Performance Profile: Marcia Gay Harden in "Pollock" (2000)

In the past decade of films and Supporting Actressness, there has been a (majorly) noticeable drop in quality and deservingness that has become so unfortunate for Oscar junkies/cinephiles such as yours truly. With such winners as -- the overwrought suffering wife, the hollow Jazz Baby, the mannered impersonation, the talented singer who couldn't act her way out of a plastic bag, and the bilingual spifire wacko -- it's nice to see a performance/winner that has raised the thespian craft and has become one of the most popular winners in recent years. In this case, the surprise honors in 2000 went to...

...Marcia Gay Harden in Pollock (2000)

Marcia Gay Harden plays Lee Krasner, a struggling painter in 1940's New York who becomes interested in an another peculiar artist by the name of Jackson Pollock (Ed Harris, in a interesting but overly calculated performance).

From the very first scene between the two, it is obvious that there is something special begins to happen. It's simply a casual meeting when Lee comes knocking on Jackson's door interested in discovering another of the great abstract artists in NYC, and because she lives for art herself, she quickly recognizes and appreciates this man's gift and sees that his is of a different league altogether.

Lee is an ambitious, intelligent, dignified, and ballsy woman who has a track set for her career and life, but has to weave (and dodge) in Jackson's idiosyncrasies as the man is both a genius and a tortured soul -- in short, as the mutual friendship turns into a "romantic", more intimate one, Lee goes to greater lengths to support and guide Jackson as he sinks lower and lower into a deep hole.

Harden completely understands this facet of Lee and with intense, electrifying clarity shows the constant struggle she lives with by having to balance being the loyal wife and the motherly protector who must watch over and protect her loved one like a hawk. In addition to that, however, Harden impressively establishes Lee as her own self and never shows her backing down even for a second as Jackson dominates her life.

Lee's career is put on the back burner (in a Bacall and Bogie kind of way) so she can help Jackson through each agonizing step of his erratic life, but thriving career, even as they grow distant from each other as husband and wife.

"You need, you need, you need, YOU NEED!"

This disconnection hits its breaking point when Jackson wants to have a baby with Lee, and explains that this is what married couples do. Harden's Lee -- in a fiery, spiteful "Oscar-clip scene" (which totally lives up to its billing) -- stares her husband down and explains that they live an incredibly discordant life and that she is fed up with his bipolar-ish bullshit.

She basically spits in his face and explains how selfish and ignorant he is, not just to her, but to himself and the world. It's a scene that's poignant without ending up as a gloopy, maudlin mess as Harden projects a essential character detail; that Lee loves Jackson but hates what he has become. There's a subtle, but vivid undercurrent of warmth in Harden's performance and its to her credit that she never fully relies on that to simply get by.

Yet, reviewing the performance again, and despite all of its greatness, I can't help but feel that there is just something "off" in or around Harden's work that keeps it from soaring. Harris' meticulously, Method-y, and ultimately self-indulgent film somehow holds back Harden in a strange way that works against her. Harris' direction and acting (which consists of alot of studied actorly ticks and tricks) seem to cave down on the actress. I can't tell if its the film or Harden as the actress, but the performance just never transcends each individual specific scene. You can clealry see she's working her ass off in and between the role, but she rarely rises above that moment. Maybe its Harden cutting herself off at the knees or the film restricting her characterization -- either way it sadly brings down the overall performance.

It's powerful, vivid, memorable work, but I end up feeling that while Harden's really really good in the role, she's only occasionally really really great -- it's focused, yet erratic work that nevertheless remains an enduring accomplishment by a talented, dedicated actress.