The film world has some definite mommy issues.
Last year, I wrote an editorial about how the film industry was changing in regards to their images of mothers on screen. I lauded the various ways mothers were portrayed in acclaimed titles such as Moonlight, Nocturnal Animals, A Monster Calls and Lion and how each film literally re-defined what it meant to be a mother, daring to go beyond the stereotype in order to do so. It’s more than a little saddening then to see things revert back a bit this year, showing that at the moment Hollywood likes its top (older) actresses best when they play the kind of mom we all know and love…and have seen many times before.
Presently, the top three contenders in the race for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar this year are Laurie Metcalf, Allison Janney and Holly Hunter, who are all currently being celebrated for their maternal roles in Lady Bird, I, Tonya and The Big Sick, respectively. The three have been stalwarts at the majority of the critics and industry awards thus far and can each more or less count themselves as shoe-ins at this year’s Oscars. Each actress is a longtime celebrated thespian who has proven herself on both the big and small screen as well the stage, endearing themselves to audiences of all kinds. Their skills are so finely-honed, that each one makes their present role far more richer than it deserves to be. Metcalf, Janney and Hunter each take on one of the three main kinds/”types” of mothers. Metcalf is the long-suffering one, Janney is the emotionally cold one and Hunter is the supportive one. And for the most part, that’s about it. Regardless of the screenplays’ intention, each role seems to contain no more than a couple of variations on a single stereotype. None of the three above-mentioned women is painted as their own individual with traits that extend beyond the fact that they have children. What’s even worse is that everyone seems content with this notion.
While the crop of mothers I cited last year were crafted by people intent on painting them as actual characters, each frustrated complaint from Metcalf in Lady Bird and every insult thrown by Janney in I, Tonya feels like nothing more than a refusal by filmmakers to make the mother of their piece something other than a function. We understand that Hunter’s protective nature with regards to her daughter is at the root of the coldness she shows towards Kumail Nanjiani when the two first meet in The Big Sick. When she later defends him against a racist heckler, her action isn’t necessarily politically motivated (although the woman she plays is without racial prejudice), but rather because, like so many mothers, she’s a natural protector.
The praise and acclaim for each actress is richly deserved, if for no other reason for their ability to take tired stereotypes and inject some life into them. Each actress does this to the point where they almost come off as more dynamic than the central characters of the films they’re in. Yet signaling these actresses out for the most prestigious award their industry can offer is less of a celebration of great acting as it is strengthening the notion that the industry still has some limited views when it comes to crafting well-rounded female characters. The Best Actress side doesn’t seem to be suffering from this problem thanks to the likes of The Post, Victoria and Abdul, The Shape of Water and Molly’s Game, all of which are films that give their actresses layered roles rich with complexity (even though three of them are based on real-life women). Yet whether it’s due to deafening awards buzz or a hesitance on Hollywood’s part to recognize too many strong, interesting and diverse female characters, (and the talented women who play them), the Best Supporting Actress race is stuck going backwards.
In an effort to pay tribute to some exemplary acting by some of the best actresses working today, but also to the well-written and dynamic characters they play, I thought I’d spotlight a handful of other 2017 supporting female performances which have proven their worth in ways beyond their parental status.
Michelle Pfeiffer — mother!
Darren Aronofsky’s surrealist thriller was certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, coming complete with one abstract notion after another. Yet there was no argument on behalf of anyone who saw it about Michelle Pfeiffer’s performance as a 21st Century Eve. Even though Pfeiffer’s character is herself a mother, her narrative doesn’t revolve around that fact; she is her own individual. One could argue that Aronofsky’s film is full of caricatures rather than actual characters, but Pfeiffer is the only one to whom the notion doesn’t apply as she creates a portrait so rich and full of life under the surface. The brilliance of the actress’s work is how she doles out her character’s backstory in the slightest, yet most magnetic of ways. You could so easily picture this woman existing as a as a real person outside of the realm Aronofsky has created. The three-time Oscar nominee fleshes out her character so effectively, that it becomes possible to get a sense of her and the life she lived before coming to the house. The mischief, the brashness, the lack of filter, the pain, the regret…that’s all Pfeiffer. The actress makes such an impression in her handful of scenes, that the way the camera follows her as she exits the film is breathtaking, almost as if it’s sad for what mother! will lose once she’s gone.
