Best Actress in a Supporting Role 1968: Lynn Carlin in Faces

Lynn Carlin received her first Oscar nomination for her performance as Maria Frost in Faces.

Faces is a very interesting movie about an old married man who tells his wife he wants a divorce: the film depicts the following events of the night as the husband spends the time with a young escort while the wife goes out with her three married friends and meets a charming, younger hippie. It's an emotionally powerful and realistically raw movie aided by John Cassavetes' claustrophobic and intimate direction and a sharp, intelligent screenplay. I would say that the storyline involving Richard (the husband, played by John Marley) and the escort Jeannie (played by Gena Rowlands) is a little less interesting than the one involving Maria (the wife, played by Carlin) and Chet (Oscar-nominated Seymour Cassel) - but, considering that the latter is particularly amazing, the comparison is a bit unfair and the former is still a very strong one with remarkable performances from both Marley and Rowlands. I could see why someone would be completely turned off by the movie's style, particularly the editing, but I personally was not bothered as I thought the style chosen by Cassavetes suited the story perfectly and only added to its atmosphere. 

The character of Maria is introduced about 20 minutes into the movie, when her husband Richard comes home after work and a brief encounter with Jeannie and another friend. Her first scene consists of a very long sequence in which Maria and Richard engage in a conversation about various matters, especially sex: it's an absolutely outstanding scene, that due to the combination of the brilliant writing, the unstable camera movements and the pitch-perfect acting is totally mesmerizing from start to finish. Carlin is a force to be reckoned with and she controls the screen with her astonishing and peculiar screen-presence - she really does not hold anything back and I could see why someone would find those early scenes of her to be a little overcooked but not for a second I could keep my eyes off her. Whether she is laughing hysterically at her husband's jokes, or playfully fooling with him in bed, or coldly rejecting his advances, Carlin is electrifying, playing Maria with a mix of both fierceness and aching vulnerability that makes her a compelling, captivating character to watch. She works particularly well opposite Marley's performance and even if their characters do not address their marriage directly they manage to convey perfectly the nature of their relationship: even in the moments in which they seem to be the most laidback, both actors bring an uncomfortable feeling to the screen that suggests how strained their marriage actually is - they make their relationship feel like a ticking bomb ready to explode, which makes the whole scene extremely gripping and intense. Carlin and Marley bring to their work a devastating authenticity, and Carlin' performance in particular is utterly naked on an emotional level - she plays her character so truthfully and vividly she gets under your skin. I particularly love the moment in which Richard finally declares he wants a divorce: Maria first laughs it off, but when he repeats his statement she freezes, staring back at him in silence. It's a chilling moment made due to Carlin' quietly devastating reaction, and even if she does not re-appear in the movie for quite a while I could not get that image off my mind.

Later that night, Maria goes to a disco with her married female friends and there they meet a charming, lively, hippie playboy to whom all of the ladies are almost immediately attracted. Carlin's Maria is actually out of focus for most of the middle section of the movie - Seymour Cassel' Chet temporarily becomes the central character of the storyline and the actresses playing Maria's friends take the spotlight in turn while Carlin spends the time mostly hanging in the background and quietly reacting to the situation around her. This does not mean she's overshadowed though: even while she is seemingly doing nothing, Carlin subtly leaves a strong impression conveying each of her characters' conflicted emotions across her face. The vibrant, explosive energy of her early scenes is gone but Carlin manages to be just as effective when she plays it on a lower register - she is a silent, haunting, sad presence, a quiet observer but not a passive one: she watches silently as her friends compete to win Chet's attention, but her silence is only apparent. In her eyes you can see Maria's desperation as she still tries to process the news of the evening but also her interest in this attractive, charismatic guy she has just met: her chemistry with Cassel is something brilliant as the two barely speak for most of the movie yet their few exchanges are filled with sexual tension and mutual longing and they perfectly build-up to the eventual, obvious outcome. 

Chet eventually wakes up to find Maria passed out from an overdose of pills and after a few tense minutes he manages to save her life and then he helps her recover, her husband being still out with Jeannie. Carlin does a fantastic job at portraying her character's weak-willed physical state with realism and authenticity and she is absolutely heartbreaking at depicting her emotional exhaustion and desperation. She does not even have a huge amount of dialogue in the scene, but her silent expressions and subtle gestures as she listens to Chet' monologue about "machine men" make up for any word: again, the authenticity of her performance is what makes it so utterly devastating and while watching this scene I almost forgot I was watching an actress performing - all I was seeing was a woman shattered and heartbroken by the end of her marriage. Carlin and Cassel work in such a beautiful armony in this scene as both characters find a temporary moment of solace from their own unhappiness and they bring real poignance to their last scene together. Her final scene with John Marley is outstandingly acted on both ends, but even if Marley is the one who has most of the dialogue it's still Carlin who leaves the strongest impression - her delivery of "I hate my life" is tremendously moving in its brutal and honest simplicity, but I particularly love the moment immediately after when she announces that she does not love her husband anymore. It's an incredible moment thanks to Carlin who makes it feel like it is some sort of a release for Maria - after the events of the night, she finally has realized this harsh truth about her marriage and Carlin wordlessly suggest that maybe Maria will get better eventually, finding strength in this new acknowledgement. 

This is an amazing performance from Lynn Carlin who gives an unforgettable and realistic characterization of her complex role. She delivers a harrowing performance that is always emotionally resonant both in the louder moments and in the subtler ones and she makes every second of her character's development count. It's a brilliant achievement that keeps growing on me. 

5/5