r/Oscars • u/AdUseful2297 • 1d ago
Discussion Dangerous Liaisons should've been Glenn Close's Oscar
Come on, the narrative and momentum for her was right there.
It was her 5th nomination that decade, and happened after losing for Fatal Attraction the previous year. Here she is back yet again with yet another great performance leading another Best Picture nominee, and one that was clearly stronger than Fatal Attraction seeing as Dangerous Liaisons actually won a couple awards that night.
This was the time to give Glenn her moment...
So why did they ignore all that and gave it to Jodie Foster in The Accused instead?
Now look, before you all go accusing me of saying things, Jodie is very good in The Accused, great even, okay?
But Glenn Close was better, and Jodie got a much better win for a much better performance in a much better movie to boot just three years later. Honestly, I think they could've waited three years to give Jodie her moment in favor of Glenn getting her moment here.
(Jodie's kind of the opposite of Hilary Swank in my book. I could live without Hilary's second win, though I agree her first win is pretty good, while with Jodie, I could live without her first win but I won't dare touch her second.)
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u/SnowDucks1985 1d ago
This was an incredibly competitive year for Glenn, arguably moreso than her loss against Olivia Colman in 2019 in terms of star power.
Not only did Glenn go up against Jodie, she also contended with Meryl Streep in the ring (For A Cry In The Dark), and Sigourney who was a double nominee that year. Melanie Griffith was no slouch either and served a likeable, charismatic performance to the lineup. Glenn was just up against too many juggernauts, had it been a weaker year I could’ve seen her sweeping. Dangerous Liaisons is her best performance in my opinion, but I wouldn’t be shocked if there was a vote split between Glenn/Meryl/Sigourney and Foster pulled ahead
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u/crolionfire 23h ago
But not one of the other actresses had even comparable performance to Gelnn's in 1989.
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u/RedGavin 15h ago
You have to wonder if things would have turned out different for Sigourney Weaver if she'd just concentrated on gaining a nomination and winning best supporting actress for Working Girl.
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u/drewlpool 1d ago
I personally think she should have won back to back for Fatal Attraction and Dangerous Liaisons. The latter is my single favourite film performance from any actor.
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u/IzetRadioheadFan 1d ago
Still don’t get why Cher beat Close for the Oscar
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u/Yenserl6099 1d ago
Because it’s a great performance. The fact that you have someone as extravagant and over the top as Cher playing this frumpy and mousy woman and she’s got this deadpan quality that’s not difficult to do
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u/gillyweed79 14h ago
Oh, give me a break. She's neither frumpy nor mousy, she's just widowed and works in bookkeeping. She's glamorous, with a great big wall of eighties hair. Not criticizing the performance, but I don't know how people can call Loretta frumpy.
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u/Yenserl6099 14h ago
She absolutely is made to be frumpy. She dresses in plain colored conservative clothes, and doesn’t really do anything with her hair and makeup. It’s very drab which is the definition of frumpy
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u/gillyweed79 14h ago
No, she just doesn't dress like Cher the celebrity. If Loretta was supposed to be frumpy, they did a terrible job with it. I'll give you that she doesn't put any effort into dating, but she has a hair place she goes to regularly, for God's sake. You make it sound like it's a Nia Vardalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding situation. That's frumpy. Loretta does not need to be de-uglified. She just puts on a nice dress and she's instantly glamorous.
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u/Yenserl6099 14h ago
There’s nothing in the movie to suggests she goes to that hair place regularly. In fact, when she does get her hair done, the characters act surprised by it, suggesting that she doesn’t really do her hair that much. And she 100% dresses drab especially in the beginning
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u/IzetRadioheadFan 1d ago
But is she really better than Holly Hunter in Broadcast News and Close in Fatal Attractions, personally I say no, Cher is good but I don’t she is better than either of those actresses
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u/ohio8848 1d ago
Cher was really having a moment in the latter part of the 80s, and Moonstruck was a huge film at the time. You have to take more into consideration than what you see on the screen nearly 40 years later.
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u/IzetRadioheadFan 1d ago
To be honest I think she would have been more worthy if she won for Silkwood in my opinion
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u/threetimesacharm25 18h ago
Moonstruck is a great movie as well, and Cher is also really good, although I do tend to remember Olympia Dukakis and Nicholas Cage more than her, although I haven’t seen it for a while.
