in her career. Before Nyad she had three nominations for Actress in a leading role with The Kids Are Alright (2010), Being Julia (2004) and American Beauty (1999). In 1991 she was nominated for Best Supporting in The Grifters (1990).
Nyad was nominated for two total Academy Awards; Jodie Foster for Best Supporting Actress and Benning for Best Actress.
No. 4
Carey Mulligan
Carey Mulligan is a good actress. You won’t hear anything different from me. Anything she is in is worth seeing.
In Maestro, Mulligan plays the part of Felicia Montealegre, the wife of Leonard Bernstein. The way the story unfolds pushes the character Felicia to the side and makes her reactionary, and this is what makes Mulligan’s performance worthy of praise. Mulligan is able to find times to shine on her own despite the way her character is written. The theater box dialogue sparring scene is won by Mulligan, as is the heartbreaking scene with the medical diagnosis and the heart-to-heart conversation by the pool.
Carey Mulligan is no stranger to Oscar nominations. In a young career she has amassed three Best Actress nods for An Education (2010), Promising Young Women (2021) and Maestro (2024).
All in all, Maestro was nominated for seven Academy Awards, but came away with none: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Screenplay, Best Picture, Best Sound.
No. 3
Sandra Hüller
What a year for Sandra Hüller! She is nominated for Best Actress for Anatomy Of A Fall, and is part of an even better movie that won two Oscars, The Zone Of Interest (2023). Hüller took a twist into malevolence in 2023 playing a potential murderer and a nazi house mom.
A fun fact about Anatomy Of A Fall is that Oscar nominated director and winner Justine Triet did not tell Hüller whether or not the character she was portraying was guilty or not. The character of Sandra Voyter is introduced in such a unique way flirting with the female reporter while her still alive Husband is blasting “P.I.M.P.” by 50 Cent. Is the flirting a response to the lack of awareness by her husband, or is her husband fighting back knowing what her wife is like?
Hüller plays Voyter in purgatory. The audience feels like the jury trying to decipher what’s the truth, only we can see what happens at home. We see Hüller prepping for her testimony and are reminded that her career is as a storytelling writer. She knows how to create a narrative and Hüller takes it just up to the line of definitive truth before backstepping.
By the end of Anatomy Of A Fall, any viewer will be on the side of murder or not, but there is never enough evidence given off by the performance to seal the verdict with 100% certainty.
This is the first Oscar nomination for Sandra Hüller.
All in all, Anatomy Of A Fall was nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Actress, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Picture. Its only win was for Best Original Screenplay.
No. 2
Lily Gladstone
Before Killers Of The Flower Moon was even released, Lily Gladstone was getting buzz for her performance. Was the early buzz warranted? After watching the movie and working through the awards season, it’s safe to say yes, Lily was worthy of the attention for her performance of Mollie Burkhart.
One of the best bits of performance by Lily in Killers Of The Flower Moon comes when she first invites Ernest Burkhart into her home for dinner. The quiet observance she has towards the bumbling war veteran is endearing, as is the patience she shows him while he is quickly learning he knows nothing of her people’s customs.
The fascinating bit about Lily and Emma Stone’s Oscar race is just how different their characters were. Mollie Burkhart is quiet, observing, and often ill. Her life force is depleting while Emma Stone as Bella is just starting to experience life and has no idea when to shut up. It’s an interesting pair to look at and analyze from a Ocsar voting perspective.
This was the first Academy Award nomination for Lily Gladstone. If you told me that after The Last Manhunt (2022), Gladstone would be up for any Oscars, I’d have a hard time believing it.
Killers Of The Flower Moon was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, but won none: Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Directing, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Picture, Best Production Design and Best Supporting Actor.
No. 1
Emma Stone
Emma Stone enjoys working with director Yorgos Lanthimos, and he really likes working with her as well. The pair have worked together four times, and already have a fifth movie planned with Kinds Of Kindness. Safe to say, this is a partnership that is flourishing at the moment.
In regards to Poor Things, Stone plays the part of Bella with the courage of an army facing impossible odds. Stone is unafraid to take risks, bare it all for the camera, and ham it up for the camera. The role of Bella demands that the Stone be comically childish without any inhibitions.
Can you imagine reading the script and getting to a scene where you’re going to show housemates how to masterbate with fruit? And you need to appear sincere in every way shape and form? That is a bonkers realization to have for most people, but for Emma Stone, it’s a chance to strike gold.
It feels cliche to call Stone’s performance courageous, so we won’t go there. It’s crazy the evolution that the character of Bella has. It’s like a weird version of Benjamin Button. The coming of age for an adult with a baby brain shouldn’t be as entertaining as it is. The truth that Bella speaks about life with the innocence of a six year old is smile inducing on its own.
Poor Things proves my theory that we don’t grow more mature as we get older. We just get better at hiding our immaturity.
Emma Stone has won two Academy Awards at the ripe age of 35. A solid start to her career. Stone has taken on Best Actress honors for La La Land (2016) and Poor Things (2023). She has also been nominated for two supporting roles in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) and The Favourite (2018). Stone is also a producing nomination with Poor Things being nominated for Best Picture.
Poor Things won four Oscars, the second highest total, trailing only Oppenheimer. It took home the golden statute for Best Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup And Hairstyling, and Best Production Design. All in all, Poor Things was nominated for 11 awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematographer, Best Directing, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Picture, and Best Supporting Actor.
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