MOVIES: Best of 2007 -- actress

The strongest category this year, I thought, and very hard to narrow down to five finalists. The winner, though, was an easy choice.

The runners-up:

• Nikki Blonsky, Hairspray
• Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
• Kate Dickie, Red Road
• Marketa Irglova, Once
• Keri Russell, Waitress

The finalists:

• Julie Christie, Away From Her -- The wisest casting of the year; the young Christie is still so iconic a presence that the movie doesn't need to spend a lot of time establishing what the healthy Fiona was like, because our own memories of her fill in those gaps. It's not just a performance about icon, though; Christie's work is lovely, subtle and understated.
• Anamaria Marinca, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days -- Marinca is asked to play a lot of scenes without speaking, but she's able to communicate so much with facial expression that she's not handicapped by the sparse dialogue. The dinner party scene, for instance, is a marvel; the camera stays on Marinca's face for nearly five minutes. She says nothing while everyone around her babbles on, and she's riveting.
• Ellen Page, Juno -- In a way, Juno MacGuff is like a slightly older version of Saoirse Ronan's young Briony in Atonement; they're young woman who use verbal dexterity to cover up the fact that they aren't nearly as worldly as they'd like to think themselves. Page gets Juno's bravado and her confusion absolutely right, and her growing realization that there's more to life than a smart attitude is beautifully played.
• Belen Rueda, The Orphanage -- Even more than Marinca, Rueda is asked to give a largely silent performance; she's on screen alone much of the time, wandering through this creepy old house. Laura's situation is horrifically painful -- accepting the loss of a child -- made all the more difficult by the fact that the only possible explanation seems to be an impossible one. It's a haunting piece of work, and her final scene manages to be reassuring and creepy at the same time.

And the winner:

• Amy Adams, Enchanted -- The most difficult role in the field, and Adams nails it. Playing a live-action Disney princess trapped in the real world, Adams is just as sweet, innocent, and trusting as a Disney princess would be, without ever becoming too syrupy or cloying. She sings, she dances, she gets the laughs, and she sells the big emotional moments. What more could you ask for from a performance?