Best Actress in a Leading Role 2017: Frances McDormand in Three Billboards Outisde Ebbing, Missouri

Frances McDormand won her second Oscar from her fifth nomination for her performance as Mildred Hayes in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is an interesting but problematic film about a woman who rents three billboards on which she denounces the police's inability to catch the rapist and murderer of her teenage daughter and the effect that this action has on the local community. I wouldn't call it a bad movie as there are certain things I like about it and it flows rather smoothly, but I also can't deny I have several problems with it. First of all, I found it completely ineffective as a dark comedy as I hardly found it to be truly funny and to be perfectly honest I thought it was even a bit mean-spirited in certain instances. It's especially problematic in its handling of violence - unlike Quentin Tarantino, Martin McDonough does not portray violence in an absurd enough fashion to make it work in a comedic context: as it is in the movie, it often feels jarring and misplaced. My main problem with it though is that it's a movie that tries to deal with many interesting topics, such as the hypocritical mindset of small towns, domestic abuse, police's abuse of power and its unjustified violence towards black people, but it doesn't have the time to treat any of them with the depth they deserve: ultimately, it's a movie that does not have a lot to say and the ending in particular is rather unsatisfying. The SAG win for Best Ensemble is more than questionable as well (I mean, Lady Bird was right there) though there are some solid performances in the supporting cast.

Frances McDormand's performance in this movie has been one of the most acclaimed of the year and she's pretty much a sure bet for the win. I guess I should start off saying from the get go that I'm not quite as enamored with the performance as pretty much everyone else is and there are other performances I'd rather see win the trophy. Having said that, I don't want to dismiss her performance in the slightest - in spite of my indifference towards the movie, there's no denying that she gives a forceful, captivating turn that is probably the only reason why I didn't mind watching it. I have absolutely no issues with her work itself and if I don't quite adore the performance is because of the movie's shortcomings. She's given many scenes that I think are pretty poorly written, such as her conversation with the priest or the scene in which she kicks two teenager at her son's school (what the hell?) or the one in which she talks to a deer (again, what the hell?) - nonetheless, I think she does her absolute best to sell them and overall gives a very remarkable performance that managed to impress me even if the movie did not.

I think the screenplay of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is far from being great but if there's one thing it gets right is the characterization of Mildred and I can't think of a better actress to play her. McDormand is terrific at portraying Mildred's often hostile, abrasive manner - she brings a great incisiveness to each of her line-deliveries but most importantly she never turns her into a shrieking caricature. She is never afraid of making her character's unlikeable and the reason why she can afford to do it is that she does a brilliant job at portraying the underlying grief of this woman, not only in her more overt moments of vulnerability but also (and especially) in small, silent moments in which she conveys so well the tragedy of this woman. The movie doesn't really reveal much about her relationship with her murdered daughter and the only flashback involving her falls short due to Kathryn Newton's lacking performance, but this doesn't undercut the impact of McDormand's performance. Perhaps what I admire the most is the fact that she never tries to sugarcoat Mildred's condition but instead she shows perfectly why her attitude puts many people off: she makes you root for Mildred while showing why she is so unappealing to others - she is bitter, aggressive and aloof and McDormand portrays those facets of this woman perfectly. As I mentioned above, I don't really care for the comedy in the movie and the comedic bits are indeed my least favorite parts of McDormand's performance: that said, she's definitely above the script in those scenes and she manages to be still quite enjoyable simply thanks to her pitch-perfect line-deliveries, elevating even the weakest jokes.

My favorite scenes of McDormand's performance are probably the ones she shares with Woody Harrelson, who plays Willoughby, the police's Chief. Their scenes together are quite easily my favorite scenes of the movie as the two of them share an amazing chemistry: both actors are great at showing how their characters are at completely different wavelengths while still conveying a mutual understanding in small, poignant moments. The highlight of the film is the scene in which Willoughby, who is dying from cancer, is interrogating Mildred and unexpectedly coughs blood: it's a truly beautiful moment splendidly acted by both actors - on her end, McDormand is fantastic at showing how, for a moment, Mildred is no longer filled with resentment but only compassion at seeing the plight of this man in front of her. And she's great in her scenes with John Hawkes, who plays her abusive ex-husband: they share a very good chemistry together and they convey the history of their relationship extremely well. McDormand is great at showing a hint of buried tenderness in her interactions with him though this feeling is often lost in the middle of their heated confrontations, and McDormand is terrific at portraying the strain their relationship has caused her. An amazing moment in her performance is her last scene with Hawkes in which, after being as usual mortified by him, she walks up to him and just tells him to treat well his new girlfriend: it's a fantastic moment, poignantly acted by McDormand who at this point plays Mildred as a woman who is tired of being constantly filled with hate. Her relationships with other characters are not quite as well conceived but McDormand never makes a false move. For example, her relationship with her son (Lucas Hedges) is severly underwritten but she shows very well both her love for him and her inability to truly connect with him. And even though I do like her chemistry with Sam Rockwell in her later scenes, I don't really like the final section of the movie which, as I said above, I found rather unsatisfying.

This is without a doubt a terrific performance from Frances McDormand. I don't care a lot for the movie but she carries it beautifully and manages to make even the weakest sections works thanks to her remarkable performance. It's a powerful, rich characterization and even if I don't think the movie itself is worthy of the accolades it receives her work certainly is.

4.5/5