The 20 Greatest Female Performances of All Time in Cinema

 

A determinant factor of penetrating the heart of audiences is the sheer acting on a screen which is executed on the developed screenplay, and it would probably never be potentially effective without the character's charisma on screen. Cinema has offered some remarkable character executions full of complex dynamism that has been perfected numerous times throughout the history of films. Some brilliant actresses have stood out in their characters that carry a very unique world in themselves. 

Here is a personal list of the top 20 female performances since the beginning of the cinematic time. What do you think about the rankings and who do you suggest is missing the list?

20. Margarita Terekhova in Mirror (1975)

Tarkovsky's poetic rendition of reminiscence of childhood and different phases of life has been constructed in a fragmented narrative comprising of dreams and reality, where Margarita Terekhova perfects her character switching between a mother and a wife and thus beautifully balancing the emotional traits of the distinct personalities. Even though a character switch in a non-linear narrative becomes hectic to untangle, thanks to Margarita Terekhova's definitive prowess to make it significant and emotionally bearing.

19. Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose (2007)

  The musical biography on Edith Piaf stresses more on the visual properties complementing its dramatics, that fine-tunes Cotillard's character of Edith. While personally, the film doesn't quite stand on an extraordinary ground on the shelves of biographies, the only thing to make the tale of the renowned singer effective is the character arc of Edith, which has been justified by Cotillard's dedication to the perfection of the physical and psychological mannerisms, often pushing her in the fluctuating array of exhilarating heights of career vibrancy and extremely depressing lows of pitfalls.

18. Anna Karina in The Nun (1966)

Anna Karina's rebellious characterization of a woman's forceful obedience to take up the vows of a nun in eighteenth-century France is just as brilliant as the epic itself. Jacques Rivette brings forth the utmost potency of the 60's French icon in immaculately representing the disdainful depth of physical and emotional oppression by a handful of superior church mothers who derogatorily subject Anna's character to different radical methods of maternal concern, sadistic persecution, attempted exorcism and unruly ministrations of lesbian desires in an attempt on treating her defensiveness.

17. Charlotte Gainsbourg in Antichrist (2009)

As difficult and disturbing Antichrist is, the psychological distortion in Charlotte's character is indefinitely at a position of greater difficulty. In fact, the film's despair drenched sublimity has only been possible because of its two central characters of enduring losses. While William Dafoe succeeds in his presentation of a tortured soul, his wife, played by Charlotte, quite excels in gulping down the immorality which leads to a brilliant execution in the decaying of beliefs, desperation and sexually violent traits in herself.

16. Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar named Desire (1951)

A loquacious and fragile woman, Blanche DuBois, in her 30's, arrives at her sister's poverty-stricken life after losing everything back in her home. While showing the efficient ways of repressing her inner desire and sexual provocations, the emotionally isolated DuBois grows to be genuinely unstable along with the progression of the drama. While losing relationships and having even endured a rape, the character's adequacy in retaining the core innocence glows prominently from Vivien Leigh's execution of DuBois.

15. Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice (1982)

Sophie intrinsically dwells in an ocean of self-loathing, self-pitying and guilt; doesn't matter how optimistic and casual she might seem at any given time. Meryl Streep's prowess doesn't require any clarification and yet she overwhelms us with the taking up of Sophie's character and meticulously executing the sketch of suppressed melancholy, which primarily reasons off on maternal matters. Very secretive in dealing with her sorrows, Sophie often showcases emotional outbursts and traits of sexual yearnings. It is the subtlety in traversing the emotional spectrum and conveyance of the body language that places Meryl Streep's brilliance apart from the rest.

14. Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Quite possibly the most complex femme-fatale of all time, Norma Desmond is repellent in her acceptance of her non-existence in the film industry right now. Billy Wilder's ageless classic stands its ground extensively on the sole reason of the character of Norma Desmond. While Norma is excessively narcissistic and shows domination over others, she also loves obsessively, be it a person or the idea of her still being the star personality she once was. Keeping apart the perfected obsessive personality traits, the delusional extremity and the infectious mannerisms proved to be fatalistic enough, Gloria Swanson's expression in the ultimate sequence of the film crystallizes her capabilities alone.

13. Giulietta Masina in La Strada (1954)

La Strada makes you cry. Simply. Gelsomina is a vibrant young girl who gets adopted by quite a ruthless circus owner to perform in his shows. Giulietta Masina playing Gelsomina is showed to endure the most brutal of abuses from her employer to earn a living. However the extent of brutality she endured, her moral conscience works swiftly upon witnessing the oppression of an innocent co-worker. Giulietta Masina makes us cathartic and utterly sentimental in her favour, with her protruding innocence and the ability to get diluted flawlessly in an act of violent oppression on herself.

