Best Actress: Maggie Smith

 What a despicable woman.

via makeagif

But what an actress Maggie Smith was.

Only she could make you want to watch this character or listen to the words coming out of her fascist mouth. Also, what a trip to be watching this movie in this political landscape (a sentiment I'm sure I'll repeat when I get to Cabaret...). 

I feel like I don't really have much to say about this. I don't agree with Jean Brodie's views, there's nothing defensible about anything she does, she's cold and calculated throughout this film, and of course her chickens come home to roost. 

Maggie was nominated against Geneviève Bujold (Anne of the Thousand Days), Jane Fonda (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?), Liza Minnelli (The Sterile Cuckoo) and Jean Simmons (The Happy Ending). I've seen all of these nominated performances and I think any one of them would've been a deserving Oscar win. Liza's fun; Jane is weathering horrific conditions; Geneviève is tragic; and Jean was so against type (that I know her from, anyway, because I haven't seen a lot of her films) that you almost want to reward it. 

But the cold, calculated way Maggie spars her way through The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is wholly deserving of an Oscar.

DID I LIKE THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE? Its content and messaging? No. But damn, Maggie Smith was one of the greats.

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Did you like The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie? What are your thoughts on Maggie Smith's Oscar win?

Keep up with all my Rewatching the Best Actresses posts here!