sick chicks, deft dames, badass broads (in progress)

Had the good fortune to catch Isabelle in action for the first time in "Possession," and there was no going back. Her performance as the sufferer of the titular condition was so unrestrained as to be completely mesmerising. Following up with "Camille Claudel," it became evident that Ms. Adjani doesn't hold back as a rule. The twenty years from '75 to '94 saw her abandoning herself to her roles in several captivating performances that more than made up for "Ishtar." Furthermore: "The Story of Adele H." "The Tenant," Herzog's "Nosferatu," "Queen Margot," "The Driver," "Quartet"

After converting her short, "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" into a relentlessly cool & provocative feature, she managed to goad the viewership even more audaciously with "The Bad Batch." She showed up to direct episodes of a bunch of good TV and now she's cast the lass from the evasive "Burning" to star in her 80's fantasy-inspired "Mona Lisa & the Blood Moon." Can't wait.

Ah, Gillian. An early, often & persistent hero in my life. She launches as the deliciously complicated, heat-packing, Catholicism-inflected, flame-coiffed doctor slash Special bloody Agent in everyone's favorite genre-redeeming sci-fi serial, and all the while she was so much more. tbc...

The first and only woman in the Directors' Guild of America for too long. Imagine how lustrous the "golden age" of the studio system might have been had 75% of the population not been excluded from the talent pool. I think "they" found it in their hearts to let another one in eventually (Ida Lupino), but good grief. Dorothy often worked from screenplays scribed by women and she directed many of the greats- Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Rosalind Russell, Maureen O'Hara, Claudette Colbert & Lucille Ball among them- despite having only sixteen credited gigs to her name. It's fair to say that in leaving her mark on the industry, she paved the way for others to do the same. One small step for Ms. Arzner and all that.

With such an auspicious coming out in my favored Merchant-Ivory production, "A Room with a View," HBC was destined for great things. She has proved quite masterful at the period drama game. Signals may have flashed earlier, but "Fight Club" saw Helena abandon restraint and commit fully to her left-field potential. One consequence, for better or worse, has been membership in Tim Burton's mutual admiration society; I'm sure his heart's in the right place. In any case, repeated dips in the poisonous pools glittering in the grotto of villainous eccentricity have nurtured in her the ability to inhabit some of the more colorful pathologies haunting 21st-century screens.

Maggie has got range enough for several actors. She's unconscionably pretty and has loads of comic instinct to boot, so she was very often honored with parts in the vicinity of unruly tart, beautiful badass or both, and often betraying supernatural tendencies. She's hardworking as hell, with 62 entries in the stretch between '87 and '93. Her relentless work ethic was bound to precipitate some satisfactory professional relationships and, sure enough, she ended up making great action & comedy & everything in between with the best talent in HK ("Police Story" trilogy, "Green Snake," "Heroic Trio," "The Eagle Shooting Heroes," "Dragon Inn"). She garnered praise portraying legendarily tragic Ruan Ling Yu in "Center Stage," but in my estimation, the happiest convergence came when Ms. Cheung worked with Wong Kar-Wai on "As Tears Go By." It was the first of five pictures that would emerge from the collaboration, each distinct, but all propelled by the deeply felt confusion that blooms when love is exposed to time.

Fortunately for all involved, Ms. Cruz has not had to rely solely on Hollywood for quality roles. She's occasionally gotten decent material in the States, but her work in the old country has borne the juiciest fruit. Irrepressible right out of the gate in the lewd & raucous "Jamón, Jamón," she hit her stride & proved her mettle in numerous collaborations with Pedro Almodovar. I'd be remiss not to mention her performance in "Abre los Ojos," as Penélope proceeded to reprise the role a few years later in the English-language remake, "Vanilla Sky." (As long as you have a choice, Amenábar directing his own writing in the original is preferable.) Todd Solondz is helming her next project; dear Lord, what malign wretch has he in mind for poor Penny...?

Starts out in King Hu's "Dragon Inn," channels righteous ferocity as the star of Hu's masterpiece, "Touch of Zen," and moves on to producing for her second act, including lavishly crushing "Farewell My Concubine."

Created "Broad City" with Abbi, which is enough, but other stuff too.

Gotta have Hedy in the mix on account that her contribution to electrical engineering tickles my STEM fancy, and of course, it's delightful that she managed to scandalise to fine effect in "Ecstasy," without the least exertion towards that aim. Brava! Fact is, Hedy wasn't afforded the best opportunities to exhibit or develop her craft, but she did wring some juicy moments from many not-quite-ripe roles. There's a shot in "Algiers" that lingers on her face for 20 seconds- she doesn't speak or blink, but she visits a whole tri-county region of the soul with subtle shifts of expression.

Editor of all things QT until her untimely death in 2010. Where would that oeuvre be without her? Nowhere, that's where. A movie doesn't exist before the editor intercedes. There're pictures and sounds plucked from a mountain of same and she pares, sculpts and polishes until the narrative finally emerges. So many talented XX editors, as this was widely considered "women's work-" small hands, housekeeping, all that. Anyway, thank goodness.

I just watched Anne Hathaway as bipolar Wunderkind, Lexi, in "Modern Love." When she was up, she sort of channeled Rita Hayworth and when she was down, she was all the way down. She submits Ms. Hayworth's observation that "they go to bed with Gilda and then they wake up with me" into evidence towards character as she attempts to synopsize the predicament of being herself. The sense triggered by that insight is much the same as the quite sharply melancholic one that emerges right alongside the rapture that comes with watching Marilyn. Rita too, for that matter. The directed mania necessary to bring MM to life is exhausting just to behold. I'm pretty sure she succumbed to complications of a shattered spirit. Or a psycho-emotional embolism or whatever you want to call it. Maybe it's not right to valorize any part of her plight, but I don't care.

Relegated to unambitious film projects early on on account of fairly widespread deficiency of vision in the industry, Jeanne began to find her place when some excitable French lads started chasing adventures-in-moviemaking and realised the need for vitality in their acting counterparts. She was not one to shy away from complex characters and she imbued these women with humanity and pathos. Ms. Moreau found little of dimension to attract her in reductionist moralising and the hypocrisy of repression. She didn't call her critics philistines, but I do. If she was typecast, it was as a fully formed character betraying the sometimes contradictory and unreconcilable psychology of actual human beings.

One of my favorite actors of her generation and working today in general. It's fair to say that since she stole the show in "Mad Men" and won the keys to the script closet, she's got something new brewing every time I turn around. "Top of the Lake," "Mad Men," "The Handmaid's Tale," "The One I Love," "The Square"