The Official JESSICA LANGE Thread (Coming September 27, 2013: "Thérèse")

Quote by LoganKM

...it seems like she's either drunk when she plays a lot of her characters, or she's deciding to make her character drunk.

[It's] no wonder that Tootsie and Men Don't Leave are a lot of people's favorite Lange films. She's so furious and volatile in so many of the others—as the seething wife in Cape Fear, the unstable Bardot wannabe in Blue Sky, the crazed villains in Hush and Titus—that she's not an easy actress to get next to. [S]he's not the kind of actor who dulls the edges of the affects she summons by detouring our attention to her own craftsmanship. When she's angry, she feels angry, and not in that Fatal Attraction way that feels discomfiting in its precise, incisive detailing, but in a way that signals that both the actress and the character have given over fully to their wrath, and that someone, possibly even Lange, is going to get hurt. The same principle inheres in the voluminous sadness she summons as the primary touchstone of some performances, like the one she gives as the most taciturn sister in Crimes of the Heart, and for long, important passages of almost all her other [films]. It's not a sadness you read or interpret, and it has no fine, genteel qualities. It's like a vortex, or a throat: its muscles just swallow the audience, and sometimes the rest of the movie. This can constitute a boon or a problem, depending on how sturdy the rest of the film is and whether it's banking at all on the kind of formal decorousness or clean, glass structures that a fully-pistoned Lange performance tends to sandblast or erode.

Quote by babypook

The last film I saw her in is "Bonneville". I loved her, and the entire cast. I think Lange can fill those big shoes left by the great Barbara Stanwyck as Victoria Barkley.
Another thing I love about Jessica is that, she was an incredible centrefold, has brains, and has humanitarian aspirations. Plus, she can act, and holds her own with the best of them, including the iconic King Kong.

Quote by Poubelle

I haven't seen the majority of Miss Lange's movies, unfortunately, but I have never seen her give a bad performance, ever. Even better, I have never seen her give a boring performance, which is a greater accomplishment than it sounds. Miss Lange always brings something fresh and edgy to every role. My favorite performance by Miss Lange is her powerful, moving turn in the tragic role of Frances Farmer in FRANCES. In fact, I often quote Miss Lange's character when asked what I do for a living--when Frances gets arrested and is asked by the desk sergeant her occupation, she answers with a mischievous gleam in her eye: "Cocksucker!"

Quote by babypook

3. What do you think of her as Madame Raquin?

Close to perfection; that's what I think and am hoping.

Are you sure about The Big Valley? Shucks! Now there's a western I would have watched!

Yes, her botox in "Bonneville" was 'there'; but I dont blame her for it. Besides, it's been noticeable for a while now.
 She was still wonderful, along with the rest of the cast. I especially liked the cameo by, I think his character name was "Bo", the young musician they picked up on the road.