A-List: Top Five Meryl Streep Performances
By J. Don Birnam
August 6, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
In few words: Streep has done it all. She has played villains and heroines. Lovers and mothers. Wives and bosses. She has been in biopics, in epics, in love stories, in costume dramas, in historical movies, in popular comedies, in play adaptations, in musicals, and in campy films. She has played a lesbian at least twice, at least three memorable real-life women, and several other based on them. She is only one of six actors to receive three or more Academy Awards (can you name the other five?), and she has more nominations by miles than her closest competitor. Better yet, she shows no signs of stopping.
How can one even begin to winnow down to five the brilliant roles that this American treasure has graced us with? From the very first, when she shared the screen with Jane Fonda in Julia, to when she played Julia Child herself in the fantastic Julie & Julia, she has been amassing an impressive filmography. Indeed, if one is talking about her ability to replicate with eerie similarity a real life person (and emulate their accent to a tee, a Streep special) one has to begrudgingly mention The Iron Lady, for which she received her second Best Actress statuette and third overall. Despite the deep narrative flaws of the movie and the crudely overt Weinstein campaign to net her the gold, it is unarguable that she portrayed the Iron Lady herself with a deft accuracy that no one will ever equal.
Or how can one forget her very first nomination, for the homebound, love-torn Pennsylvania girl in The Deer Hunter? How can one fail to mention her Australian accent as the controversial mother in A Cry in the Dark, which figured the now ridiculed “A Dingo Ate my Baby” line? Where would one place her sentimental, touching, and moving portrayal of the lonely, fighting and doomed Karen Blixen in Out of Africa (an Oscar of which she was arguably robbed, as this is undoubtedly one of her top performances)? Is it even possible to make this list, have it be taken seriously, and not include in the top five her tear-jerking turn(s) in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, stealing the show from a staid Jeremy Irons? Or in The Bridges of Madison County? Even the evil Violet Weston, for which she earned one of her latest nods in August: Osage County, is worthy of a mention.
To limit it to some finalists, one of my all-time favorite Streep roles is her portrayal of the modern-day lesbian homeowner, the present time Mrs. Dalloway, in The Hours. It was one of her rare misses for a nomination, but the simple way in which she conveys a subtle depression in the midst of busyness is moving. And I have to also confess partiality for another movie that was not critically lauded, but which also showcases Streep’s depth, the Robert Zemeckis cult-classic Death Becomes Her. As the ill-fated Madeline Ashton, Streep steals the laughs and sneers. She deals with the subject of her own aging and of Hollywood’s obsession with youth as a side effect, and delivers a memorable and hysterical performance. When it was released, critics panned Streep’s comedic efforts, but time and Streep would one day prove them wrong…
5. Doubt (2008)
It is rare enough for a movie to obtain four acting Oscar nominations - sure, two David O’Russell movies did it in a row - but it is rarer still for a movie’s four nominees to be actually deserving of the nod, let alone the win. But such was the case with Doubt. Even more impressively, Streep undoubtedly steals the show as Sister Aloysius in the silver screen adaption of the famous play.
The story revolves around a poor mother who suspects a local priest of abusing her son, and the measures taken by Aloysius when told of those suspicions. Streep’s character is cold, calculating, old-school, and does not want to see the apple cart upset. But she is also fast to her principles. Streep eerily portrays the steely demeanor of the Sister who is determined to both protect the priest from external scandal but is also driven by instinct to take the child out of potential harm’s way. Streep thus has to navigate emotions from a submissive, pious nun to the calculating, cutting planner that she is deep down. She maintains an even keel with stunning realism, ping-ponging off the emotional and ringing portrayals of fellow-nominees Amy Adams, Viola Davis, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
In 2008, Streep lost the Oscar to Kate Winslet’s performance in The Reader. I can hardly begrudge that result, given that Winslet was criminally overdue by then, but it is arguable that Streep’s performance was stronger at least that year. Of course, if that were the true measure for awarding an Academy Award, Streep would likely have twice as many as she has today…
4. Silkwood (1983)
Trivia: Karen is the only name that Streep has portrayed three times (we already covered another, Karen Blixen in Out of Africa - the third being in the little known The Seduction of Joe Tynan). But it is her portrayal of Karen Silkwood that is worthy of the fourth spot on today’s list.
Fresh off her first Best Actress victory, Streep delivered another award-worthy performance (for which she received her fourth overall nomination), as the real-life labor union activist, who died under suspicious circumstances after exposing wrongdoing at a plutonium plant. What is amazing about Streep’s performance here is how she humanizes the character, portraying her neither as victim nor heroine, neither mythical nor pedestrian. She’s simply a woman passionate about her beliefs, and on a mission. The scenes are at times intense and there is an aura of mystery to the overall narrative arc, making this one of Streep’s few true thriller/suspense movies. Not dissimilar to the role she would later take in A Cry in the Dark, Streep is essentially an independent, misunderstood woman trying to fit in to her surroundings and the adverse situations around her.
