Leading up to the 2011 Oscars, we’ll showcase the past twenty years of Oscar Acceptance Speeches by Best Actress winners and Best Supporting Actress winners. (Note: In most cases, you’ll have to click through to YouTube in order to watch the speeches, as embedding has been disabled at the request of copyright owners.)
Best Actress Nominees: 2008
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth, The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away from Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose (La mome)
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno
Best Supporting Actress Nominees: 2008
Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
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Marion Cotillard wins Best Actress for her performance in La Vie en Rose (La mome).
Tilda Swinton wins Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Michael Clayton.
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This is one year in particular that the right women won. Julie Christie was great in _Away from Her_ (a fabulous film that deserves a review on this site), but Marion Cotillard blew me away in her role as Edith Piaf. A rare biopic that I enjoyed. (What a gorgeous picture of her, too!)
Similarly, I adored Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan (how could you go wrong with those two?), but Tilda Swinton just nailed her part in _Michael Clayton_. That scene where she’s panicked in the bathroom stall remains vividly in my mind, though it’s been more than two years since I saw the movie.
I was so surprised and happy when both these women won. They also seemed genuinely surprised and happy. The Oscars are always interesting to watch, I think, because occasionally The Deserving Underdog wins … like Crash. (OMG JUST KIDDING.)