One year ago today, Kate Winslet took home not one, but two Golden Globes. One reader -- perhaps in jest and I apologize that I can't remember who -- suggested that ever after January 11th should be an internationally celebrated Kate Winslet Day. I scribbled it in my calendar and here we are one year later, ready to sponsor the holiday.We're setting aside the controversy that surrounded that double -- a lot of moviegoers weren't so enamored of the performances -- because we acknowledge that in the real world, awards are often based on the cumulative triumphs of their recipients. We're not saying that's right but if you're judging on cumulative triumphs, she deserves to have more trophies than hands.
I've asked my guest bloggers to detail their favorite moment within any particular Kate Winslet performance today but since no one chose Heavenly Creatures (1994) or Sense & Sensibility (1995) -- the films that made her -- or Holy Smoke! (my personal favorite Winslet turn) or Jude (a baity period turn that didn't get much Oscar traction. Too miserabilist perhaps?)...
...I figured we'd start with you. What's your favorite moment in any of those four performances? And do you sanction an International Kate Winslet Day?
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Oh Nathaniel (and the person who suggested this) thank you! I just woke up and you really made my day!
Heavenly Creatures - the scene where she tries to blackmail her mother when she sees her with her lover
Jude - 1) At the piano, "promise me you'll never stop trying" (or something like that)
2)At the end, "haven't you always known?"
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind... any scene really... even whe the character is a kid!! I just LOVE her in that film!
Wow, time is so quiekly, one year... I think she's good in every role but she's great in "Eternal Sunshine".
Now I wanna know what Kate is doing on her day!
its been too long since i saw it, but i was so haunted by jude, and kate's performance was the main reason why. I can still remember the depths of despair in her face in those final scenes. heartbreaking. (sorry for the spoiler, but anyone going to see a Thomas Hardy adaptation and expecting a happy ending should a) read more. b) wait for a heigl/butler remake.)
and speaking of kate - she defined her career when she took time off after Titanic, then did a slew of arthouse flicks, to the consternation of the US media. The greatest actors are not only loved for their talent, but for their taste and integrity. Thank you Kate.
Holy Smoke is indeed her best performance, but I'd like to remember her most brilliant turn this decade, in Little Children.
I love the way she subtly defines an everyday sexuality, buying new bathsuits to look sexier, and then desiring the guy by the pool, and then having passionate and lovely sex where she should be doing laundry.
And I also love the way she works her hotness in a casual way. Sex is her way to express how much she doesn't like her life. You know, she wouldn't sex and passion (not really love) are her only ways to overcome her boredom - she can't pull together her life, but, at least, sex can make her think she is alive.
It's a very delicate performance, all about desire in a non-Hollywood way, minimalist, unfemmefatale, but still very very sexy.
And, come on: sometimes it happens when an actor doesn't win for his/her best performance, but we must stop with this backlash thing. She didn't gave the best performance of 2008, but was very deserving in The Reader (was even better in Revolutionary Road).
The same goes for Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe and Sean Penn (Mystic River). All of them were mesmerizing, even if they weren't the best actors of their years.
Having a deserving winner is better than watching mediocre performances taking the Oscar. Kate was not mediocre in The Reader, no way.
Kate Winslet moments, according to rank:
1) Little Children - when she fails to find the snack she's supposed to give to her daughter, kneeling in front of her bag, feeling everyone else in the playground judge her.
2) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - when she's in Joel's first childhood memory and notices the groovy outfit she's wearing.
3) Holy Smoke - when she yells "No!" in an Australian accent when she finds out that her family is giving her an intervention.
4) Heavenly Creatures - drenched in blood.
5) Revolutionary Road - when she's dancing circles around Shep.
6) Sense and Sensibility - when she's standing in the rain on the hill, crying while she's looking towards Willoughby's estate.
7) Titanic - "Mr Andrews!"
8) SNL - "I'm not trying to be dramatic..."
9) The Holiday - playing air guitar in Cameron Diaz's bed.
10) The Reader - anytime she says the word kid - to a BOY she's having SEX with!
I'm not obsessed, I swear!
I don't know why, but the moment that jumps to my mind when I think of her in Sense & Sensibility, is when she shouts, "There's some blue sky, let us chase it!"
For starters, I think it's an adorable line by Thompson, but to me, it just sums up the energy and radiance Winslet brings to the role. I love the way Winslet captures Marianne's youthful passion, and that's the moment in the film that always reminds me of it. The contrast between that moment and later scenes of Marianne's overstated, but genuine, tragedy ("Yes... no... never absolutely. It was every day implied, but never declared." and that whole scene) is part of what makes the performance (and film) so good.
It's easily one of Winslet's best performances, a testament to that fact being I never really think of the actress playing her as the same one who won two Golden Globes last year. She just is Marianne Dashwood.
Hooray for Kate Day!!
She has a slew of memorable moments in Heavenly Creatures!
Every time she is in tears and I nominate the following two quotes as favorite moments...
"All the best people have bad chests and bone diseases. It's all frightfully romantic."
or
"I'm not! I'm going to The Fourth World... it's sort of like heaven. Only better, because there aren't any Christians."
