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/Jipptomilly 1d ago edited 1d ago

Single Scene - Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream (red dress scene)

Entire Movie - Clive Owen in Children of Men

EDIT: I noticed that in that red dress scene almost half of the comments are pissed she didn't win the Oscar (she was nominated but lost to Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich which in all fairness was also a great performance).

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u/simplygern29 1d ago

Children of Men doesn’t get nearly enough love.

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u/Kalidanoscope 1d ago

Someone made this incredible fan-trailer for it, I remembered it and was reposting it years later, and for some reason they didn't like that and took it down 🫤