Jennifer Lawrence plays a wife (Rosalyn) of the leading character played by Christian Bale. The first thing I need to say is that just like almost everybody else in the film, she's a miscast. This is a very strange situation when all of the actors are wonderfully playing the characters that are against their type. Lawrence is a young actress that is enjoying herself and has no worries. But her has more problems that are usual in random marriage and an actress should be a bit older for such part.
Her marriage is about fights and sex. Her husband is a con man. She used to be a single mother. Her husband is cheating on her. But she's a self-aware woman, who can fight for what she wants and who can find her way to enjoy life. She's also a bit rotten, because in fact she's using her husband and she manipulated him.
Everyone keeps saying that this performances is not good enough, because she never became that person. I agree about that, that's for sure. But I have to argue. She was cast badly. How could she really became a worried and an older woman, when she's never lived through such situation? She can't even imagine, she's a carefree actress at the top of her career. This is a part for an older and more experienced woman. And what everyone takes for granted is the fact, that Lawrence handled this inappropriate part with such ease and energy that you can't resist her. I mean, she really gave everything into her performance. Maybe her effort is visible, but she's not the one, who's to blame here.
There is almost an iconic scene in the bathroom, in which Amy Adams's character touches her weakest part as she finally tells Rosalyn how rotten she is. This scene has such strength, as Lawrence finds to way to hurt the other person even more than she was hurt. That's what she does again o her husband. She starts to cheat on him. Not because she would want to, but because she wants to give it to him back.
So everything that is wrong about this performance is not Lawrence's fault. There's either the casting director or the director to blame. And therefore we should not malign her performance...
The chances of winning an Oscar: It is a fight between her and Nyong'o. And though she's second and though a second consecutive Oscar would rather harm her career, she would be the more deserving one...
I agree that she was miscast, but she could have overcome it in some way, but I never feel that she does. Lawrence can be mature and give a mature performance, like her performance in Winter's Bone, but here she does the worst kind of obvious acting.
ReplyDeleteShe is fantastic!!!
ReplyDeleteShe was not miscast, being young was part of the point. All characters in AH pretend to be something they are not and so does Rosalyn. She is young wife who has to cope with an older world and hustles to survive. In other words, her character is supposed to be playing dress up. In one side she is very manipulative (but is completely naked about it), strong, dumb and cunning. (Her first scene and the microwave scene). In the other side she is young, desperate, hurt, vulnerable, immature, needy of attention and love.(Her scene with Jack Huston, her second scene with C. Bale in the bedroom, her scene with Amy Adams). And she is also a manic-depressive.
ReplyDeleteAnd about her performance in Silver Linings Playbook, sorry to disappoint you but there are people who act like that, they suffer from borderline personality disorder. You can see it in this review: http://www.psychologyinaction.org/2013/01/26/silver-linings-playbook-makes-a-hit-film-out-of-a-risky-concept-a-romantic-comedy-about-the-mentally-ill/ But the complexity and the dimensionality of her role are easy to see, you just have to try (rude, aggressive, sexy, eccentric, lonely, self-conscious, honest, chaotic, sarcastic, vulnerable, but at the same time fearless).
Thank you for your response. I'm glad someone is actually reading this blog. I see your point, in fact I quite enjoy Lawrence act and I gave both of her performance 4 points out of 5. I even think that in this case she was the second best of the nominees and the best actually supporting performance that was nominated (since Roberts is clearly a category fraud).
DeleteBeing a miscast isn't actually her fault. I think it's the matter of an opinion and I think everyone in AH was a miscast and therefore I understood it was on purpose. But miscast done on purpose is still a miscast. At least in my book.
As for her performance in SLP, there might be people, who act like that, but she wasn't able to convince me about its authenticity. And except from a few moments, her performance was really very good.
So thank you again and stay tunned for more reviews coming soon this summer.
I think no one was miscast in American Hustle. AH is not a movie with characters that we find in the street, all of them have cartoon qualities. But Russell with his actors are able to find a soul inside them.
DeleteAbout Lawrence's performance in SLP: don’t you think your trouble believing it does not arise from the fact that you never dealt or met people with BPD? I personally was impressed because she doesn’t only bring the pathology of character. And I read some reviews of people who live with people with BPD they were also impressed.
Yes, Roberts nomanation was a category fraud.
By the way you were one of the few that put Quvenzhané Wallis upon Naomi Watts, and I completely agree. But I still think that Lawrence and Chastain were the best.
I don't know if you know this site but contains very interesting reviews:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.fandor.com/keyframe/oscar-2013-who-really-deserves-to-win
Hope to see more reviews from you.