From ‘Sense to Sensibility’ to ‘The Verdict’: Emma Thompson’s 10 Best Performances

Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson. Wonderful main duo for ‘Sense and Sensibility’, one of those cinematic jewels that turn a deaf ear in an enviable way to the ever dreadful passage of time. Directed with the characteristic talent of Ang Lee, this adaptation of Jane Austen’s unforgettable novel is exemplary in all its aspects, but, when highlighted, it is as inevitable as it is necessary to underline these two brilliant lead performances. The perfect icing on a delightful film.

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It doesn’t matter the moment. Neither time nor place. When one is faced with the opportunity to rewatch ‘Love Actually’, no doubt, they do. Impossible to resist a film that works perfectly as a declaration of love capable of mixing tenderness, amusement, resignation and charm with surprising ease. Complicit smiles and fugitive tears in industrial quantities.

Filled with wonderful characters and scenes that have entered the cinephile memory of several generations, especially that woman with a broken heart, heartbreaking tears and an unfathomable smile played by an unforgettable Emma Thompson, Written and directed by a particularly inspired Richard Curtis, the film continues to survive the test of time with extraordinary skill. Nothing has aged or shows a trace of rust in a film that continues to shine with the strength of the first day.

Love actually on eCartelera

Acclaimed costume drama signed by the great James Ivory in the early nineties, ‘Return to Howards End’ was the first and only Oscar for Emma Thompson in the Best Actress category. An indisputable prize considering a job as fascinating as the one offered by the British in an extraordinary film that grows with each of his appearances. An interpretation that would serve as a reference to enumerate each of the most ironic virtues of Thompson’s talent.

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In my opinion, here is the best interpretation of Emma Thompson’s career path. And that, more than big words, they are gigantic words. Once again directed by James Ivory, which is also the most inspired behind-the-scenes work of her career, the actress delivers in this masterpiece titled ‘What’s Left of the Day’ an impressive work that moves, excites, fascinates and hypnotizes with equal force. Alongside her, a huge Anthony Hopkins completes an authentic festival of performances to remember.

What remains of the day in eCartelera

The third time was the charm. After the boring ‘Henry V’ and the bankruptcy ‘To Die Still’, Kenneth Branagh was almost entirely successful as a director with ‘Peter’s Friends’, a comedy with dramatic tones and vice versa which, supported by the splendid script written by Rita Rudner and Martin Bergman, a splendid soundtrack and an extraordinary cast in which a fabulous Emma Thompson stood outIt has been confirmed as the first truly outstanding film by the British in its facet behind the camera.

A small, simple, fun, emotional and sensitive proposal which grew in every dialogue, giving the right and deserved space to each of its splendid protagonists. A little jewel that has left you with a smile glued to your face and emotion on the surface.

Peter’s friends at eCartelera

Of course, her participation is rather secondary, but there is no Emma Thompson scene in this magnificent “Primary Colors” that is not a true performance recital. We’re talking about an actress who makes the most of her every moment on screen to deliver memorable work in which every gesture, however small, added extra points of quality and emotion to the whole. One of the most accomplished (and claimable) films and performances of his career.

Primary colors on eCartelera

Four years after ‘Henry V’, Kenneth Branagh returned to the Shakespeare universe with ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, one of the most acclaimed, inspirational and memorable films of his career. And it is that, based on a glorious text, full of characters and dialogues of real gold, the English managed to get the most out of each of the enviable elements it had.

Since its launch, impeccable in magnificent performances such as those of Emma Thompson and exclusively disappointing in the case of a bewildered Keanu Reeves, up to its magnificent staging, passing through a wonderful soundtrack, an outstanding direction and a particularly emotional ending, ‘Much ado about nothing’ flowed with the naturalness of a timeless jewel.

Much ado about nothing on eCartelera

If we go deep, we can say, without fear of exaggeration, that “Meeting Mr. Banks” works as an extraordinary psychological analysis of lonely characters who focus their creativity from the trauma of a complex childhood filled with scarless wounds. , who insist on observing and sharing their dark side from two perspectives, masochism and illusion, so distant that in the end they can only be found in fiction and that happy ending they never had. And we know that the real story was not like that, that the shadow of Disney (company) has idealized the figure of Disney (Walt), who appears on the screen interpreted with the unmistakable charisma and overwhelming presence of a highly inspired Tom Hanks. We know that the story has been enriched by the necessary doses of light, by a candid humor and a fictitious emotion that, at times, borders on the absurd.

Most, or all, of the blame lies with some terrible flashbacks which, although necessary to understand the personality and, above all, the strenuous defense of PL Travers with his literary characters, end up weighing on the pace of a film which, in order to concentrate on the unforgettable adaptation of ‘Mary Poppins’ for the big screen, he would win many awards. That’s why when an excellent Emma Thompson lets himself be infected by the unforgettable melody of the songs that have crowned his fantastic story, when he observes with a lump in his throat the solitary walk of his Mr. Banks through the lonely, abandoned and autumnal streets of that English neighborhood where he has always wanted to live, one can do nothing but let oneself be carried away by that emotion, go back to one’s childhood and to that moment in which, for the first time, one heard that word about ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’, fished out of my pocket for two pence or wanted to go up to heaven for some smoke stairs.

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An almost always underrated director, Richard Eyre provided another example of his talent in 2017 with ‘The Verdict’, a wonderful courtroom drama that found its strengths in the cast and effective staging. In the first ground, of course, it stands out a plethoric Emma Thompson, who offers here one of those perfectly measured and balanced performances in its nuances, efforts, restraints and excesses. A work with honors for one of the most important films of this last phase of his professional career.

The verdict in eCartelera