In her Best Actress acceptance speech at the 2014 Oscars, Cate Blanchett declared, "I don't know how to do this without other actors."
Though she was trying to thank her costars, she ended up verifying my long-felt belief that another actress was worthy of this year's award. It seems ironic and almost comical that Sandra Bullock was more successful while floating helplessly through infinite space than she was against frontrunner Blanchett at this year's Academy Awards. Especially now that she's made the spectacular transformation from America's sweetheart in '90s rom-coms to America's superhero as the odds-defying astronaut, Ryan Stone, in Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity.
But by all accounts, Blanchett, whose inner turmoil and descent into madness in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine earned her a Golden Globe, SAG Award, BAFTA Award, and Critics Choice Award, was the obvious choice at Sunday's show.
Each awards season obviously comes with a different set of talent. 2014 seems to be a truly exceptional year for film with another tight race in the Supporting Actress category between American Hustle's Jennifer Lawrence and 12 Years a Slave's Lupita Nyong'o. Clearly all of these women could have won in a different year against less-deserving competitors. But Bullock deserved the top prize in 2014 for a truly awe-inspiring, groundbreaking performance for the ages, as opposed to her heartfelt but ultimately commonplace role in 2009's The Blind Side, for which she earned her only Oscar.
Blanchett was, by no means, unworthy of last night's honor. Her visceral performance as the high-society wife of a con man proved enchanting, horrifying, and, at times, grotesque to watch. The Australian beauty was fearless and unselfconscious as she perfectly executed a mental breakdown before our very eyes.
But along the way, she had plenty of help. Unlike Bullock, whose frantic calls to Houston went unanswered, Blanchett's "Houston" was laid out in a series of well-developed, beautifully written supporting characters like Sally Hawkins' Ginger, Bobby Cannavale's Chili, and Peter Sarsgaard's Dwight, who not only responded to her desperate measures, but who threw them back in her face with malice giving her the delicious material she needed to create the complex character.
Bullock managed to pull off an equally, if not slightly more mesmerizing role, without an ounce of support from costars or even complete set pieces.
Gravity is a film that will be studied for years, as will Bullock's performance in it, particularly now that we know how little she actually had to work with. She did not travel to space to film this groundbreaking technological advancement -- despite what one Mexican journalist thought -- but instead, Bullock, 49, was confined to working in small, zero gravity cubes while being attached to wires and pulleys.
There were no playbacks to work off of or to improve upon, forcing the star to hone her talents and rely on pure instinct. Bullock couldn't see the space ship's debris or vast expanse of the galaxy that was supposed to strike fear into her character's heart, so her reactions and raw emotions were thoroughly original and are not to be overlooked.
Bullock's only co-star, George Clooney, abandoned her about 30 minutes into the 90-minute film, literally leaving her with nothing -- nothing to work off, no one to talk to, and no hope in sight. But somehow her journey caused audiences to hold their collective breaths in anticipation until they had as little remaining oxygen as Ryan Stone's defective helmet.
And Gravity's achievements certainly were acknowledged in the 86th annual awards show. The film received, by far, the most wins -- a whopping seven. But most of Gravity's Oscars were received for technological advancements. And while those were historic, Bullock's contribution to acting went virtually unnoticed behind the shadow of Blanchett's win.
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