The oscar can be unfair so many times but it is great when they award a movie and a performace which aren't undeserving and which aren't even from the United States. So this time i must respect the academy which awarded Simone Signoret in her best performance.
I'll agree with you here. Although Audrey Hepburn gave a mercurial performance the same year in THE NUN'S STORY, Signoret deserved her Oscar win. I recently saw this film again a few weeks ago. Signoret's performance just blew me away.
The whole film today remains a wonderful viewing experience.
Nothing against Ms. Signoret, Audrey Hepburn (in her best performance) should have won Best Actress in '59 for THE NUN'S STORY. No offence to anyone. It's just my opinion.
shareI agree ShepJ...Hepburn's performance in THE NUN'S STORY is her best ever. Hepburn's film is on my 25 best films list. I never tire of watching it.
shareOf course Oscar gets right, it always gets right, even if personal opinions by the audience who always gives into the popular versus the artistic, the Oscars always get it right.
In 1959, when Charles De Gaulle, became France's president and an American ally, this film came out, Signoret delivered in this film that addressed ambition and class and class relations, which is one of the Academy's favorite social topics. And who better than a French actress to deliver?
Can't really agree with that. Although Ms. Signoret was quite expressive facially, her command of English was so poor here that it inhibited her performance, which had relatively little screen time as compared with Audrey Hepburn's in 'The Nun's Story'. So it appears that the Award might have been given to Ms. Signoret over sympathy for her character's fate and Hollywood's insecure feeling that foreigners must actually be better than home-grown talent.
shareI would have given it to Elizabeth Taylor. Watch Suddenly, Last Summer and you will see. It's a completely overlooked performance of hers. It was soooo astonishing. Hepburn and Signoret are also great but for me, it's Taylor all the way. It's just my opinion.
shareI think Katharine Hepburn should have won.
shareAgreed. While I also agree with others that Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story is tremendous, Audrey already had an Oscar at the time, and Simone was a new and bold personality for Hollywood voters. What I cannot fathom is the nomination of Hermoine Baddeley as Supporting Actress. Don't jump down my throat! I am not saying she was not great. I'm just saying that her part is so minimal, I can't see it being nominated over other tremendous supporting players that year (Dame Edith Evans in The Nun's Story, Lee Remick in Anatomy of a Murder, etc....). I know other very brief performances have been nominated and even won (Beatrice Straight in Network, etc... ) but those parts were much more vital to the telling of the story. Anyway, yes, I love that Simone won for this wonderful performance.
shareBaddeley was very effective for me, and it's great that Simone got to have an Oscar. She was very talented, graceful, and realistic. But I agree that Elizabeth Taylor was probably the best that year, in her first truly superior performance and the meatiest part.
shareSimone was certainly great as Alice Aisgill and her final scene where she drinks alone at the bar is sure an unforgettable moment of cinema . I would say she really saved her bravura piece for the grand finale as she's particularly intense and heartbreaking in her final moments .
Now , just like Fritz , I think Katharine Hepburn should have won that year . Her portrayal of Violet Venable is possibly my very favourite performance of her and I'm a huge fan of her work . I just think that Mrs.Venable is one of the best , most interesting and challenging roles ever written and not very often an actress has been so powerful as Katharine in the scene where she discovers Sebastian's horrible fate .
On the other hand I really don't think Liz Taylor gave one of her best performances in "SLS" .
I thought Audrey Hepburn looked a bit out of place in some parts of "Nun's Story" , her first big dramatic role apart from the so-so "War and Peace" . Thought she pulled off very convincingly some moments , but not some other ones .
Simone deserved an Oscar , even if I would have probably given it to her for some of her iconic performances in French Cinema , like "Casque D'Or" or "Les Diaboliques" . But since we all know how difficult it is to get acting Oscars for foreign language films , I think it's better that things went this way . Plus , Kate won four ( even if I must say that three of them came for her work in movies I'm not too fond of ) .
So my number one choice would have been Katharine Hepburn with Simone Signoret as a close second .
Talking about Hermione Baddeley , she sure played her role very well , but I agree her screen time was too minimal for a nom . Larry himself proposed her for the part . Hermione always said that being in a relationship with him had been like living in Hell , but at least she got a consolation prize in the end ! Going back to the 1959 Oscar race , I would have kicked Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner out of the Supp.actress category as well .
Sure Lee Remick should have been nominated for "Anatomy of Murder" , I believe the problem was that the studio had campaigned her as lead ( at least that's the category where she was put in at the Golden Globes ) . Both Edith Evans and Peggy Ashcroft were certainly deserving for "The Nun's Story" , so were Eva Marie Saint for "North by Northwest" , Billie Burke for "The Young Philadelphians" and Mary Ure for "Look Back in Anger" . That's also the year "Wild Strawberries" got nominated for its screenplay ( and lost to "Pillow Talk" !" ) , does this make Ingrid Thulin and Bibi Andersson eligible ? If so , add them to the mix !
Kate won four (even if I must say that three of them came for her work in movies I'm not too fond of).
Although Audrey Hepburn was superb in The Nun's Story (her best work), I do agree with you that Simone Signoret's Oscar was well-deserved. It's very high among my favorite performances ever.
"I think we've out-sophisticated ourselves out of some of the pleasures of movies."