A Woman List

There aren’t many things i like to do more than to find new women in all walks of life that are in the public eye. Ill try and mention only those i have come to like recently and those i wouldn’t have put in any of my prior lists.

Michelle Williams really impressed me in her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe, and with 3 films releasing soon (maybe?) and with short hair, Mia Kirshner is also alive and kicking but they aren’t on this list as these are the others.

Elena Anaya – Sex & Lucia and Room in Rome, but those are just titillation. I am not one to like the latin American, Spanish actresses but i like her, and Paz Vega. The two movies mentioned are fixtures on my hard drives, but then for an actress, acting is what counts. I really liked the 4 hour, two part Mesrine and maybe that is why i decided to keep her in this list. And she shares her birthday with ... ME! Remember that clearly as she was the only person i knew who had the same birthday as me when i made that list of celebrity birthdays. Another fact – related to Mesrine – is that the other lead actress in the first film, Cecile De France, also shares her birthday with me. Funny. Pedro Almodovar is the most renowned of the Spanish directors and he casts only the main actresses, hence Penelope Cruz is a fixture. His latest, The Skin i Live in, has Elena Anaya, and it was nominated for Best Foreign film. Downloading.

Isabelle Adjani – She doesn’t look pretty now at all, but in the late 70s and 80s she looked amazing. And she is a Two time Academy Award nominee. Similar to most of my favourites, it took one film. Here it was Andrej Zulawski’s surreal Possession, which i was raving mad about in college. Her performance won the acting award at Cannes. Plus she had a child with Daniel Day-Lewis. I have a new found admiration for French women & I really hate it that people have to age.

Ludivine Sagnier – Maybe you all know her. Water Drops on Burning Rocks? Some actresses sign these ‘Non-Nudity’ clauses for films but this one here definitely signs a Nudity clause. Just five minutes after she appeared in Mesrine, naked. Scrolled through this year’s ‘The Devils’ Double’, naked. Swimming Pool – half the film naked, and these are the English Language films only! If god exists, thank you for these women who are unashamed of their bodies. Maybe the best looking of all these French actresses, or maybe the hottest since i love Marion Cotillard.

Charlotte Gainsbourg – French! Her parents were very famous, mother British actress Jane Birkin and father Serge Gainsbourg was a famous French singer. Serge Gainsbourg was a womanizer and dedicated one of his songs to Isabelle Adjani, also on this list, and in 1984 released a song called Lemon Incest, which contained references to paedophilia and incest, featuring his then 13 year old Daughter! Talk about controversy! Charlotte Gainsbourg is possibly the finest example of an actress known because she can act and not for how she looks, which isn’t great. Plus she is a singer as well, and her song featured in FIFA 11 for that matter.  A fixture of late under Lars von Trier, ive decided to watch every movie of hers, but then i need the time.

Oh these French women. Take Lea Seydoux (MI 4, Midnight in Paris) , Clemence Poesy (Fleur DelaCour, In Bruges), the wonderful Juliette Binoche, the pretty Elodie Bouchez, Audrey Tautou, Laetitia Casta, Marion Cotillard, the most beautiful news reporter of all time Melissa Theuriau, Alizee Jacotey, ex-pornstar Clara Morgane,   Berenice Berjo (The Artist), Berenice Marlohe (Skyfall – the next bond film) and even  Eva Green, who is of Jewish descent and an atheist. American actresses can suck it.

BTW, apart from Berenice Marlohe, there is an English women playing one of the bond girls. Her name is some Naomie, and she was Calypso in the Pirates films (if you don’t remember just check, seriously). That is a high profile role really.

Bryce Dallas Howard – I really liked her in Manderlay, and having seen The Help & 50/50 as well, it’s been a nice introduction to Ron Howard’s daughter. After a role like Manderlay she should have got some starring ones, and you cant judge the acting talent of anyone based on one film alone.

Jessica Chastain – just realised she wasn’t in my earlier list. One of my favourites now, and i am backing her for an Oscar win in the near future. Al Pacino cast her in Wilde Salome – yet to be released – and recommended her for Tree of Life. She is in India right now, shooting for Kathryn Bigelow’s latest film. Thats the third closest ive got to one of my favourite actresses. (Sienna Miller was in Mumbai once and Camilla Belle was a block away at the Marriot).

Anna Kendrick – I haven’t seen Up in the Air, or the Twilight films. I have only seen 50/50 and as expected, it took one film. My word her face is spotless, like a mannequin for fuck sake. Downloaded Up in the Air and if she got an Oscar nomination for that, im going to love it, DESPITE George Clooney, who i don’t like, even though he acts well. Dating Edgar Wright, who directed the brilliant Nick Frost – Simon Pegg duo in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. And why do these actresses like to do voice-overs for animations, come in front of the camera with a face like that!

Evan Rachel Wood – well you’ve got to be barking mad to get engaged to Marilyn Manson, but who knows what he is like actually? I take it all of you have seen 11:14, and picture Evan Rachel Wood there and now, she looks like she’s lost half her weight. Has a number of movies under her belt (not figuratively) that i like, and there are a few i have and have to see yet, like Thirteen, S1m0ne, The conspirator, etc. Plus my interest was refuelled because of The Ides of March & Mildred Pierce – if you know what i mean. And - the kicker – cane out as bisexual. We love these confused girls. Keep em coming.

Rooney Mara – Didnt notice her in Social Network, although i read she got the plum role on that basis. Nightmare on Elm Street passed me by and all i said about the remake was that Jackie Earle Haley made a good Freddie Kruger. The original “Men Who Hate Women”, more commonly known as the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, had Noomi Rapace, who was wonderful in the role. But, you didn’t know Noomi Rapace. Yes ive flicked through some of her films but she seems a versatile actress. You watch Rooney Mara in these two films, or just look at her fucking face and you wonder – how the hell will she pull off that role? When you go into something expecting very little, if you get a few positives you feel happy. But what if you get the whole fuckin nine yards? I was immensely impressed – yes one film i know – and despite Meryl Streep and my fondness for Michelle Williams i would have planted the Oscar on her lap. If you saw The Fighter, you would see the role that Amy Adams played was one of a bitch of sorts, and Amy Adams plays Disney characters with aplomb as she is the happiest face in Hollywood. That was fantastic character acting and this performance exceeds that, as the role is complex, of a deranged female who has had a terrible foundation. You need to weigh in everything when it comes to appreciating a performance and on one side you have a Meryl Streep, who can play any role and has done it time and on the other you have a young actress who everyone presumed to be one of those one-dimensional, one trick ponies pulling this off. Maybe the fact that a movie with such adverse thematic content did garner Rooney Mara an Oscar nomination is testament to the appreciation she deserves. Fincher has signed on for the two sequels as well, and i am waiting eagerly. (There even is a Mia Kirshner connection here, as they both acted in successive episodes of The Cleaner)