When I remember Jude, I like to think of her smoking cigarettes and turning circles,laughing on a bridge. But I somehow always just get visions the scene when she gives birth or when she discovers what her son has done.
And lets not forget Hideous Kinky!
I am rather fond of the moment that she opens the box from her husband on christmas and realizes that he has sent them the box intended for his mistress.
I love her in 'Revolutionary', but her work in 'The Reader' is some of the weakest of her career. Not bad, mind you, but not up to par with what she can give.
I still find her to be one of, if not the, greatest actress(es) working in cinema today.
Favorite Performances:
-Eternal Sunshine
-Holy Smoke
-Titanic
-Sense and Sensibility
Nobody mentioned it yet, but she's the best Ophelia cinema has ever seen. Her song gives me chills.
She's very good in Jude, but that movie belongs to Rachel Griffiths.
-Eternal Sunshine
*The moment where she's laying under the bed. 'Be Pretty.'
-Holy Smoke
*'My body is mine, HONEY.'
-Titanic
*Jumping back onto the boat to get to Jack.
-Sense and Sensibility
*Yelling Will's name at the party.
If only Kate Winslet had won the Oscar for "Sense & Sensibility", what utter crap could have been avoided down the line for "finally" getting around to her for "The Reader." If only.
"Sense & Sensibility" would be my top choice from these four. Otherwise, "Eternal Sunshine."
Love the Winslet, but I have to say this now. Mira Sorvino deserved every golden slice of her Oscar.
My favorite Kate Winslet performances:
"Heavenly Creatures"
"Sense & Sensibility" (I'd agree that this should have been her first Oscar win, and that could have avoided so much other drama of being overdue down the road -- though in this day and age, maybe not, since the conversation would have then changed to "Why doesn't Kate Winslet have a LEAD Oscar yet? Lame. An Oscar is an Oscar.)
"Iris" (though I get the feeling that this role isn't thought of too well nowadays)
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (her best performance to date)
"Extras" (should have won her an Emmy)
"Little Children"
"Revolutionary Road" (on a good day)
I have no problem with Kate winning for The Reader. There weren't that many great performances by lead actresses that year. I liked her better in Revolutionary Road, but if they'd nommed her for that, then Streep would've won lead (meh) and Winslet would've won in supporting over Cruz (highly undesirable... less deserving + category fraud) so I'm fine with how things worked out.
And I'm especially okay with her globe for Revolutionary Road. She was better than every nominee but Anne, and Anne did not need to win last year.
And I agree with Beau about the greatest moments. I think the "jumping back on the boat" bit is my strongest image of Winslet, period. Also, the final moments of Eternal Sunshine, where she turns a simple "okay" into a profound and heartwrenching realization. LOVE it.
Thank you, Nat! Yay, Kate Winslet Day! My most enduring girl crush deserves this day in her honor just as much as every award and nomination she’s received. My favorite moments in those four films are as follows:
Heavenly Creatures – Watching how nervous she is in anticipation of the crime she’s about to commit – from the line “I think she knows what's going to happen. She doesn't appear to bear us any grudge,” to her constantly rubbing her hands together as if she’s already trying to rid herself of the blood.
Sense & Sensibility – The scene at the Jennings estate when she’s playing the piano forte and singing in the purest soprano voice. I think I fell for her nearly as hard as Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman) did in that moment.
Holy Smoke – Definitely the intervention scene in the beginning. The moment she realizes what her family is doing, and she has nowhere and no one to turn to. I felt her distress so poignantly.
Jude – Near the end when Jude encounters her in the church. You can tell this woman’s grief has taken away so much of her soul at this point in the film – Kate heart wrenchingly portrays this loss.
Rohmer dies....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8452993.stm
my fave moment in holy smoke is where she pees then breaks down an oscar clip if ever i saw one.
Nat can you tell us a year on which of her 2008 nommed performances deserved the oscar,i can pick out many great scenes in rev rd (the breakfast scene,anything with her neighbour,the "truth" speech that last phone call,her smile as she see rev rd for the first time) but not so many in the reader.
Nat another thing do you think she will have to wait for her 2nd oscar now or do you think in a few 2 - 3 yrs she will win for the correct performance and the reader win won't seem so bad.
Don't want to sound like a dickhead, but will the Films Bitch take place in January or are you waiting for the Oscars?
And please keep the tiny actor/actresses photos instead of the big ones you're using in the oscar predix pages, the small ones are much better.
I haven't seen Jude, but for me it's Heavenly Creatures one of her better films.
I also preferred her performance in Revolutionary Road to the Reader.
Probably the kitchen scene with baby Joel in Eternal Sunshine and her last scene in Little Children, when she puts her daughter in the car and asks her if she wants to go home.
Love Winslet. I'm totally curious about what she does with "Mildred Pierce" (if that ever happens).
Okay. There's my default comment related to the post before I veer totally.
Apropos to nothing, in the last podcast, someone asked if there's ever been an Oscar host who as also nominated. I'm not sure if someone answered this (they probably did) but Michael Caine was one of the hosts the year he was nominated for "Sleuth."
