Variety‘s Anne Thompson is the latest convert to the view that I’ve Loved You So Long‘s Kristin Scott Thomas is not only a shoo-in for a Best Actress nomination but “leads the field.” But I have a slight disagreement or two with her assessments so let’s review.
Reason #1, she says, is that Thomas “wears no makeup, looks awful and moves from shut-down depression to life.” I don’t think KST looks awful at all in this film. She’s just not wearing makeup and therefore looks her age, and so what? The bottom line is that she’s an extremely beautiful woman, and no lack of mascara, eyeliner, base and blush can alter that fact. She had her “face on” when I met her about ten days ago, and I was thinking to myself (but didn’t say out loud) that she’s a tiny bit hotter and more intriguing in her plain-Jane mode.
Reason #2 is that Thomas is “a Brit who speaks French,” which Thompson says is “huge.” Hah! This speaks volumes about undercurrents of social insecurity (i.e., a certain nagging unease about L.A. and its denizens being perhaps a bit too provincial in this or that way and/or lacking in cultural sophistication) among Academy members and others on the scene.
Thompson’s reason #3 about KST having “done good work for a long time and is overdue” and reason #4 about Thomas earning raves on Broadway for The Seagull are completely accurate.
Thompson concludes by saying that Tom Tapp and Stephen Schaefer agree. And what is Hollywood Elsewhere’s opinion on this subject? Chopped liver?