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Post by PromNightCarrie on Oct 7, 2021 13:21:00 GMT
The Story of Adele H. is obviously Adjani's most mentioned work on here, but I have to know everyone's thoughts on THIS performance. Another intense performance albeit in a film that is one of the most bizarre I've ever witnessed.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 7, 2021 15:28:03 GMT
It is the best performance of something that is almost never accurately portrayed - the state of delirium - not merely mental illness in the broadest sense but the SPECIFIC state of delirium. It is almost impossible to play because it is not text based AND not passive (ie NOT catatonia) - that specifically involves obscuring from and not communicating to an audience. It's one of the great performances that is at odds with the way it's first judged: "the lunatic female performance" - many of the GOAT female performances involve "females cracking up" in some way - Ullman, Lange - her specialty - Rowlands, Blanchett there's A LOT of reasons for that (some of them are quite sexist actually).........but Adjani is portraying a mental AND manifested physical illness simultaneously - it's one of the great physical performances ever on film right off the bat.....
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Post by ibbi on Oct 7, 2021 15:33:32 GMT
Nobody plays crazy in all of its forms like Adjani. It's a great performance (the sort it'd be very easy to laugh at in lesser hands, but in hers is just deeply unsettling) in a great, and massively unappreciated film.
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Post by stephen on Oct 7, 2021 15:47:03 GMT
Yeah, I think it's her best performance and I echo the sentiments above.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Oct 7, 2021 16:02:49 GMT
I sometimes wonder if I'm the only one here who doesn't like it, but yeah... I don't like it! Żuławski isn't for me and this Adjani perf is inextricably linked with Żuławski and what I don't like about his vibe. It's all very off-putting and a little monotonous.
Love her everywhere else I've seen her.
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Post by DeepArcher on Oct 7, 2021 16:14:25 GMT
One of the best performances ever given period ... probably the best ever horror performance that I can think of (?). Honestly don't think I've seen another performance where an actor commits THAT hard to a particular vision/piece and never misses a step in bringing it to life in all of its ugly, grotesque glory.
Possession is an all-timer and so is that performance (as is Neill's). Seeing it in a theater next weekend. Beyond excited!
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Oct 7, 2021 16:53:52 GMT
Might be my favorite lead actress performance of all-time. I don't understand how she was able to so deftly portray abject madness while still fitting in the milieu of the film.
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Post by PromNightCarrie on Oct 7, 2021 17:19:17 GMT
It is the best performance of something that is almost never accurately portrayed - the state of delirium - not merely mental illness in the broadest sense but the SPECIFIC state of delirium. It is almost impossible to play because it is not text based AND not passive (ie NOT catatonia) - that specifically involves obscuring from and not communicating to an audience. It's one of the great performances that is at odds with the way it's first judged: "the lunatic female performance" - many of the GOAT female performances involve "females cracking up" in some way - Ullman, Lange - her specialty - Rowlands, Blanchett there's A LOT of reasons for that (some of them are quite sexist actually).........but Adjani is portraying a mental AND manifested physical illness simultaneously - it's one of the great physical performances ever on film right off the bat..... This assessment is on point. That state has been portrayed many times in movies - usually in smaller doses and not effectively. As a full performance, we've seen Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion go the opposite way into catatonia. Looking at your list of actresses known for being adept at playing women descending into madness on film, it makes me think that this performance is so far removed from anything I've seen from the others. I'm not saying it trumps everything they've done quality-wise. I'm not even comparing quality. It just seems to occupy its own category, if that makes sense. I've said the same thing about it being one of the greatest physical performances. I have no idea how hard this was for Adjani. But I imagine for nearly any other actress, the degree of difficulty in pulling this off must be off the charts!
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Post by JangoB on Oct 7, 2021 17:55:56 GMT
The Story of Adele H. is obviously Adjani's most mentioned work on here, but I have to know everyone's thoughts on THIS performance. Another intense performance albeit in a film that is one of the most bizarre I've ever witnessed. Is it? I don't think I've seen it mentioned too often tbh, as opposed to Possession. But maybe I'm wrong. More on the topic, it's my favorite leading actress performance of all time
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Post by PromNightCarrie on Oct 8, 2021 1:59:27 GMT
The Story of Adele H. is obviously Adjani's most mentioned work on here, but I have to know everyone's thoughts on THIS performance. Another intense performance albeit in a film that is one of the most bizarre I've ever witnessed. Is it? I don't think I've seen it mentioned too often tbh, as opposed to Possession. But maybe I'm wrong. More on the topic, it's my favorite leading actress performance of all time Well, actually I could be wrong as of late since I haven't been around. But in terms of greatest females performances, it always occurred to me that that one was mentioned more.
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Post by Allenism on Mar 15, 2023 23:33:50 GMT
It's a performance that set a new standard for contemporary acting, specifically for women/female-identifying performers. Like ibbi said upthread, in lesser hands this would've landed as a laughable exercise in histrionics, but Adjani's full-bore commitment to Anna's undoing (or rather, the impression of her undoing as realized by Zulawski) is equal parts hair-raising and gut-churning.
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