My Favourite Female Performances in a Lead Role

One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. There is not much more I can say. Maria Falconetti is hard to believe as being anything but a saint.

Realistic, beautifull and with a good bite to it. I love Faye Dunaway! A great American film.

Warren Beatty is one of those actors who I don't like very much, but always happen to be in my favourite films. I just love this film, and always will. The end always shocks me.

I love everything about this film. The music, the cast, the plot, the direction;EVERYTHING. Could Anne Bancroft be any better?

Bitchy, classy and ruthless. All About Eve is a true, and deserving classic.

One of the greatest Hollywood films of all time. The entire cast offers great performances, while Joan Crawford manages stands out with her flawless and deeply sensitive portrayal. Ann Blyth manages to play off her very well, and the two together milk the melodramatic content to the core.

This is without a doubt one of the greatest soap operas ever, and it even manages to rise above the exploitative connotations of the term and become something greater. The level of emotional involvement that this film demands is exceptional. This is a perfect movie experience.

Perfect classic Hollywood. Although I have always loved classic Hollywood cinema, I never expected to be as wowed by this film as I was. It is an exceptional piece of cinema.

Dietrich was the definitive muse for Von Sternberg. We are all familiar with the Marlene persona, and we have been happy to watch her play herself again and again. What is so shocking about this film is that we see a totally different side of our all-too-familiar German sex bomb. Von Sternberg let's us have a glimpse beyond the larger than life features and porcelain skin into a delicate and unfamiliar creature.

Her husky voice and masculine flair are nowhere to be found. Instead we meet a soft spoken, gentle, loving and human character. Although we love the Marlene of popular recognition, this version of her is infinitely more sympathetic for the audience.

Von Sternberg's camera seems to embrace her every move, and the equally beautiful Anna May Wong plays off her perfectly. The themes of lost love and the marked woman, work very well. Every move in the film is perfectly studied, so much so as to make the scenes with Dietrich and Wong have an almost ballet like feel to them. There is also an element of the pre-production code found in many of the more scandalous lines, such as "It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily."

Although this film is from a world far removed from today, I consider it one of the most satisfying film experiences ever. The film is all about Marlene, but in this case, she deserves it. A triumph of acting. Every gesture, every glance, every line has been slow roasted to perfection. Magnificent.

Fascinatingly realistic and completely unapologetic. This is a film about illegal abortion, and it is about as unpleasant as it can be.

The look of the film is completely natural. Nothing appears to have been altered. I'm not sure of this, but it seemed to me that the film was even shot without traditional lighting, and that most of the light came from already existing sources. The bright, quivering flourescent lights seem to communicate the coldness of the harsh Communist society in which the characters manoeuver. Noone is understanding, everything is business.

Anamaria Marinca is brilliant as the young college student trying to help out her friend. She seems to communicate everything without saying a word. In one of her best scenes, she merely sits and listens uncomfortably to the dull bourgeouse chatter of her boyfriend's family, and yet she manages to steal the scene. Perhaps the reason why that scene worked so well was because she knew that they would never have to deal with what she was going through. She had just whored herself out to an illegal abortion doctor, and her boyfriend is upset and embarassed by her anti-social behaviour. That is a testament to the wonderfully tormenting script.

Mungiu follows her so closely we feel everything she feels.

Wow, I love this film. Barbara Stanwyck is the best femme fatale ever. How can all of Billy Wilder's films be so good? He tackled all genres and always seemed to make great films. My only problem with this film is Fred Macmurry. Ew.

I may even prefer this film to the more popular Pandora's Box. I think that Brooks is even more striking in this film.

So much fun. I love screwball comedy, and this is one of the finest examples. Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda are great in this Preston Sturges classic.

Beautifull, and strangely haunting. Isabelle Huppert is flawless as the hopelessly passive, young French girl who cannot hold the attention of her intellectual boyfriend.

I love this movie. It's a true classic; No pop cultural education would be complete without seeing this. Sissy Spacek is amazing. I don't really feel a strong sense of aesthetic from Brian DePalma, but he certainly made a strange, fun and good film.

A beautifull, sad, funny and heartbreaking film. Guilietta Masina holds up the picture.

So much fun, and yet so sad. Begins and ends in heartbreak, but it's the comedic centre that you'll remember. Giulietta Masina is amazing.

Strange and beautiful. A strange story of two parallel and intersecting lives. This is probably the best part an actress could ever hope to get, and Irene Jacob is absolutely radiant. Almost like an episode of the Twilight Zone in its idea, but mysterious and delicate in its interpretation.