Stránky

Tuesday 20 January 2015

Best Leading Actress 2014: Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night

Many people ask me, why I don't like European or indie films. The answer is very simple. They are too life-like. Why do people watch films, or go to the theatre? So that they can escape reality and watch the other people's problems and enjoy watching it. So what is the purpose in making films, in which we witness the storyline so real and the performance so realistic, that it really seems as if we were watching reality shows? I see that many people worship that, but I only get bored by it. That's why I usually avoid European and indie film, because most of them (I'm saying most, because definitely not all of them) are just too naturalistic.
Unfortunately, Two Day, One Night is exactly that kind of film. Authentic and extremely boring. This one is even so unbearable, that I had moments, when I thought I need to stop watching immediately and never continue again.
Marion Cotillard plays a young woman, who had some psychical issues and therefore she was forced to not go to work. Now she's feeling better and wants to start working again, but she found out the situation is not that easy. It's either her working again, or her colleagues don't get the money bonus. So she takes an utterly exciting trip all around the neighbourhood and tries to explain all of her co-workers, how much she really needs the job.
Cotillard is a great actress. Since her Oscar win for La Vie en Rose she has been snubbed many times. It's a pity she got nominated exactly for this performance, since it's far from her best work since 2007 and it's even further from her most interesting work.
I know, her peformance is technically flawless. And that's it. That is all I can write about this performance, because there is nothing more to it. She copied the real life and now we can see it. The thing is, we don't want to see it. I know it's not her fault and in terms of acting, there can really be no complaint said. But...you know...when I think of this performance, the first word that comes to my mind is not 'perfect', but 'boring'. And that is definitely wrong.
No, I wouldn't nominate this performance, not even by an accident. I think we have Harvey to blame here, because she gave a better (and more interesting performance) in The Immigrant, whose campaign was unaccountably low. In that film she not only gave a better performance, but she even played a better character. This is a strange thing that happens often at the Oscars. An actor has two great performances in one year and he gets nominated for the worse one (e,g. Sean Penn in 2003). But what can we do?
The chances of winning: In fact they are higher than I'd appreciate. She's probably the third. But it would not look good in history, if she won her second Oscar for this particular performance... 

1 comment:

  1. I'd agree she gave a better performance in The Immigrant but I'd word it as even better. I loved her here and I even liked the film.

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