MovieChat Forums > Breaking the Waves (1996) Discussion > Greatest performance from an actress EVE...

Greatest performance from an actress EVER!

posted 17 years ago by Prom_Queen_Carrie
47 replies | jump to latest

EMILY WATSON! Greatest performance I've seen from an actress ever. This and CHarlize Theron in Monster and Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream to name a few are the greatest I've ever seen. I don't see how anybody could not think Emily Watson was the best that year. She got to me. And believe me I LOVE Frances McDormand to death, she's one of my favorite actresses and she was superb too and I'm not mad she won but I would have had to go with Emily Watson that year of the Oscars. Not many actresses have moved me and wowed me as much before or since.

[–] Xcalat3 17 years ago

Emily Was FANTASTIC!

and what a great movie

9/10

I Worship The Goddess Amber Tamblyn

[–] Det_McNulty 17 years ago

Extremely touching, saddening, bleak, disturbing and depressing.

"A coward you are, Withnail. An expert on bulls you are not"

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Prom_Queen_Carrie 17 years ago

I just watched this film again and WOW. You want to talk about RAW acting. This is what it's all about. Nothing else I've seen can touch this. many top actresses WISH they could give this kind of astonishing performance and yet they get Oscars while Emily didn't. But oh well anyone who has seen this film will know what a genius performance this was. And this was her first performance.

[–] Prom_Queen_Carrie 17 years ago

Was anyone else in tears or near tears at the part where after those bad little kids throw stones at her she goes over to her mothers house and knocks on the door and cries for her to open it but her mom won't open it. And she's crying and saying "Please mom open the door! I'll be good! I'll be really good!" OMG that part just killed me.

[–] SincerelyJane 17 years ago

Agreed 100%. Emily Watson deserved the Oscar that year. A strong, subtle, achingly beautiful and heartwrenching performance. One of the finest in cinema history.

[–] comalley-2 17 years ago

She really did deserve the Oscar that year.

I don't think that it is the best perfomance by an actress ever, (which I believe was given by Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice)... but it was definitely in the top 5.

[–] Prom_Queen_Carrie 17 years ago

Oh please this is way better than any acting Streep did. (sorry I'm not as in love with Streep as so many people are) Watson's acting in this movie is so raw it makes Streep look mechanical.

[–] phowell1 17 years ago

And to think she only got the part after Helena Bonham Carter turned it down.

[–] intuitsteve 11 years ago

Oh please this is way better than any acting Streep did. (sorry I'm not as in love with Streep as so many people are) Watson's acting in this movie is so raw it makes Streep look mechanical.

Lol,wow, I know this your opinion but I am just surprised that this is coming from you. Watson was amazing and she is one of my favorite actresses but I have to disagree with you on this.

[–] fa7999 10 years ago

Meryl is the best technician ever in the film business. The way she calculated every move of her character is bar none in the history of film.

[–] Eva_Marrie 10 years ago

"Meryl is the best technician ever in the film business."

That's the problem I have with Meryl. Her acting is like watching the world's most skilled surgeon at work - you're awed by the ability but left emotionally cold because her ego as an actor is still intact.

Add me to the fans of raw acting - it always amazes me. It requires the sort of fearlessness and willingness to let go of the actor's ego that most actors don't possess.

[–] dirtbunny199 12 years ago

I completely agree that Emily Watson should've won the Oscar instead of Frances McDormand. Frances is soooooooooooooooo overrated & did not deserve to win that year. What a joke!!!

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[–] MalJMD 17 years ago

I LOVE Emily Watson, but could do without Breaking the Waves. It's a great performance, but just not my cup of tea.

I loved her in The Boxer and she was dilluted with too many co-stars by Altman in Gosford Park [boy, did that movie need an editor!].

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] jl1100 17 years ago

I agree that it was a very unforgettable, astonishing, debut performance. The greatest ever is tough only because I don't believe you can chose best in acting. Which is why I don't like award shows. Who can say that Emily Watson is not as good as Frances Mcdormand, nor Brenda Blethyn? I think they are all equally good in their own ways.

[–] Prom_Queen_Carrie 16 years ago

For me when I think of the best just like when people think of the best for men they usually say De Niro in Raging Bull or a Brando performance but when it comes to actresses all I hear is Meryl Streep in Sophies Choice. And while the circumstances of Streeps character in Sophie's Choice would make anynody react strongly for me I was more blown away performance wise by Watson's acting rather than just the situation her character was in because I've seen many melodramatic and tragic films but it was her amazingly raw acting that really drw me in and devastated me really. She had me weeping buckets!

[–] Benedict_Cumberbatch 15 years ago

Sorry to digress here, but malcom, considering what you wrote about Gosford Park needing an editor... I guess you were not familiar with Altman's brilliant ensembles?