In 1983, Streep lost the Oscar to Shirley MacLaine’s performance in Terms of Endearment. Again, I can hardly begrudge it, given how overdue MacLaine was by then. But, again, it is arguable in my mind that Streep gave the better performance - simply because of its matter-of-factness and realism, contrasted to MacLaine’s dramatic and even bombastic turn.
3. The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Showing that she had not lost the comedic, campy touch she displayed so well in Death Becomes Her, She Devil, and Postcards from the Edge, Streep gave one of the best performances of her career as the devilish Miranda Priestley in the film adaption of the beloved book.
Whatever critics may have said of her comic turns in the 1980s and 90s, Streep silenced them forever with her timeless performance in this movie. Not only was her comedic timing exact, her deadpan brilliant, and her disinterested affectation hysterical, she also displayed a broader range of emotions as the story and character developed. She gave a true tri-dimensionality to a comedic villain, an almost impossible task for most actors. Not only are most characters in these movies simple caricatures, they tend to be flat, uninteresting, and predictable and boring as comedies head into their third act. But Streep humanized the hilariously monstrous Miranda until you felt bad for her - she was a real human with touching problems - and then went all the way back to disliking her again, while this time respecting her. Streep thus showed once again that she is a masterful actress, and that no role is too challenging for her.
In 2006, Streep lost Best Actress yet again, this time to Helen Mirren’s portrayal of The Queen. Yet again, it is hard to begrudge this one, Mirren was not particularly overdue, but her performance as Queen Elizabeth is stunning. I would have a very hard time picking between the two, given how strong I consider both.
2. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
By the time of only her second nomination, and within her first few credited film roles, Streep obtained Oscar success (for Supporting Actress) for her moving portrayal of Joanna Kramer in the 1979 divorce drama and Best Picture winner (Kramer vs. Kramer).
The focus of the story is on Dustin Hoffman’s relationship with his young son after Joanna walks out on him, and on the other difficulties he faces because of the divorce. So, to be fair, I hesitated before making this the number two entry, given that Streep’s screen time is very limited. But I opted for it because when she does appear, Streep undoubtedly steals the show from the by-then veteran Hoffman (who also won an Oscar for his portrayal). Streep’s task in the film was not easy - the whole point of the movie is that old assumptions about the proper role of men and women in custody battles, and their relative moral superiority in divorces, were to be challenged. At first, Joanna is the bad guy, she’s the mother who walks out. But by the end of the film you’re supposed to feel sympathy for both her and her husband’s point of view about the difficulties of their relationship. Few actresses could have achieved this as easily as Streep did - by portraying both the emotional tear that she felt at leaving her family, but the harrowing difficulties she faced in staying with hit.
An interesting note: when she was young, it wasn’t uncommon for Streep to star in Best Picture contenders (Deer Hunter, Kramer, Out of Africa). As she has become older, starring roles in the main movies of the year have simply been nonexistent. This is a testament to the state of affairs in Hollywood, if even its most talented actress has no place in the movies that take the industry by storm each year.
The only gripe here could be that she perhaps deserved a lead acting nomination. Despite being absent for most of the movie, she is still there more than, for example, Nicole Kidman in The Hours. But Sally Field’s performance in Norma Rae that year was a runaway train, so Streep was happy to collect the first of her three statuettes this year.
But it would be her second statuette, her first Best Actress win, that would establish her as a legend for all time…
1. Sophie’s Choice (1982)
There really has never been any doubt that this is and likely always will be Streep’s finest performance as an actress, and one of the best performances by any actor of any time. Yes, in The Devil Wears Prada, she gave an unforgettable and nuanced comedic performance, and in Kramer vs. Kramer she achieved new levels of emotional complexity. But Sophie’s Choice is acting on another level.
One could start with her mastery of the Polish-Brooklyn accent and simply be in awe of her then. But to truly appreciate the amazingness of this performance one must look past the at times lackluster pacing of the film and into the heart of her devastating range of emotion in this film. I probably couldn’t list them all without going over my word limit today: love, loneliness, sadness, fear, joy, hope, and abject terror. Yes, the iconic scene that portrays Sophie’s fateful and devastating choice is harrowing - a true sucker’s gut punch if I’ve ever seen one on film - but the emotional nature of the choice itself surely made it “easier” for her to knock that one scene out of the park. Instead, I look to all the other scenes, in which she subtly conveys that she carries a secret, a burden that she will never overcome, while moving on with her life, where she really nails it. Indeed, one has to see the movie at least twice over to understand how Streep acted in a crescendo that led brilliantly to the dramatic climax.
Will Streep ever join Katharine Hepburn as the only person to win four acting Oscars? As I said, her comedic/dramatic performance in Ricki will be difficult to convert into a nod, but perhaps she will achieve a stunning 20th nomination for her smaller role in Oscar-bait drama Suffragette coming out later this year? Only time will tell the answer to those questions. But on one thing time has already spoken clearly: Meryl Streep will always be one of the greatest actors of all time.