MovieChat Forums > Frances (1983) Discussion > streep beating lange

streep beating lange

posted 18 years ago by manhattankd
25 replies | jump to latest

I think the academy, based on the fact that they gave both Meryl Streep and Jessica Lange oscars that year, was signaling that both women had pulled off brilliant performances.
Undoubtably, both performances were perhaps among the best ever brought to the screen. However, Meryl Streep's chameleonlike abilities allowed her to completely embody Sophie not only the accent, but the vast emotional landsacpe which made up that tortured complex character.
I am a huge fan of Meryl Streep however, i think no one could deny the brilliance of Lange's performance in Frances which is why I think they handed her the supporting oscar award.
It was pretty close, but i think Streep definetly deserved to win.
I sometimes wish that both performances had been in different years, this way Lange could have gotten a best actress oscar for Frances, but you have to admit Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice is tough competition.
Besides Lange was also wondeful in Tootsie.

[–] seev_halloween 18 years ago

I am a Meryl fan, but I think Jessica was ROBBED in the Best Actress category. It should've been a tie. Both performances were OUTSTANDING. It's impossible to choose between the two.

[–] bronzescag 18 years ago

I also think Jessica Lange was robbed. She's never been better than in this film. And the film is extremely underrated as well

[–] katentek 17 years ago

I agree this is a brilliant and much underated film and for me Lange's performance was the better one ... Streep as an actress is not invisible enough ... there's to much ego (IMO) that keeps you thinking, "isn't Meryl great" rather than only seeing the character. Lange is just briliant.

"Everything is safe till it goes wrong" - Joe Simpson, "Touching the Void" - book only.

[–] zhu_bernard 17 years ago

High regards on both performance and Streep's successful career.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Isaac5855 17 years ago

If it had been me, Jessica Lange would have won the Oscar for FRANCES...I think it was a much more interesting performance than SOPHIE'S CHOICE, but Streep had already won all the other critics awards that season so her Oscar win was sort of a given. They gave Lange Best Supporting Actress for TOOTSIE as a way of saying "We know you were awesome in FRANCES, but we couldn't give Best Actress to you and Streep." I think Lange should have won Best Actress which would have allowed Best Supporting Actress to go to either Teri Garr or Lesley Ann Warren, either of which were more deserving of that award.

[–] Star_blazer_9000 17 years ago

They gave Lange Best Supporting Actress for TOOTSIE as a way of saying "We know you were awesome in FRANCES, but we couldn't give Best Actress to you and Streep."

The oscars gave Barbra Streisand & Katherine Hepburn Best Actress in the same year, 1969. They could have easily given them both Best Actress oscars so this agrument can be laid to rest.

"Best Supporting Actress to go to either Teri Garr or Lesley Ann Warren, either of which were more deserving of that award."

Kim Stanley deserved it that year. My opinion though.

[–] rascal67 16 years ago

Streep was outstanding in 'Sophie's Choice', but compared to Lange in 'Frances', her performance appears more mannered and affected. Jessica Lange totally inhibited the character of Frances Farmer and it is difficult to detect the acting.

Jessica Lange should have been awarded Best Actress Oscar for 82' and Kim Stanley who played her mother should have been awarded Best Supporting Actress.

If this was the case, then Meryl Steep could have won the following year for 'Silkwood', which as far as I'm concerned is her finest hour - the same goes to Cher and Kurt Russell for the same film - so natural and real.

[–] ezkaban 15 years ago

Just finished watching "Frances", have already seen "Sophie's Choice". I absolutely can not select one as a better performance over the other. The score for Frances is definitely haunting and stays with you.

[–] Thanatos_X 15 years ago

I also just finished watching Frances and it was my very first Jessica Lange movie. I am now a fan. I'm going to dig up some more of her movies and watch them. She was fantastic and so beautiful! I can't believe she didn't get an Oscar for this role. The way she was able to flatten her affect at the end after the lobotomy compared to how lively and temperamental she was before...It was just enchanting.

Why is it that whenever someone says "With all due respect," they really mean "Kiss my ass"?

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Connie_n_Raymond_Marble 14 years ago

I would highly recommend watching Lange in Grey Gardens with Drew Barrymore. An amazing performance.

We'll see whose the filthiest person alive! We'll just see!

[–] ElectricKoolaidAcid 14 years ago

I've yet to see a performance by Lange where she hasn't been just absolutely brilliant. But I've never seen Sophie's Choice... I have, however, seen about a dozen other movies with Streep, and she fails to dissapoint also. Hell- I think Streep was robbed for not even being nominated in "She-Devil!" My BF HATES Streep, but even he loved her performance in that movie!

[–] fa7999 8 years ago

They should have rewarded both Lange and Kim Stanely. What a pair of great performances! And by rewarding Stanley, the AMPAS could have paid the due for ignoring the brilliant and legendary Goddess.

[–] sebacascardo 14 years ago

I know I'm a Streep fan but.........it was an awful year to voters. Lange gave the best performance of her life, and so did Streep. Any other year, Lange would have won. However, Streep performance in Sophie's Choice is considered to be the best female performance of all time (and I agree) so it couldn't be ignored. I know, you're Lange fans and I won't bash Lange since she's great. I'm just saying it was a bad year for her to give such a wonderful performance.

At least she won in the supporting category.....

Come on, let's face it: Streep and Lange are great, nobody can't deny they CAN act. Lange just had bad luck, bad year to make a performance of a lifetime. Anyway, the Oscar is just an award. Yeah, for critics (and most people) Streep was better than Lange, but that doesn't mean Lange wasn't wonderful. In fact, she was better than a LOT of Oscar winning performances, any other year she would have won easily.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] fa7999 8 years ago

The best female performance on the silver screen was given in 1928 by Falconette.

I would rank Leigh in Gone with the wind, Lange in France's, Watson in breaking the Waves, among others, higher than Streep in Sophie.

I would consider rewarding Streep for Silkwood, a cry in the dark and bridge in the Madison county.

[–] shepardjessica-1 14 years ago

Lange should have beat out Streep for Oscar

[–] netshopper-2 14 years ago

No way. Just watched Frances again and Streep was tops that year.

[–] acampbell65 14 years ago

I'm a huge Streep and Blanchett fan.
But Lange's performance was as good as it gets.

[–] Prom_Queen_Carrie 14 years ago

I felt Streep's performance was more consistent. I rewatched Frances and noticed Lange did have some good moments (like the one where the theater director tells her she's replaced in the play), but she also had some bad ones. Her performance was kind of uneven.

"I'm f'ing busy-or vice versa" -Dorothy Parker

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] SimplemindedSociety 13 years ago

I agree, Prom Queen
Oscar does not go to only parts of a whole