best film: Between 2011 and 2013 Carey Mulligan appeared in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, Steve McQueen’s Shame and then The Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis. It is the latter that sits atop Mulligan’s list of best films – it may go down as The Coen Brothers’ best film if that tells you anything. Inside Llewyn Davis is simply one of the melancholiest films ever made – it wallops you. The film, in its entirety, has a washed out look – like a cloud is hanging over the entire film – everyone looks pale, very wintery, waiflike, haunting– chilly. Mulligan is really given just one note to play here, and she does it admirably. It is a Coen film- which means dialogue and phrases are repeated— this does not help Mulligan as an actor — her character just swears at Llewyn – but in reality, she does not need to just swear. Carey Mulligan is so good she could’ve just delivered a look. Mulligan may get the one scene that the Coen’s overwrite in the entire film.
best performance: Carey Mulligan plays Sissy opposite Michael Fassbender’s Brandon in Shame. There are narrative and psychological cues like Sissy’s nudity in front of her brother that give the characters and film such depth. McQueen keeps the camera on that. And she says “we’re not bad people- we just come from a bad place” which is just heartbreaking.
from Shame- a haunting rendition of “New York New York” sung by Mulligan. Mulligan is both acting and singing beautifully – hard to do obviously – and it is shot in a long take chopping off her forehead.
stylistic innovations/traits: Carey Mulligan is a London-born actor who ascended to stardom after appearing as part of the talented ensemble in Joe Wright’s 2005 update of Pride & Prejudice. An Education in 2009 sort of cemented her arrival and then her 2011, with both Drive and Shame, sits as one of the best single years for any female actor in the 21st century. Mulligan’s eye for good, thoughtful material continued into the 2020s with Promising Young Woman.
Promising Young Woman marks the – yes – promising debut film for Emerald Fennell who wrote and directed (winning an Oscar for the screenplay). This is a choice role for Carey Mulligan. On a per-minute basis she is better in Steve McQueen’s Shame (2011)—but it is tough to compare because she is in almost every frame here in Promising Young Woman as she plays Cassandra.
directors worked with: Joe Wright (1), Michael Mann (1), Nicolas Winding Refn (1), Steve McQeen (1), The Coen Brothers (1), and Baz Luhrmann (1)
Mulligan wowed in her 2011- playing pivotal roles in both Shame and Drive (here)
top five performances:
- Shame
- Promising Young Woman
- Drive
- An Education
- Wildlife
archiveable films
| 2005- Pride and Prejudice |
| 2009- An Education |
| 2009- Public Enemies |
| 2011- Drive |
| 2011- Shame |
| 2013- Inside Llewyn Davis |
| 2013- The Great Gatsby |
| 2017- Mudbound |
| 2018- Wildlife |
| 2020- Promising Young Woman |
| 2021- The Dig |
Probably my favorite current actress after Jessica Chastain and Scarlett Johansson. It’s close for me between her top 2 performances but I think I would lean ever so closer toward Promising Young Woman although I agree that Shame (2011) is a MP and the best film she’s been in of those I have seen.
In Promising Young Woman (2020) Carey Mulligan dominates all her scenes. It is a complex performance as she manages to be simultaneously in command of the increasingly dangerous scenarios she creates while also maintaining a certain level of vulnerability setting up a heart breaking twist. Her top 2 performances show she can play intelligent and emotionally complex characters better than most. Excited to see what she is in next.
Mulligan is also famous amongst Dr Who fans for being the lead character in possibly the best episode, “blink” circa 2007. It’s worth watching if you’re a fan of hers. It’s a complete filler episode having nothing to do with what happens in the series (a short film really) and it’s rare to have one where the Doctor isn’t the main character. This was the first time I saw Mulligan and I thought she was a superstar. I wasn’t surprised to see her make it to Hollywood. Highly recommend this episode even if you hate dr who, it’s very well written and acted and from memory has some decent direction.
@Jagman – its funny, I watched that episode a lot when it came out but only earlier this year did I realize that it was Mulligan in the lead.
Yeah I recognized that it was her when I saw the Great Gatsby in the cinema. I thought, “its about time”, not realizing she had already been in some stellar films (didn’t have Drake’s recommendations back then haha).
Comment box on the side is a bit glitchy today
@Harry- very glitchy- sorry to you and everyone else. Should be resolved soon but we had some updates to the site going on yesterday and today
@Anderson- thank you for the heads up here on this