Also Read: The Best LGBTQ+ Films of The Last Decade

12.Corinne Marchand in Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)

Completely stylish, sensational and beautiful, Corinne Marchand stays in anxiety, anticipation and agony as she's waiting upon her death. Cleo is diagnosed to be terminally ill and her self realization of living her life and to the extent that she can live to find her happiness and love is all about her persona. The facial mien, her unspoken philosophies coming out through her eyes and her magnetic presence earns her this spot on the list.

11.Natalie Portman in Black Swan (2010)

Natalie Portman outstandingly carries out the tremendous psychological turbulence present in the character. Nina's character for one has never been an easy execution with the diving into the lowest depths of the psychological plethora that the desires and obsessions start to possess and control you. Her traits of persona that drives the character are terrifying with clearly seduction, aggression, and unhinged compulsiveness being the sustenance of it. Her portrayal of the destructiveness and derangement of Nina is straight brilliant.

10. Emmanuelle Riva in Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

Emmanuelle Riva precisely draws in a prominent picture of the film's context with just her expressions and delivery of dialogues which essentially bases off on the conflicting clause of memory and identity by making her inner thoughts and sorrows and unreliability solely through her facial expressions. That indeed is enough to celebrate her brilliance.

9. Juliette Binoche in Three Colors: Blue (1993)

Juliette Binoche's subtle meddling and tackling of the immense hysteria and swallowing melancholy is something that creates an impact for an indefinitely long run. The overshadowing presence of her, dealing with her grief in the most philosophically charged manner is gloomy. The persisting gloom from the film's ambience just gets amplified with Binoche's presence.

8. Björk in Dancer in the Dark (2000)

It always creates an unending impact witnessing an innocent character's impending fate. Doesn't it? Björk is an outstanding actress and her brilliance is most celebrated in her fatalistic portrayal of a blind girl's passionate dreams. See the irony? Selma's loss of hope and the pain of self-sacrifice because of her innocence gives the film its achieved glory. It's heart-shattering to see her!

7. Monica Vitti in L'Avventura (1960)

 Diving and residing in alienation that psychologically wears and emotionally wrecks you is difficult but Monica Vitti effortlessly claims her presence in the deteriorating bonding of relationships and by suppressing her emotional feelings. Driven by emotions quite inexplicable to herself, Monica Vitti's expressions are deafening and quite baffling when the inability to love or be loved, even though somewhere there's a desire, is something that has never been witnessed anywhere else.

6. Isabelle Huppert in The Piano Teacher (2001)

It was hard to tell if Huppert was a sexually repressed sadomasochistic lady or was she in her character! While creating unique character dynamics with a compulsion to dominate and a simultaneous objectiveness to surrender herself, Erika is structured on the most subtle ground of deranged perversion, which will become clear from her psychoanalytic study. Erika Kohut is an excruciatingly complicated character and the vaguest portrayal would demand immense stress and determination, let alone perfecting the sketch, which Isabelle Huppert did.

5. Renée Jeanne Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

 No list of the greatest cinematic performances will ever be complete without the mention of Renée Jeanne Falconetti who gave a barrier-breaking expressive performance with just her facial expressions! In the era of silent films, without the usage of technicalities to produce and retain tension and striking vocations to impact the viewer, she not only used her expressions to an insurmountable degree but terrified and impacted us with just her facial muscle movements. She went on to even apply a cathartic balm with her eye movements that eventually devastated us.

4. Liv Ullmann in Persona (1966)

Creating a deeply troubled character, Liv Ullmann portrays and connects with the film's existential dread and identity distortion. Ullmann's silent treatment throughout and connecting with an antonymous character and even dominating it without uttering a word is too little to be called just great.

3. Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

While the reasoning behind the state is quite conflicting, Gena Rowlands upholds a frighteningly realistic portrayal of a mentally ill person and the consequences it can result in. The gradual insanity, intolerable and alienated emotions, the ascent into sheer psychological illness is one of the greatest acts that the world of cinema has ever witnessed.

Read the complete review of A Woman Under the Influence

2. Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion (1965)

Catherine Deneuve's psychoanalytic character representation of a sexually repellent woman who gradually descends into the absolute depths of mental turbulence to the point where she can't even identify her traits is mind-boggling to say the least. The chaotic crust of a woman finely contrasts with her inner self where she wants to shut herself out and hates everyone near her. The complexity of the character is unfathomable and the executed degree of it is the work of a 'once in a lifetime.

1. Isabelle Adjani in Possession (1981)

Isabelle Adjani's character of an unsatisfied woman in her marriage, seeking freedom is an era-defining performance. Adjani carries an emotional peril within her womb and with abrupt outbursts, she makes it clear the level of psychological distortion, the character has been disposed off.  Changing emotions and personality reflexes like a set of clothes and even controlling the disruptions at times, Adjani's prowess demands to be witnessed.