Muriel Award: Best Performance of the Decade (Female)
Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive [163 points/22 votes]
“Naomi Watts actually gives about four performances in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, running the gamut from over-the-top to understated, from wide-eyed comedy to heartbreaking tragedy, from sexily glamorous to gritty and pathetic. And despite this neck-snapping performance range, she actually manages to anchor the damn movie, holding Lynch’s story of life in a city of dreams together as a tale of one person’s fantasies and losses. Since this film, Watts has been solid in several other movies, giving Peter Jackson’s King Kong a heart (and a couple of dance numbers) and the two Ring movies a soul, but nothing she’s done has matched the power or range of this, her breakout role. It’s the kind of brave movie-star performance that simultaneously shows us ourselves at the summit of our dreams (going to Hollywood, acing an audition, having hot lesbian sex) and in the valley of our despair (the third act).” - Jeff McMahon
Runners-up:
Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [67/11]
Björk, Dancer in the Dark [63/10]
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky [43/7]
Isabelle Huppert, The Piano Teacher [41/6]
