Meryl Streep finally won her third Oscar for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in 2011’s The Iron Lady, but it was not an easy victory. Streep faced many great actresses that award season, from Viola Davis to Michelle Williams, but the most nominated actor in Oscar history emerged victorious. It has now been five years since her big win, so let us reflect on whether Streep was truly deserving of the Best Actress honor.
The 2011 race for Best Actress was full of strong actresses playing Oscar-baity characters. From real-life figures like Margaret Thatcher and Marilyn Monroe to juicy characters from fiction like Aibileen Clark and Lisbeth Salander, there was a true embarrassment of riches among female roles in 2011. Even those that weren’t nominated for the Best Actress Oscar, like Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin, Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia, Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene, and Charlize Theron in Young Adult, delivered some of the best performances of their careers.
Many people probably saw Streep’s victory coming from a mile away, even as soon as the casting announcement that she was playing such a legendary figure as Margaret Thatcher. It was not an easy win, though, with one major competitor coming very close to winning the Oscar. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and reflect on the 2011 race for Best Actress, and determine whether Streep’s win holds up five years later.
And the nominees were…
Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs
Albert Nobbs has a bit of a reputation in the awards-obsessed community. From the grave seriousness of its tone to the striking appearance of Glenn Close as a woman pretending to be a male butler in 19th century Dublin, the internet was not (and is still not) kind to the film. Buzz was mixed on Close’s performance, with some being wowed by her subtle take on the titular character and others getting absolutely nothing from it.
It’s an unfortunate situation to say that she was easily fifth this year, especially when considering Albert Nobbs was her passion project for 30 years. This was her sixth Oscar nomination without a win, and as one of her biggest fans, I can only hope that this was not her last opportunity for Oscar glory.
Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Rooney Mara’s Oscar nomination for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was an unexpected but celebrated choice. The only other major nomination she received before the Oscars was from the Golden Globes, which has zero overlap with the Academy, unlike SAG and BAFTA. Academy members clearly liked the film more than other groups, giving it five nominations and a surprise win for Best Film Editing.
The role of Lisbeth Salander was much sought after in Hollywood, and Mara’s take on the iconic literary character remains haunting and fiercely badass. It’s a bold kind of performance the Academy does not often take to, and while she probably wasn’t in contention to win Best Actress, it certainly helped define Mara’s career.
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn
Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe was another one of those instances of a casting notice basically foretelling an Oscar nomination. Williams had already been nominated twice before, and taking on a legendary figure in Hollywood like Marilyn Monroe felt like a slam dunk. Many critics commended Williams’ interpretation of the iconic bombshell as not only a magnetic, irresistible presence but as a lonely woman overwhelmed by fame.
Williams won numerous critics awards for her performance and eventually the Golden Globe for Best Actress (in the less-competitive Comedy or Musical category, mind you). She likely garnered enough votes to be a plausible spoiler for the Oscar, but ultimately she was no match for Davis and Streep.
Viola Davis – The Help
And now we get to Davis vs. Streep, one of the better Best Actress races we’ve had in recent years. Davis earned more praise for her dignified role as Aibileen, a maid dealing with mistreatment in the 1960s Deep South, than she had at any point in her career, even for her Oscar-nominated supporting role in 2008’s Doubt. Her deeply-felt performance is a large part of what makes The Help work, bringing gravitas and heart to a surprisingly lightweight film. Davis won the Critics’ Choice Award for her performance, but more importantly she won the SAG, which almost always correlates with an Oscar victory in the lead categories.
One narrative in Davis’ favor was that she would have been just the second black actress to win an Oscar for Best Actress, and if felt like all the pieces were coming together. Davis was well-respected but not over-rewarded, The Help was a beloved, crowd-pleasing, money-making movie, and her main competition, Streep, already had two Oscars. So what happened?
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Streep happened. Alongside Davis’ narrative, we had The Weinstein Company pushing the narrative that Streep had not won an Oscar in 29 years. Up to and including The Iron Lady, Streep had earned 17 Oscar nominations and “just” two wins, with her most recent victory being for 1982’s Sophie’s Choice. Of course, for an actress of Streep’s legendary stature it is a little surprising that she had only received two Oscars in her career, but with fellow veterans in the race who hadn’t won any Oscars yet, like Close and Davis, the narrative begins to look slightly ridiculous.
Streep’s performance in The Iron Lady is about as polarizing as it gets — many critics were astonished by her domineering performance and spot-on Thatcher mannerisms, hailing it as one of the best of her career. Others felt her performance to be like a caricature of Thatcher. Regardless, you can watch any isolated scene from the film and understand exactly why she took home her third Oscar. Even with Davis’ precursor victories, and The Iron Lady‘s lukewarm reception, there is a kinetic energy in Streep’s performance that Academy voters could not resist.
As always this is just my opinion, but what do you think? Who deserved the 2011 Oscar for Best Actress?