It's about damn time

I just wish that Kate Winslet, with an extraordinary body of work behind her already at the age of 33, didn't have to, as she quipped in that infamous episode of Extras, make a movie about the Holocaust -- a clip that will now live in infamy. It's true that to some degree, Winslet has played a variation of the same character in every film in which she's starred. She's always the free spirit battling the Forces of Authority and Expectation. But aren't most good roles for women some variation of this character? And if you have a choice between playing Woman Triumphant or, say, Sophie in Sophie's Choice or Leticia Musgrove in Monster's Ball, who are YOU going to want to play? The fact of the matter is that women who buck societal expectations are far more interesting as cinematic fodder.

When Winslet's body of work is discussed, it's always in the context of That Boat Movie and the films she's done since. But to get a sense of just how talented this woman is, you have to look back at the work she did before anyone knew who she was.

Here's Winslet at the age of seventeen in Heavenly Creatures, directed by a guy named Peter Jackson:

In Sense and Sensibility at eighteen:

And in Jude at nineteen:

And all this BEFORE the boat movie.

Say what you will, the woman has talent. She has talent, she's built her career the way SHE wanted it, not the way others might have; dieting down to a size zero and exercising her way into a column of sinew and gristle. She swears, she smokes, and doesn't mince words. And women everywhere adore her. But in the industry and the press, there's been this undercurrent of Katehate for the last decade, with endless articles about her weight, her personal life, and this year, her unabashed longing for the golden statue. Does the entertainment press really believe that any of these people believe that "it's an honor just to be nominated"? Do they really expect us to believe that disappointed losers don't spend a little time in the ladies' room fixing their mascara after a few unbidden tears crept out?

Perhaps it's that women aren't supposed to openly want anything. The obsession with Winslet's weight (and is there anyone left on earth who still thinks she's fat?), the fact that her characters are all women who WANT -- they want love, they want sex, they want to LIVE -- all contribute to the impression that this is a woman with APPETITES. And perhaps that's terrifying to an industry in which anything over a size zero is considered to be an elephant. And she WANTED to win an Academy Award, which seems to be some kind of heinous covetousness instead of refreshingly honest.

This is a woman who, like the characters she plays, lives her life on her own terms. Perhaps the entertainment press found her unseemingly covetous in recent weeks. But for those of us who admire the gift of being able to draw us into the inner life of a character on screen, last night was a recognition that is long overdue.

(UPDATE: God knows there's plenty about which I disagree with Melissa on a regular basis. But about this post? Word. But I think I like this photo better.)