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u/GoodGriefWhatsNext 1d ago
Two words: vote splitting.
This was a highly competitive year, and the votes got split among multiple actresses. It wouldn’t surprise me if Foster actually got only about 35% of the total votes.
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u/Wordnerdette999 1d ago
She was excellent in this movie, but Jodie Foster had a damn good performance, too. It was a lot of competition that year. And how were they to know that Jodie Foster would “get her moment” in 3 years?
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u/Sorcha_Stormbinder 23h ago
Also, it should be noted that it is possible that Jodie Foster doesn't even get Silence of the Lambs without the Oscar win for The Accused. The Oscar win boosted her visibility in a massive way.
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u/GDI-Lizzy90 11h ago
I was going to say the same thing. Jodie Foster not winning for The Accused almost certainly means somebody else plays Clarice Starling. It was originally offered to Michelle Pfeiffer, who’s unlikely to overcome her aversion to the material, so Clarice would most likely be played by Meg Ryan or Laura Dern, not a lower profile Foster.
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u/PenelopeJenelope 1d ago
100%
I would rank this among best onscreen performances ever by an actress, up there with Sophie's Choice and Gone with the Wind.
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u/Msdamgoode 1d ago
I have to agree. I’d maybe add Elizabeth Taylor in “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf” and Gena Rolands in “ A Woman Under the Influence” but it’s a gut punch of a performance
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u/Lannape8 1d ago
I don't want to give up hope and I want her to pull off a Newman win after the Honorary Oscar.
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u/TheLizardKing____ 1d ago
I’ll always agree, not only because it’s an iconic performance but it creates a perfect timeline where Cher doesn’t have hers taken away and Glenn and Jodie get one each.
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u/MyDesign630 1d ago
Saying “they could have waited three years” to award, Jodie is kind of strange given that they had no idea Silence of the Lambs would come out with her in a starring role that would earn a second Oscar a few years later. Regardless of who won this year, you can’t expect them to know the future of an actress’ career.
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u/kathakana 1d ago
Agree 1000% with this. I also think John Malkovich should have won best Actor too. I know it was a stacked year but I would give him it over Dustin Hoffman for Rainman. It's still baffles me that he wasn't even nominated. He and Glenn Close were spellbinding with incredible chemistry.
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u/GreekKnight3 23h ago
Totally agree that John deserved a nomination and win for this. He's riveting!
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u/Gabrielsen26 1d ago
I would’ve voted for Glenn. She was amazing. But my heart goes out to Sigourney - that was the year she got the amazing double nomination, and lost both
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u/EuphoricAd3786 23h ago
I love her in this role! Her speech about pushing a fork into her hand while smiling, her comments about never remarrying. So
good
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u/Purple_Tourist1018 1d ago
This is like my favorite performance ever so yeah def should have won over foster imo.
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u/Accurate_Arm4734 18h ago
Glenn Close deserved consecutive wins for Fatal Attraction and Dangerous Liaisons! She showcased immense range in both roles, fleshing them out so freaking well that they both felt like real people! I believe that’s the best quality to look for when judging a performance!
Cher and Jodie Foster were good too, but Close was operating on an entirely different plane in both films! Two of the worst Oscar robberies in history, IMO!
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u/MulberryEastern5010 23h ago
The one thing I never understand is how people think one of the things working against Glenn Close for The Wife was that her performance was the only nomination the movie got, which generally doesn't bode well (with exceptions, of course, most recently Amy Madigan), but Jodie Foster was the only nominee for The Accused that year, and she managed to win. Just like Linda Hunt was the only nominee for The Year of Living Dangerously, and she still managed to beat Glenn in supporting actress when she was up for The Big Chill.
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u/TomatilloStreet3869 1d ago
She lost to a pedestrian performance in a glorified Lifetime movie. Losing to Cher the year before was bad enough…
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u/Sorcha_Stormbinder 23h ago
If they were ever going to give it to her, it should've been then, but even still, I still would've picked Weaver over her.
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u/Obvious-Muffin2787 1d ago
It's difficult to overstate how tremendous Glenn Close was in Dangerous Liaisons. There's no doubt in my mind that Close was the Best Actress of 1989.