once again, mike leigh pulls a painfully gripping and brutally honest performance from another lesser-known actress, sensing obvious potential for the center spotlight. as a middle-aged mother who illegally performs back-alley abortions for young women, you can imagine the trouble she is in once she is caught, given the 1950's setting. her portrayal, like all of leigh's works, rely heavily on character improvisation to extract as genuine a translation as possible; for instance, staunton was the only actor to know ahead of time that the subject of the film was abortion -- none of the actors portraying vera drake's family knew that she would be arrested -- the reactions of fear and confusion are completely genuine. staunton spends a lot of this movie crying, and yet it never feels hammy or over-the-top, instead a flawless depiction of a woman whose lower-class lifestyle, and the desire to care for her loving family, left her with a financial dilemma.
*nominated for 2005 best actress oscar;
lost to hilary swank in million dollar baby
greatest line: i help young girls out
greatest moment: (2:35 - 4:20) see below -- her compulsion to help others is heartbreaking
No comments:
Post a Comment