I wouldn't give her a day. That would be reserved for someone that I absolutely have to see in any film they do. Give one to Nicole Kidman and I am so there. But I wouldn't mind seeing Winslet's guest appearance on "Extras" again!
I would be glad for any Winslet's win, even if it was for a GLITTER remake!
my favorite Kate's perfs
1) eternal sunshine...
2) sense & sensibility
3) jude
4) titanic
5) the reader
mirko
I would have taken Meryl winning for "Doubt" or Anne Hathaway for "RCM" in a heartbeat over Kate Winslet in "The Reader." That film was horrible, and even more atrocious than Kate Winslet's Oscar win is its best picture/best direction nominees combo at the expense of far greater films.
But bringing this back to a positive note about Kate Winslet, my favorite character from her is Clementine easily. That'll probably be cemented unless she really wows me in the future.
And hells yeah on the "Extras" shout-out! "I don't think we really need another film about the Holocaust, do we? It's like, how many have there been? You know, we get it, it was grim, move on." LOL!!! If only you'd taken your own advice, Kate.
I have a feeling i may have suggested this because i remember being pissed off at people last year for giving out about her winning two on the one night and i was going slightly overboard in my defence of my favourite actor(male or female).
On the other hand i may be just mixing this up with generally wishing everyday was a day where Kate Winslet was celebrated in some way. Sigh. Is it wierd that i miss her already after a year? I hope she repeats what she did after titanic and picks some really interesting films to do and stay clear of mainstrem for a while.
While i do think her performance in The Reader deserves an oscar it definately pales in comparison to some other performances(Eternal Sunshine=acting heaven) which is why some people may have a problem with that win. So even though she just won an oscar in a way I'm kinda hoping for a 'comeback' where she goes back to picking really interesting roles and shoves her talent in the face of every other actor out there ( in a nice way of course)!
Little Children - when she's talking about that whore from that book Madam something (I forgot the name of the book). It's as if she realized that the character in the book is like her. First thing that always pops in my head is that scene :)
Hey, what about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?
It's hard to choose just one moment that is my favorite, but I guess I'll try. I think that moment when they're in London at the ball and she finally sees Willoughby. At first she's elated and then you can see her heart brake in two because she realizes that it's over. "Willoughby! Willoughby! Will you not shake hands with me?" Such a great acting moment.
Yay Winslet Day!
Everyone posting has been really nice, but I have to bring this up, anyway: is anything about Kate Winslet really all that controversial? She's incredibly talented, she was ridiculously overdue, and she seems genuinely nice and modest. What the eff is there not to like?
My Fave Kate Moments:
1. Eternal Sunshine-- Saying/laughing "OK" at the end. They're gonna give it a shot.
2. Revolutionary Road-- Kate and Leo at breakfast on her last day. Also: "Fuck who you want" or something like that.
3. Heavenly Creatures-- Anytime she's sobbing hysterically.
God bless the person who decided to name today "Kate Winslet Day" - Every day is "Kate Winslet Day" for me.
If she had won for Sense and Sensibility we would have avoided both "Best Actress for The Reader" and the "Academy Award Winner Mira Sorvino" and the world would be just better.
"Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
Willoughby, Willoughby...Willoughby..."
still my favorite kate moment, ever. i watched that movie once a week in high school. and when i met kate i told her!
is January 28 (the day she won her dual Globes for GORILLAS IN THE MIST and WORKING GIRL) allowed to be Sigourney Weaver Day?
Eternal Sunshine : Ah, too many, the part with "I would make a fabolous mother" speech, the part she gets cross at JCarrey bc he is not talking, the ending, oo the ending...
Titanic: "As a paying customer, I expect to get what I want"
Extras: Phone sex part, she is great talking dirty. Also the part about Holacaust moveis. I love when life imitates art :)
Sense and Sensibility : she is the embodiement of romanticism
Jude: I guess this one is the truest form of a love story. So raw, so real. And Kate in her best form.
Revolutionary Road: Breakfast scene
Quills: Great line delivery. Love the sexual tension between her and Jaquin Phoneix
Nathaniel, I would kiss you for "Kate Winslet Day". We share the same birthday, October 5th. I have loved her since "Sense and Sensibility." Fantastic actress. Bless you!
Just rewatched Revolutionary Road again and felt the same as I felt last year when I saw it ... amateurish acting by everyone except Michael Shannon .. the production values were shoddy looking.
Yay! Kate Winslet Day should be every day!
I think she's the most amazing actress in the world today. She can play any complex character, with a perfect easiness and an enviable spontaneity.
I adore every one of her performances and I'm always hungry for more. I've just seen "Iris" for the third time and she made my heart vibrate as she always does.
Thanks for spreading the word about Kate! You're fantastic!
Kate Winslet is my favourite living actress (Audrey Hepburn is my favourite of all time) and I love all of her performances, even the overlooked role as journalist Bitsey Bloom in The Life of David Gale. Although my favourites are The Holiday and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
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