Natasha came into most of our lives in somewhat bizarre fashion -- achieving leading-actress status quickly, and less on the basis of her abundant talent than on a name that wound up meaning little to American moviegoers (and therefore didn't sustain her in Hollywood for long).
You've gotta give her one thing -- she was daring. Patty Hearst, then the authoritarian sexuality of "The Handmaid's Tale" and the utter weirdness of "The Comfort of Strangers" -- how many other actresses, at least during the era when such films were made by big studios, would have dared to build a career on such roles?
It actually surprised me, when I Allmovie'd her on Tuesday, that she had done so little truly high-impact film work. I've been walking around for two decades thinking of her as an exquisitely gorgeous, great actress with an amazing body of work -- yet her list of film credits is actually kinda underwhelming. I suppose that's a tribute to the impact she made when she DID work--and an indictment of the moviegoing public's lack of interest in the types of challenging material in which she excelled.
(Though "Nell" was a challenge in a different way...)
Thanks, Bob, for helping her get back a bit of the dignity the tabs and blogosphere have been siphoning away this week.
BobCashill
· 8 months ago
If only more theater were filmed and made available. That was her true arena these past 15 years. I also think she liked being a mom and was content to let Liam bring home the bacon when she was working.
How young she was when she made those key films...I'm melancholy all over again just thinking about it.
All Comments
You've gotta give her one thing -- she was daring. Patty Hearst, then the authoritarian sexuality of "The Handmaid's Tale" and the utter weirdness of "The Comfort of Strangers" -- how many other actresses, at least during the era when such films were made by big studios, would have dared to build a career on such roles?
It actually surprised me, when I Allmovie'd her on Tuesday, that she had done so little truly high-impact film work. I've been walking around for two decades thinking of her as an exquisitely gorgeous, great actress with an amazing body of work -- yet her list of film credits is actually kinda underwhelming. I suppose that's a tribute to the impact she made when she DID work--and an indictment of the moviegoing public's lack of interest in the types of challenging material in which she excelled.
(Though "Nell" was a challenge in a different way...)
Thanks, Bob, for helping her get back a bit of the dignity the tabs and blogosphere have been siphoning away this week.
How young she was when she made those key films...I'm melancholy all over again just thinking about it.