Hong Chau — Downsizing
Like mother!, Downsizing features an actress giving a performance that is getting far better reviews than the film she’s starring in. Playing a political prisoner who was shrunk against her will, Chau proves to be the mishandled Downsizing’s one redeeming feature. Even if the film itself were actually good, Chau would still be its highlight. The character of Ngoc, who spends her days as a cleaning lady and her nights taking care of her poverty-stricken neighbors, is every inch inspiring and captivating. It’s impossible not to get emotional when thinking of Ngoc’s strength as well as what she has survived and what she chooses to live for. Many have complained about the thick accent Chau has given her character with some proclaiming it to be racist. Not only is this complaint without merit given the character’s social experience, but it is completely shot down by the fact that she remains the film’s most intelligent creation. None of this would be possible without Chau who hones in on Ngoc’s dignity and vulnerability and makes her essence the most visible and enriching part of the film.
Lesley Manville — Phantom Thread
As Daniel Day-Lewis’s sister in the haunting and sumptuous Phantom Thread, Manville may not have the kind of big Oscar moment, her fellow awards hopefuls have, but that doesn’t mean her work is any less powerful. The way she embodies Cyril, a woman who not only accepts her famous fashion designer brother’s eccentricities, but also nurtures them, makes for one of the most fascinating character dynamics of the year. This is especially true when it comes to the muses he falls in love with. Watching as Cyril knows the exact moment they need to be exited out of the picture is almost as striking as the way she dismisses them. While everyone is intimidated by Day-Lewis’s Reynolds Woodcock to the point where some not even look him in the eye, Cyril fearlessly and elegantly has no problem putting him in his place. “Don’t try to engage in a fight with me,” she tells him over breakfast. “You won’t make it out alive.” Manville’s character becomes such a presence that she threatens to even take away whole scenes from her endlessly-acclaimed costar without even having to utter a word easily making Cyril Phantom Thread’s most unforgettable figure in the process.
Lois Smith — Marjorie Prime
After years proving herself as one of cinema’s most talented character actresses (who doesn’t recall her show-stopping work in Minority Report?), Smith is finally given her due in the indie sci-fi drama Marjorie Prime. Having played the title character to great acclaim on the stage, the actress brings Marjorie to the screen for an elegiac portrait of a woman suffering from the loss of memory and old age who looks to a hologram of her dead husband (Jon Hamm) for answers and comfort. What could so easily have been a one-note role instead becomes a poignant tour-de-force in Smith’s hands as she brings out her character’s longing to hold onto the memories which comprised her life while trying to make her daughter (Geena Davis) understand that she’s still herself. Watching as Smith embarks on a quest to find out who Marjorie was before illness and time clouded her mind is not just one of the year’s most beautiful acting turns, but also a sterling testament to what has continued to make the actress one of the film world’s most unsung heroes. Even if Marjorie Prime has trouble coming off as cinematic due to its inability to shake its stage origins, every moment featuring Smith on screen makes you glad it doesn’t.
Of all the above-mentioned actresses, only Chau seems to be in the running for an Oscar nomination, with Smith and Manville barely being recognized by the critical media and Pfeiffer being shut out altogether. I’m still torn over whether the hype and love for the likes of The Big Sick, I, Tonya and Lady Bird have been enough to carry each actress to their current standing, or whether Hollywood and the critical media legitimately believed these were the best screen representations of female images this year. It should come as no surprise that the male category isn’t suffering the same fate with Sam Rockwell’s rage-filled cop in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Richard Jenkins’ sensitive artist in The Shape of Water and Armie Hammer’s closeted grad student in Call Me By Your Name all being celebrated. Again, Metcalfe, Janney and Hunter are all skilled and beloved actresses who bring their all to the films they appear in. Yet at a time when women’s rights and equality are being thrown into question once again, I think we can do a little better.
