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/scottmacNW 1d ago

Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List is definitely in my Top 5. He was beautiful and disgusting and so repulsive that couldn't take my eyes off of him.

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u/MonarchyMan 1d ago

Apparently he did such a good job one of the survivors who was visiting set saw him in character and had a panic attack.

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u/msprang 1d ago

"You almost talked me into it, didn't you?"

"I know you're not a person, in the strictest sense of the word."

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u/dbcanuck 15h ago

The English Patient, Schindler's List, Strange Days, Quiz Show, Oscar and Lucinda, Sunshine -- all in about 6 years. What a fucking phenomenal run.