Top 5 Performances: Tilda Swinton

5. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

I'll admit the Narnia films aren't entirely my cup of tea, but they're certainly well made, well directed an well cast overall. The greatest decision they ever made though was casting Swinton as the White Witch Jadis. She's so menacing and cold in the role but also convinces you how she'd manage to sway Edmund earlier on to her side with her persuasive, icy charm. She could not have been more perfectly cast and if you contrast this with her brief performance as a much warmer sort in Broken Flowers from the same year, it's quite remarkable really.

4. Snowpiercer

Extremely entertaining performance that does so much to enliven the film, and I'd say one flaw of it is that she disappears from it about halfway through. Before that though, Swinton is utterly fabulous at disappearing into the role of Minister Mason, the spokesperson on the titular train for the mysterious Wilford who exudes such meancing vehemence with her every word and breath, and is so intimidating and vicious yet utterly hilarious at the same time. For someone with such a distinctive screen presence, it's amazing how much of a chameleon Swinton can be, and she utterly becomes this rather odd and peculiar figure that you really want to know more about even after the film ends.

3. We Need to Talk About Kevin

A great performance that deserves a much more cohesive film. The source material novel is actually good, but the film fails to really capitalize on it with its rather disconnected approach, which I suppose does work on some levels in terms of establishing the dreary and dark world these characters live in. The problem is that it makes lots of scenes of the titular, troubled Kevin seem almost cartoonish, and Ezra Miller doesn't really help matters with a rather off-putting, in the wrong sort of way, performance. Despite all the flaws of the film Swinton gives her all. In the past scenes she gives a strong portrayal of a mother who attempts to be the best parent she can, but just can't bring herself to fully embrace her rather troubled son. Then in the 'present' scenes she's simply great at giving a harrowing portrayal of a woman worn out by society's hate for something she didn't do, but yet she feels the blame for.

2. Michael Clayton

Some can't see the brilliance in this relatively brief performance; I for one, think it's one of the best supporting actress performances of all-time, hands down. In what could've been an utterly thankless and forgettable role, Swinton delivers fascinating character study of a lawyer at wit's end, not willing to go without a fight. Each scene with her is just so fascinating to examine with her presence as she cuts such a despearate figure at wit's end, trying to use malice to get out of her predicament, you almost end up rooting for her. Her performance is, surprisingly for a thriller of this sort, very primal, very raw in showing the mentally unstable businesswoman, and is utterly fascinating in portraying how she has to put on a front to hide it.

Plus, her final scene with George Clooney is the best acted scene of her career, which is quite something. Well-deserved Oscar.

1. Orlando

I'll actually wait till the near future to examine this further, since this is truly a performance worth examining with greater detail. Orlando is the first Virginia Woolf text I read, it's a very special book and the film, while naturally being unable to perfectly adapt it, does its very best to honour it. Swinton has a challenging role beyond the whole 'Orlando is a woman/man' divide. That adrogynous aspect of the performance aside, it's also psychologically and thematically one of the most difficult characters in any medium to pull off, and it's to Swinton's credit that she entirely succeeds. I'll need a full article to properly elaborate, but there's a reason this was her true breakout performance.

6. Only Lovers Left Alive
7. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 
8. Doctor Strange
9. I Am Love
10. Hail, Caesar!