Greer Garson, Mrs. Miniver

as KAY MINIVER

Won: Academy Award - Best Actress

As you might have already read, I wasn't a fan of Mrs. Miniver. But my discontent with the film doesn't totally sync with my feelings towards Greer Garson. I'll start off by saying that I think she's perfectly fine in this part--the part being that of the warm, radiant, strait-laced upperclass lady. But I'm not interested in that. I care more about what Kay Miniver goes through and whether or not Garson can impress beyond the dull confines of the film as well as the confines of what we expect from her. And typically I'm pretty sold with one-woman shows à la Erin Brockovich or La Vie en Rose, but this one was a little lacking in the excitement department.

I'll start off with the pros: Garson epitomizes tenderness in this film. It pretty much bleeds it from her pores, as if she doesn't even have to try, as if she is just as warm in real life as in the film. She has some wonderfully acted moments, particularly the climactic scene with Teresa Wright near the end, in which she packs a punch as we witness her tightly coiled resilience showing cracks. But regardless, I couldn't help but feel underwhelmed throughout the picture. Ultimately I realized that it's because I just didn't really care about Kay Miniver. Her struggles in the film are tame to say the least, and this was the film where I felt as though her upper-class status was more of a liability than anything. Mrs. Miniver is an inherently good person and yet she doesn't really accomplish anything with this film. She kind of just goes with the flow, faces her mini-challenges with a lot of shock and awe, and...makes it out okay. Mrs. Miniver's journey in the film doesn't provide for all too many heavy moments, which was quite odd to me given that it's a film about WWII. Garson is absolutely gorgeous and the camera loves her in this film, and yet it loves her a little too much, offering her a few too many glam close-up shots where it looks as though, in this moment of struggle, Kay Miniver just needs a second to pose and glaze her eyes over a bit in order to convey her beauty (seriously, I lost count how many times this happened). In other words, I never felt like Garson was being at all challenged by this, her most famous role, and she doesn't really do anything here that's exceeding my expectations of her. She just shows up and does well the things that she...usually does well. It's hardly a multi-faceted performance, but it's an OK, watchable piece of work that occasionally has a moment of greatness. And it's acted by a woman who has thus far proven to be consistent enough but never quite extraordinary.