"I did cramps the way Meryl Streep did accents" - Calliope (Middlesex)

[–] fa7999 16 years ago

The best female performaces ever:

1) Falconetti in "Passion of Joan Arc"
2) Masina in "Night of Cabiria" and "La Strada"
3) Watson in "Breaking the waves"
4) Jessica Lange in "Frances"
5) Ullman in "Face to face"

HM: Streep in "Sophie's choice"

[–] Benedict_Cumberbatch 15 years ago

You have two of my top 5 in your list :)

My picks:

1. Emily Watson, BTW
2. Giulietta Masina, Nights of Cabiria
3. Julianne Moore, The Hours
4. Isabelle Huppert, The Piano Teacher
5. Faye Dunaway, Network
6. Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

"I did cramps the way Meryl Streep did accents" - Calliope (Middlesex)

[–] mattypark 16 years ago

Lili Taylor in I Shot Andy Warhol

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0116594/

[–] hotwire_myheart 16 years ago

I agree about Jessica Lange in Frances - amazing. I would also add Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Naomi Watts in 21 Grams and well - plenty more I can't think of right now.

Needless to say Emily is up there, for Breaking The Waves of course but also Hilary and Jackie (controversial film but the acting is flawless). Whoever mentioned the tragic bit when the kids throw stones at her is not alone in being moved by it. I also cried buckets when she stood by the waves and let them crash over her whilst screaming - heartbreaking.

[–] hotwire_myheart 16 years ago

In response to the poster who mentioned I Shot Andy Warhol - I'd like to add that I also love Lili Taylor - she was superb in the little River Phoenix film Dogfight, kind of a hard to find film but worth looking for if you haven't already seen it. Both lead performances are excellent, definately Oscar worthy.

[–] Star_blazer_9000 16 years ago

Emily Watson was indeed amazing as were Ellen Burstyn in Requiem For A Dream and Jessica Lange in Frances yet none of them got oscars. What is their problem?

[–] jmwbate 16 years ago

My top 3 picks for greatest are:

1. Charlize Theron in Monster

2. Naoimi Watts in 21 Grams

3. Reese Witherspoon in Election

Baron Frankenstein:
"To know death Otto, you have to *beep* life... in the gall bladder!"

[–] Lycian 15 years ago

i love her.

she is such a talent!

*******************
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=15227539

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[–] cswitzer82 15 years ago

She and Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice are always debated as THE best. What Emily did was highly original and a one-of-a-kind performance...yet the sheer technical mastery and expressions of pain and melancholy on Meryl Streep's face and of course "the choice" scene leaves a gut-wrenching imprint on the psyche. Hard to say.

[–] heat_like_burning 15 years ago

thyre both freaking gr8 performances, but emily watson did something to me with hers. she was out of this world.

also i think hilary swank in Boys Dont Cry is right up there

hey, yoda needs to give some better advice, or yoda needs to shut the *beep* up

[–] chinwenkang 14 years ago

My picks go like this:

Yolande Moreau in Séraphine (highly recommend)
Giulietta Masina in La Strada
Emmi Kurowski in Fear Eats the Soul
And yes, Lili Taylor in Dogfight

Maybe I will add Gena Rowlands to the list, too.

Their performance are all astonishing and unforgetable.

[–] selemendht 14 years ago

Maria Falconetti, The Passion of Joan of Arc
Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity
Bette Davis, All About Eve
Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire
Catherine Deneuve, Belle de Jour
Holly Hunter, The Piano
Juliette Binoche, Three Colors: Blue
Isabelle Huppert, The Piano Teacher
Naomi Watts, Mulholland Dr.
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky

These are better than Emily Watson in "Breaking the Waves".

[–] heat_like_burning 14 years ago

This was my list
1.Emily Watson - BTW
2.Hiliary Swank - Boys don't Cry
3.Bjork - Dancer in the Dark
4.Julianne Moore- The Hours
5.Naomi Watts - Mulholland Drive

But after watching La Vie En Rose yesterday (and once again today lol) i must add Marion Cotillard. Absolutly remarkable. Not sure if shes better than watson nor not (i'd say thyre probably equal, cos thyre such different performances) but shes def at least #2 on my list

I haven't seen Sophies Choice for a long time but i don't remember Streep being THAT good. I mean she was gr8 of course she's Meryl Streep, i kinda found that it was only good cos of the heartwrenching scenes, where-as you could take almost any scene from my first 4 picks and still see that is is one of the best performances, particuly with Watson and Cotillard (altho you kinda need to see the whole of Mullholland Drive to understand the whole of the naomi watts performace and its genius but thats just the kind of movie MD is)

Anyway My HMs go to Streep - SC, Ellen Burstyn - Requieme for a Dream, Kate Winslett -Eternal Sunshine..., Cate Blanchett - The aviator, and yes, Nicole Kidman - The hours (I'm a Huge Kidman Fan circa 1995-2005, just cos of the way she completly changes everything about herself in each role, even if the role is not particuly different from the last)

hey, yoda needs to give some better advice, or yoda needs to shut the *beep* up