- Emma Stone (1)- Stone would be number one on this list if we combined both male and female and it feels like it’s been a long time since you could say that. In the past five years she’s been dazzling in three masterpieces (Birdman, La La Land, and now The Favourite). That’s two more than any other actress during that stretch. I love Amy Adams and the others on this list but Stone is far and away the best actress in the world right now.
- Amy Adams (2)- Adams was great in Vice and that’s an archiveable film so 2018 wasn’t a waste for Adams. She doesn’t give one of the 5-8 best female performances though and certainly with how good Stone was in The Favourite the gap widened here between one and two.
- Charlize Theron (HM)- The gap closed here between Theron and the #2 slot. I finally caught up in Atomic Blonde– the film is excellent and so is Theron in it. And then there’s Tully– sort of a second or third tier auteur/muse combination with Reitman—but the actresses in the top 10 were very quiet this year for the most part so this combination made for a very strong case for Theron. Of course her iconic turn in Fury Road is still in that recent rearview (2015).
- Rachel Weisz (not on the list)- She had The Light Between Oceans with Cianfrance in 2016 but her rise here is due to her brilliant performance The Favourite. She’s higher than Olivia Colman on this list (even if it’d give Colman the very slight edge in the film) because of her previous work with auteur Yorgos Lanthimos in 2015’s The Lobster. She’s fantastic there as well.
- Joanna Kulig (not on the list)- Kulig is a small part in Pawlikowski’s two previous efforts this decade, but Cold War here in 2018 is where she made her mark. She’s magnificent in a masterpiece—few actresses on this list can say they’ve done that.
- Natalie Portman (9)- Portman left us after Black Swan for quite a while but it seems like she’s back with Jackie in 2016 and Annihilation in 2018.
- Olivia Colman (Not on the list)- Like Kulig there isn’t the resume her before her 2018 breakout to warrant this—but on the other hang—performances like this, in masterpieces, do not happen often. Amy Adams has never been in a film this good—Michelle Williams has never been in a film this good either- two of the great actors of their generation.
- Marion Cotillard (3)- The Immigrant in 2013 and Two Days, One Night (2014) feel like a long time ago.
- Viola Davis (not on the list)- She’s more of a recognizable face and household name than Colman or Kulig but I don’t think much of Fences or The Help so really we’re just talking about Prisoners in 2013 and her great work in Widows of course in terms of recent arcvhiveable films.
- Isabelle Huppert (HM)- adds Haneke’s Happy End (which I caught in March 2018) to her recent string of good films and performances (Elle, Things to Come, Louder than Bombs
****Honorable mention
- Toni Collette- A veteran actress who I never thought I’d see do what she did last year in Hereditary—reminded me of Mia Farrow and Ellen Burstyn in Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist
- Tilda Swinton– Her third collaboration with Guadagnino (Suspiria) didn’t quite land like the first two (I Am Love and A Bigger Splash) but I look forward to revisiting
- Margot Robbie- Only non-cameo (but boy her spot in Big Short is great) in the last five years is I, Tonya
- Saoirse Ronan- Perhaps I’m being too hard on Ronan- but Lady Bird has faded on me a little
- Michelle Williams– I feel like we’re ready for another Kelly Reichardt collaboration
*****fell off last year’s list
- Jessica Chastain (6)
- Greta Gerwig 7)
- Scarlett Johansson (10)
where is Jessica Lange? I am offended 🙂
@ Casey– thanks for visiting the site and the comment. Jessica Lange, huh? All time or right now? This list is more about the best actresses right now and my last Jessica Lange archiveable film is from 2005 (entire list of her 5 archiveable films below). You may be thinking top 100 of all-time and that list is here- http://thecinemaarchives.com/2018/07/18/the-top-100-actresses-of-all-time/ but i don’t have her here either. Do you have a year where you think she gives one of the best 4-5 female performances of the year? I don’t think I do. I did just see “Cape Fear” and she’s superb in that. Her scenes with Nick Nolte and really strong.
