r/movies • u/Fun_Protection_6939 • 1d ago

Discussion What is the single greatest acting performance you have seen?

What is the single greatest acting performance you have seen?

It's got to be Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice for me. Such a heartbreaking and nuanced portrayal of loss and devastation, and doubly impressive because she had to learn two languages fluently and had to speak German with a Polish accent, when neither language was native to her.

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u/Scat_Olympics 1d ago

It has something to do with SHOWING the Jews hiding and holding their breath that made the scene unbearably tense!

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u/ChanandlerBonng 1d ago

But that's the thing: even before they actually show them hiding, the tension in the scene makes you (if even subconsciously) know that the farmer WAS hiding them..... so it's not even a huge surprise when.the camera pans down to them. It's just perfect filmmaking in every sense.

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u/Scat_Olympics 1d ago

Agreed, tension was already there. Maybe I was still believing that the farmer will come out on top. Like when the farmer pulled out his pipe; I believed he’d be successful. Then Christoph Waltz pulled out his pipe, I started getting nervous

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u/AntRedundAnt 1d ago

I also love how Waltz’s pipe is Sherlockian as he is deducing the situation, subtle visual storytelling that tells you everything you need to know about the character

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u/arggggggggghhhhhhhh 19h ago

And gargantuan (I've always like that word, gargantuan) compared to the farmer's. Like even the farmer's attempt to divert with the pipe will be dominated by Hans having a massive pipe. Like "I'm calmer than you are" in pipe form.

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u/Placide-Stellas 1d ago

Yeah, Quentin really clenched best opening scene of all time with that. I actually can't imagine something better. Hoping a future director can imagine and do something even better.

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u/Ocelot2727 1d ago

I don't think it comes close to this but a great opening scene is from the movie Intermission starting Colin Farrell. Check it out - https://youtu.be/W8EGCC9NNvo?feature=shared