Celeste Holm received her third and final Oscar nomination for her performance as Karen Richards in All About Eve.
Celeste Holm is, in my opinion, a fabulous actress whom I always enjoy watching on-screen. Unlike many other actors of her era, her acting never once feels dated or melodramatic: her performances are always fresh, spontaneous and exciting and she could hold her own against much bigger "stars" than her. For example, she has the least showy role in High Society and yet she completely outshines Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. She really was a terrific actress who could make the most out of almost every role: and her performance as Karen Richards in All About Eve is the perfect example of an actress taking a potentially uninteresting role and turning it into gold.
In the hands of a lesser actress, Karen could have easily been a throwaway role: it's a quiet role in a movie full of flashy ones and it isn't particularly complex or complicated. It's a role that gets quite a lot of screen-time but this isn't necessarily a good thing, as a large exposure sometimes makes the limitations of a role even more noticeable. But, as usual, Celeste Holm truly sinks her teeth into the role and makes it one of the most interesting and memorable characters of the whole movie. Celeste Holm is an actress with a wonderful screen-presence that makes her stand out even when she isn't doing much: she is naturally warm and quite charming which makes Karen a winning and likeable character right from the beginning - her genuine acting style fits perfectly Karen's down-to-earth, kind personality and she is always enjoyable and endearing whenever she appears. Right from the beginning, Holm makes Karen a rather lovely person and her interactions with Anne Baxter in the first half of the movie are actually rather sweet: Holm makes Karen's interest towards Eve completely believable and convincing as she perfectly establishes Karen as a caring and gentle woman. In the scenes where Karen introduces Eve to Margo and her friends and Eve starts telling her story, Holm is excellent as she perfectly conveys the friendship between Karen, Margo and the other members of their circle and she is always very entertaining - she always leaves her own mark, never stealing the scene but never being overshadowed as well).
Holm is also very effective in portraying Karen's conflicted feelings towards Margo: on one hand, she does a fantastic job in showing her affection towards her friend, but on the other hand she realistically portrays her growing distaste towards Margo's unbearable mood swings and harsh manners. When Karen deliberately prevents Margo from getting in time into the theatre, therefore causing Eve to play the leading role instead of her, Celeste Holm does a magnificent job in giving the proper emotional weight to Karen's betrayal of her friend: she perfectly builds up to Karen's choice and she is amazing in the scene in which Margo, stuck in the middle of nowhere with Karen, apologizes for her behavior and opens up about her insecurities - it's a brilliantly acted moment by Holm who does a great job in showing through her facial expressions the guilt and regret of Karen for what she did to Margo.
What I love the most about Celeste Holm's performance is the way she portrays, in the second half of the movie, Karen's growing disillusionement over Eve as she realizes how manipulative she actually is. I love Karen's confrontation with her husband about Eve - it's a brilliantly written scene and Holm is fantastic as she at first acts in a passive-aggressive way before finally bursting out (her line-delivery of "The cynicism you refer to, I acquired the day I discovered I was different from little boys!" couldn't be more brilliant). But in my opinion the best scene of her entire performance is the one in which Eve blackmails Karen into convincing Lloyd to give her the leading role in his new play. It's one of the best moments of the whole movie and Celeste Holm is heartbreaking in portraying Karen's shock and disappointment. She is very moving in portraying Karen's inability to understand how someone could achieve such cruelty only because of a part in a play and her facial reactions are simply amazing in their subtlety. It's really a performance that is made great by the reactionary moments, such as the ones during Eve's speech as she is awarded of a prestigious trophy, portraying perfectly Karen's feelings towards Eve - not even hate, just contempt and maybe even pity. Her voice-over is also outstanding as they give us glimpses of Karen's thoughts and vulnerabilities - the one about her relationship with her husband is in particular very poignant because of the melancholy in her voice.
This is a fantastic performance from Celeste Holm who makes the most out of a potentially stock role, turning Karen into one of the movie's strongest character: she is the heart of the movie, the kind of character the viewer can relate to. It's a performance that feels modern and real and one that is enjoyable in a minute and deeply touching in the next. A great performance from a great actress.
In the hands of a lesser actress, Karen could have easily been a throwaway role: it's a quiet role in a movie full of flashy ones and it isn't particularly complex or complicated. It's a role that gets quite a lot of screen-time but this isn't necessarily a good thing, as a large exposure sometimes makes the limitations of a role even more noticeable. But, as usual, Celeste Holm truly sinks her teeth into the role and makes it one of the most interesting and memorable characters of the whole movie. Celeste Holm is an actress with a wonderful screen-presence that makes her stand out even when she isn't doing much: she is naturally warm and quite charming which makes Karen a winning and likeable character right from the beginning - her genuine acting style fits perfectly Karen's down-to-earth, kind personality and she is always enjoyable and endearing whenever she appears. Right from the beginning, Holm makes Karen a rather lovely person and her interactions with Anne Baxter in the first half of the movie are actually rather sweet: Holm makes Karen's interest towards Eve completely believable and convincing as she perfectly establishes Karen as a caring and gentle woman. In the scenes where Karen introduces Eve to Margo and her friends and Eve starts telling her story, Holm is excellent as she perfectly conveys the friendship between Karen, Margo and the other members of their circle and she is always very entertaining - she always leaves her own mark, never stealing the scene but never being overshadowed as well).
Holm is also very effective in portraying Karen's conflicted feelings towards Margo: on one hand, she does a fantastic job in showing her affection towards her friend, but on the other hand she realistically portrays her growing distaste towards Margo's unbearable mood swings and harsh manners. When Karen deliberately prevents Margo from getting in time into the theatre, therefore causing Eve to play the leading role instead of her, Celeste Holm does a magnificent job in giving the proper emotional weight to Karen's betrayal of her friend: she perfectly builds up to Karen's choice and she is amazing in the scene in which Margo, stuck in the middle of nowhere with Karen, apologizes for her behavior and opens up about her insecurities - it's a brilliantly acted moment by Holm who does a great job in showing through her facial expressions the guilt and regret of Karen for what she did to Margo.
What I love the most about Celeste Holm's performance is the way she portrays, in the second half of the movie, Karen's growing disillusionement over Eve as she realizes how manipulative she actually is. I love Karen's confrontation with her husband about Eve - it's a brilliantly written scene and Holm is fantastic as she at first acts in a passive-aggressive way before finally bursting out (her line-delivery of "The cynicism you refer to, I acquired the day I discovered I was different from little boys!" couldn't be more brilliant). But in my opinion the best scene of her entire performance is the one in which Eve blackmails Karen into convincing Lloyd to give her the leading role in his new play. It's one of the best moments of the whole movie and Celeste Holm is heartbreaking in portraying Karen's shock and disappointment. She is very moving in portraying Karen's inability to understand how someone could achieve such cruelty only because of a part in a play and her facial reactions are simply amazing in their subtlety. It's really a performance that is made great by the reactionary moments, such as the ones during Eve's speech as she is awarded of a prestigious trophy, portraying perfectly Karen's feelings towards Eve - not even hate, just contempt and maybe even pity. Her voice-over is also outstanding as they give us glimpses of Karen's thoughts and vulnerabilities - the one about her relationship with her husband is in particular very poignant because of the melancholy in her voice.
This is a fantastic performance from Celeste Holm who makes the most out of a potentially stock role, turning Karen into one of the movie's strongest character: she is the heart of the movie, the kind of character the viewer can relate to. It's a performance that feels modern and real and one that is enjoyable in a minute and deeply touching in the next. A great performance from a great actress.
4.5/5
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