1979- All That Jazz
1982- Tootsie
1991- Cape Fear
1995- Rob Roy
2005- Broken Flowers
@Drake- well you always have Frances, which is far and away her best work and actually gives Meryl Streep some decent competition in 1982, as hard as it could be for someone who’s only watched Sophie’s Choice to imagine. The problem is, Frances is a typical biopic with few things going on for it artistically other than Lange’s performance – which could be argued to be a strong enough factor. And it is always hard to award a performance, even if it is that good, when it is found in an overall forgettable film. And besides that, her other work is frustratingly unimpressive when compared to her brilliance here. I find it very difficult to decide whether she would belong to a list like yours, though I think I’m inclined to agree with you.
@Georg– thanks for sharing your thoughts here. I’ve seen Frances and yes she’s very good. Yeah- mostly when a film has a really good performance and that’s all it has going for it I don’t even archive it. There are too many good films to see, watch, rewatch and study. I’m a cinema lover– not an acting student. Acting is ingredient but not THAT important to the artistic quality of a film for the most part– my overriding feeling when this happens is usually regret that a performance this good isn’t a part of a better film… it’s like a sports athlete having a really great game in a preseason or exhibition game… save it for the bright lights of a real game or postseason!! haha
Do you watch soccer? What sports do you follow?
What movie would you recommend that is about soccer, or any sport?
@Drake – yes I totally get that. Though I think sometimes a performance is remarkable enough or the film it is in is just good enough so it can overcome this obstacle; say Jane Fonda in several of her movies actually. But I tend to agree with you, the film should be special.
@Georg– agreed on Fonda- http://thecinemaarchives.com/2018/04/26/the-26th-best-actress-of-all-time-jane-fonda/ Klute is exceptional but there isn’t a ton there beyond that and she wasn’t in a single masterpiece. This whole conversation actually makes me think of Streep the past few years. She’s racking up a lot of nominations but I forgot about Florence Foster Jenkins, The Iron Lady, August: Osage County, and Into the Woods within a few hours of seeing them
@Drake – hey, I completely missed this comment. And I don’t even remember what I it is I had posted about Fonda…
But yes, you’re right about Meryl the past few years. I feel like her strength is her overall body of work and the sheer spectrum of different characters she has portrayed so effectively. But you’re dead right about recent years – they nominate her for anything don’t they? The Iron Lady was a marginally archivable film (to use that term, haha), Into the Woods I found terribly uninteresting and definitely not Oscar material, and Florence Foster Jenkins – she was really good in that one, I’ll admit. It’s one of her performances I really enjoy and her comedic flare shows. But 2016 was a monster of a year and you essentially had several other better choices. August Osage County, I appreciated a bit more and I think she warranted that nomination. She was excellent and Julia Roberts really delivered here as well. I’m not going say she should have won though. In fact, perhaps her only memorable nominations in these years are August Osage County, Doubt and Adaptation (that was a great one). The Devil Wears Prada nomination was easily the product of a relatively weak year for female leads and benefited from the iconic status the film achieved.
As for Fonda – I’m a huge supporter of Klute. I haven’t done a deep dive yet into 1971 as a year, but I’d be shocked if it didn’t belong in its top 10. Honestly, I can vividly recall seeing McCabe and Mrs Miller, thinking it was mind blowing, and then watching Klute and thinking it was merely a few spots beneath it. And I don’t think Klute is in the TSPDT top 1000, which is probably unfair, but I haven’t done the work to say that with certainty. Klute is incredibly atmospheric, there is great work done in the aspect of cinematography, colour and overall style. The soundtrack is great, the performances are perfect and the film is so impeccably suspenseful. Really, the scene when Fonda walks towards the clothes behind which hides the guy they’re looking for – perfect. It is so effective in its weird blend of romance and crime and thriller, all along with its aesthetic brilliance, I mean it’s got to count for something. I also think highly of TSHDT?, but that is mainly in the context of the film’s writing and critique. Those two are not on the same level. So I guess you could say Fonda hasn’t been in a masterpiece, but Klute is in all honesty quite close to that status, and a great pick for her best performance. Add to that the depth of her 70’s run and body of work and I think she deserves that 26th spot you’ve saved for her.