Best Actress: Jodie Foster I

 This was so tough to watch.

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But such a wonderfully layered performance from Jodie Foster.

It's so depressing that in the nearly 40 years since The Accused that so much of what's present in this film is still happening today. That boys will always be boys, even if they're grown men who should know better; that society will find a way to try and blame the rape survivor; and that it's still so hard to prosecute. 

Jodie plays Sarah Tobias, a young woman who is gang raped at a dive bar while a crowd of men cheer and solicit it into continuing. She's not the 'perfect victim' because she'd been drinking, smoked half a joint (perish the thought!) and had joked with her gal friend about taking one of the guys home and banging him in front of her loser boyfriend, who she'd been fighting with previously. In short: society believes she had it coming, that she was putting on a show for the men, that she asked for it. 

If this wasn't frustrating enough, Sarah is not given the chance to tell her story, to confront her rapists, to ensure that justice is done because the State doesn't believe they could get a rape conviction. 

There's a particularly powerful scene where Sarah interrupts a dinner party hosted by District Attorney Katheryn Murphy and confronts her for securing a plea deal against the three men for a lesser charge than rape. "You don't understand how I feel! I'm standing there with my pants down and my crotch hung out for the world to see and three guys are sticking it to me, a bunch of other guys are yelling and clapping and you're standing there telling me that that's the best you can do. Well, if that's the best you could do, then your best sucks! Now, I don't know what you got for selling me out, but I sure as shit hope it was worth it!"

It's never a saccahrine performance, it's never a steely performance, but Jodie Foster so thoroughly inhabits Sarah Tobias that I forgot, at times, that I was watching the Jodie Foster. It's such a rich performance and Sarah has such a realness to her. It's tragic that her situation is still all too common. 

Jodie was nominated against Glenn Close (Dangerous Liaisons), Melanie Griffith (Working Girl), Meryl Streep (A Cry in the Dark) and Sigourney Weaver (Gorillas in the Mist). These actresses combine to make an all-time lineup of nominees, though I haven't seen any of these films except Working Girl (which I love, stoked that Melanie Griffith got a nomination for it). I have to give it to Jodie, though!

DID I LIKE THE ACCUSED? Yes!
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Did you like The Accused? What are your thoughts on Jodie Foster's first Oscar win?

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