4. NICOLE KIDMAN (The Hours)
Nicole Kidman's fine turn as Virginia Woolf is my highest Oscar-winning performance on the list. Kidman sheds her past roles off of her like a skin and becomes a new person with stringy dirty brown hair, a gravelly accent - - and who could forget the nose?
I can't even properly write this.
When we first see Virginia, is is actually the end of her life. Woolf truly thought she was weighing others down in the world so she weighs herself down- literally, with stones- and ends it all. It's a perfect way to set the tone of the film.
Kidman's consistant narration between her story and the remaining two also bring her role to more justice. As she writes the book that binds the three women together, we hear her thoughts, and possibly the other's thoughts as well.
You cannot find peace by avoiding life.
Kidman's most memorable scene is, of course, her blow-up at the train station. Her confrontation with her husband about her sanity is astonishing to say the least.
Dead Bird.
But my personal favorite scene is a quieter one. After her nieces and nephews visit, a dead bird is found laying in the garden and a "funeral" is put in order. It's the small conversation between Virginia and her 5-year-old niece that truly jumps out at me, and the resulting descention she makes to keep eye contact with the dead bird. Haunting.
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