Best Supporting Actress 1999: Catherine Keener in Being John Malkovich

Catherine Keener received her first Oscar nomination for her performance as Maxine Lund in Being John Malkovich.

Being John Malkovich is a very original movie about a frustrated, unsatisfied file clerk named Craig who finds a portal that leads to John Malkovich's mind. It's such an unique, interesting movie that benefits greatly from a fantastic screenplay: there a moments or two in which it gets a little messy but it's easy to overlook this flaws when you have such a compelling story. I personally don't care for John Cusack in general and I find him often distractingly broad (the same goes to his sister) but here his acting style fits the role quite well. Cameron Diaz gives a powerful performance that is funny and touching in equal measure while John Malkovich is extremely entertaining as himself.

Catherine Keener plays Maxine Lund, Craig's seductive, manipulative co-worker. Maxine is hardly a very likeable character, nor is she truly supposed to be, but it's a role that in the hands of a lesser actress could have been dreadfully annoying, boringly one-note or broadly cartoonish. Catherine Keener is really cast against type here as she's not exactly the first actress that comes to your mind when you think of a conniving but alluring femme fatale yet she pulls it off amazingly: Keener conveys both the right sort of charisma and the smart, calculative mind needed for the character. She has an oddly appealing screen-presence that makes you understand why Cusack would be attracted to her and she is also an actress that manages to project her own intelligence into the role, something that works perfectly for the character of Maxine who is supposed to be always cleverly planning her next move. But aside from establishing those two important aspects of the character, I think that Keener is also extremely funny in the role: she's delightfully bitchy in the role but what I love the most is that she doesn't seem to put much of an effort in this side of her performance; Keener delivers each of her lines with the utmost ease and nonchalance as if she absolutely couldn't care less which makes each of her scenes extremely funny (the scene in which she tricks Craig into admitting that he finds her attractive and would like to have sex with her before laughing him off by saying "Not a chance" is priceless and hilarious). Keener doesn't try to make Maxine any less unlikeable or any more endearing but she is always a welcome, enjoyable presence and at the same time she never turns Maxine into a exxaggerated caricature, always remaining a surprisingly realistic character.

Keener's performance though doesn't only consists in bitchy, entertaining lines but it's much, much more than that. Keener does a terrific job in portraying her character's greed and ambition but as the movie progresses she's also extremely effective in portraying Maxine's growing feelings towards Lotte, Craig's wife. Particularly, I think the scene in which Lotte calls Maxine telling her that Craig was the one who had sex with her through Malkovich's body, not her, is amazing: Keener does a fantastic job in portraying her joy and satisfaction as she realizes that she can manipulate Malkovich through her influence on Craig while showing at the same time that she does have sincere feelings for Lotte and I love the small moment after she ends the phone call in which, for a second, she seems to regret what she has done.

In the third act of the movie, Keener's performance takes a completely unexpected turn as it is forced to suddenly lose the more comedic aspects and focus on the more serious, dramatic ones after Maxine marries Malkovich/Craig despite being pregnant from a sexual relationship with Lotte (who was controlling Malkovich's body). It could have felt rushed or unconvincing but Keener manages to handle this sudden change surprisingly well, and she also is surprisingly touching in certain moments, such as when she sorrowfully watches the empty cradle thinking about Lotte. The final scene in which she finally meets Lotte again and tells her she loves her, while also revealing that she is pregnant of their baby, is, unexpectedly, an emotionally powerful moment and the two actresses completely earn it (also because their chemistry is actually quite strong).

I think this is a pretty fantastic performance from Catherine Keener who completely steals the movie thanks to her deliciously entertaining but also emotionally complex turn. Her casting against type pulls off incredibly well, and she delivers a fantastic, unique and unforgettable performance.

4.5/5