Performance Profile: Lily Tomlin in "Nashville" (1975)

Nashville is a film filled with all sorts of engaging, unique people who lives intertwine within the course of five days, and lodged within the array of characters we find Linnea Resse. She is possibly the only character with the least flashy storyline, and the quietest characterization. She is a woman with quite alot on her plate, yet to the unsuspecting eye, everything seems to be normal. But I assure you, Lily Tomlin's performance is anything but normal.

It's a performance that feels completley satisfying and complete, and is composed of the little moments within the character's arc. Linnea is the loving mother of two deaf children, a wife to an uninterested business man, a gospel singer, and the past fling of a horny rockstar. She's a woman who must keep the different components in her life in order, and while seemingly open about what she does, she very quietly keeps them close to her. She's a person who loves, but wants to feel loved.

Much like Julianne Moore's brauva work in The Hours, Tomlin conveys the longing and despair of a woman who wants something else in her life. Without actually being there, Tomlin communicates the urges hiding beneath Linnea's cover and her backstory; the urges that lead to her secret experiences that remain closed off from anyone else's knowledge. It's in her face and those eyes where she transports us to places that only she (and we) know of. Each part of Linnea's life, both open and secretive, are projected from her mask-like face.

In the famous "I'm Easy" scene, Tomlin just sits and stares. That's it. And it's perfection. Letting all of that bottled emotion radiate off her face as Tom sings a song just for her is both sad and beautiful. We can feel Linnea's needs and desires ooze off the screen and into our hearts silently. Tomlin is subtle, compelling, and underplays each of her scenes resulting into something magical. I often think of Tomlin's performance as a piercing embodiement of the human spirit; a lively representation of what anyone that is human can feel and comprehend to.

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