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In 2019 she’s already appeared in the likes of After The Wedding, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January (before heading to the London off-shoot earlier this month), last month’s Bel Canto, the upcoming The Woman In The Window – set for this autumn), and this week she will be seen in Sebastián Lelio’s redo of his 2013 movie Gloria, Gloria Bell. With that in mind, we take a look back over an already remarkable career and name five of Julianne Moore’s very best on-screen performances.
Boogie Nights (1997)
One of Julianne Moore’s more famous roles came in the nineties when she was cast as Amber Waves in Paul Thomas Anderson’s superb Boogie Nights. Waves is a pornographic actress with a hidden cocaine addiction, married to Burt Reynolds’ filmmaker Jack Horner, though is going through personal strife away from the camera over custody of her daughter. The film was nominated for many Oscars, including Best Performance For An Actress in a Leading Role for Moore. A key moment in the film involving Heather Graham’s equally dynamic performance as Roller Girl who asks Amber to be her mother. Utter devastating, compelling filmmaking.
Short Cuts (1993)
Boogie Nights is far from Moore’s first stand-out Hollywood role. A breakthrough came four years earlier in 1993 with auteur Robert Altman in Short Cuts. Altman was riding high off the success of The Player the year before, and Short Cuts is equally as superb. Moore plays the role of Marian Wyman in this massive ensemble piece, a painter stuck in a troubled marriage with a doctor, both of whom spend their days mostly under the influence at their palatial Los Angeles coastal home. Short Cuts wasn’t Moore’s first movie, but it was one of the ones that made Hollywood wake up and witness her bravery, huge range and peerless talent as an actor.
The Kids Are Alright (2010)
We fast-forward sixteen years for the next title on our list, Julianne as Jules in 2010’s The Kids Are Alright, a film in which she stars alongside Mark Ruffalo and Annette Bening in a superb comedy-drama from filmmaker Lisa Cholodenko. The film sees a female couple (Julianne Moore’s Jule and Bening’s Nic) bring the biological father of their non-traditional life in present-day Los Angeles. The film has a very naturalistic tone to it in terms of the way it is crafted, features superb performances across the board, especially Moore, and scored multiple Oscar nominations the year after it was released. If you haven’t seen it, do check it out. It’s wonderful.
The End Of The Affair (1999)
We step back in time ten years for the next entry, Neil Jordan’s 1999 post-WWII movie The End Of The Affair, another film that would land Moore an Oscar nomination, again in the leading actress category. The film, based on the novel of the same name by Graham Greene, follows Ralph Fiennes’ character who returns from the war to find out why the love of his life, played by Moore, left him. If you’ve not seen it – it’s not one of the most well-known pieces – I urge you to track it down.
Still Alice (2014)
After no less than three previous nominations, the Oscar was finally awarded to Julianne Moore in the 2014 movie adaptation of Lisa Genova’s devastating novel Still Alice. In the film, Moore plays the title role of Alice, a middle-aged college professor who is suddenly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. The film charts her journey as the illness takes hold of her, and follows the impact it has on her and her family as time moves on. As the multiple awards that Julianne received for the film suggest, her work on Still Alice is up there as being her very best. Utter devastating cinema, masterfully crafted by all involved.
Gloria Bell is released in cinemas and on-demand on 6th June 2019. Read our review of the film here.
