Ah,
Kate Winslet, how do I love thee? She
was the first actress that I really adored, and while I’m not always terribly
enamored with her choices in films, she never disappoints when it comes to her
performances. These five might not
objectively be her best (a number of her Oscar-nominated roles aren’t here, and
neither is her Oscar win,) but they’re my personal favorites.
Juliet Hulme, Heavenly Creatures
Not
quite her earliest role, but the earliest I’ve seen her. The teenaged Winslet is captivating as Juliet
in this true story, about two girls in the 1950s whose intensely-close, wildly
fantastical relationship leads to some serious crap going down. Juliet is such a vivid presence onscreen,
it’s no wonder Pauline is obsessed with her, and Winslet completely sells
Juliet’s all-consuming devotion to Pauline.
(And on a side note, I think it’s hilarious that someone in Hollywood
saw her in this fascinating role and decided to cast her in A Kid in King Arthur’s Court.)
Marianne Dashwood, Sense and Sensibility
Austen
alum! Winslet is pitch-perfect as the
passionate Marianne, fancifully in love with being in love. She’s self-involved and overdramatic, and it’s
to Winslet’s credit that you sometimes wish Elinor would smack her. At the same time, though, she’s just all in with everything she does, which
keeps her on the right side of endearing.
Hester Wallace, Enigma
Kate
Winslet as a Bletchley Park girl breaking German codes and chasing conspiracies
in a film with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard?
Yes, please! Hester is brilliant,
brave, and ballsy – exactly the B-words I like in my women. Also, she’s practically the only woman in the
picture, holding her own amidst the likes of Dougray Scott, Jeremy Northam,
Matthew Macfadyen, Tom Hollander, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. I approve.
Bitsey Bloom, The Life of David Gale
As the
reporter cherry-picked by death-row inmate David Gale to tell his story, Bitsey
is pretty badass. She’s a fierce
reporter known for her journalistic integrity, she attacks the story with
deductive relish and old-fashioned legwork (despite the increasing danger
involved,) and she has no time for any stupid misogynists she encounters. What more do you want?
Clementine Kruczynski, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
This is
the first role that won me over. Though
Clementine seems Manic Pixie at first glance, she defies the notion that she’s
anyone’s Dream Girl. Even when she’s
literally just her ex-boyfriend’s memories of her, she maintains agency,
displaying intelligence, toughness, vulnerability, and a laundry list of
faults. There’s so much to unpack here,
and Winslet pulls it off tremendously.
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