Miranda Richardson received her first Oscar nomination for her performance as Ingrid Fleming in Damage.
Damage is an effective movie about the toxic affair between a married member of the Parliament and his son's mysterious fiancèe. When I first watched the movie, I hated it: I found it to be a soulless and dull experience with awkwardly realized sex scenes and poorly conceived performances. It considerably grew on me the second time around and while I didn't find it to be quite perfect I still thought there was plenty to appreciate. The screenplay is probably the weakest part of the film as I found the early scenes almost unbearable to witness due to how unnatural and unbelievable the dialogue feels, but thankfully it gets better after a while. Louis Malle's direction is pretty terrific and on a rewatch I found his approach to the sex scenes to be particularly intelligent: while on my first view I disliked them for their coldness, I now see that that feeling was intentional as the affair between the two characters is based more on obsession than love. I really didn't like Jeremy Irons' performance the first time but it's actually a subtle, excellent piece of work. Juliette Binoche also grew on me this time around.
Curiously enough, Miranda Richardson's performance is the only aspect of the movie of which my opinion hasn't changed on a rewatch. This is not a negative thing really as I already liked her performance on my first viewing, the only difference between now and then is that now I think the movie around it is actually very good. Regarding the performance itself my feelings have stayed the same: it's a very solid turn from a terrific actress though not quite as great and extraordinary as some people find it. My issues with the performances are not really with the acting per se and Richardson actually makes the most out of every single scene - the thing is that for most of the movie she's actually given very little to do and she can only do so much with the material she has to work with.
To be perfectly honest it's actually quite impressive what she manages to accomplish with the role as her early scenes could have been a disaster. First off, she easily could have come across as miscast in the role as she is far younger than the character she's supposed to play (she was actually only a few years older than Rupert Graves who plays her son): she never lets this affect her performance though because, even if she does look a bit too young, she manages to create a believable and convincing dynamic with Irons, her on-screen husband. In their short scenes together the two actors manage to convey the history of their characters and the present state of their marriage, which is not passionate but it's still a quietly loving one. The other element that hinders her performance in the beginning is the screenplay which, as I mentioned, is rather shaky there: Richardson can't always get away with it unfortunately (her conversation with Juliette Binoche at dinner early on in the film is awkwardly written in particular as it feels almost painfully artificial) but she still rises above the quality of the material and she recovers quickly once the writing starts to find its way.
The movie sadly does not focus very much on the character of Ingrid, which is in fact mostly defined by her relationship with her husband and her son. To Richardson's credit, she actually does her very best to give Ingrid a personality and to an extent she does succed - she might not overcome the limitations of the role but within those limitations she manages to imbue the character with grace, intelligence and a certain humor. Considering that for a large chunk of the movie Ingrid is completely unsuspecting of the affair between her husband and Anna (Juliette Binoche), she does not get to do anything truly interesting to do but Richardson manages to stand out to a certain extent by realizing so well the character's feelings in her interactions with her son and his fiancèe. In her moments with Graves, Richardson does a terrific job at portraying her character's motherly love and she exudes such a lovely amount of warmth when the two of them share the screen. And she's great in her few scenes with Binoche at portraying Ingrid's distrust of this woman while keeping a very polite, well-mannered behavior. I particularly like her reaction to Martyn's and Anna's engagement as she conveys so well her actual disapproval while trying to fake enthusiasm in order not to disappoint her son.
Curiously enough, Miranda Richardson's performance is the only aspect of the movie of which my opinion hasn't changed on a rewatch. This is not a negative thing really as I already liked her performance on my first viewing, the only difference between now and then is that now I think the movie around it is actually very good. Regarding the performance itself my feelings have stayed the same: it's a very solid turn from a terrific actress though not quite as great and extraordinary as some people find it. My issues with the performances are not really with the acting per se and Richardson actually makes the most out of every single scene - the thing is that for most of the movie she's actually given very little to do and she can only do so much with the material she has to work with.
To be perfectly honest it's actually quite impressive what she manages to accomplish with the role as her early scenes could have been a disaster. First off, she easily could have come across as miscast in the role as she is far younger than the character she's supposed to play (she was actually only a few years older than Rupert Graves who plays her son): she never lets this affect her performance though because, even if she does look a bit too young, she manages to create a believable and convincing dynamic with Irons, her on-screen husband. In their short scenes together the two actors manage to convey the history of their characters and the present state of their marriage, which is not passionate but it's still a quietly loving one. The other element that hinders her performance in the beginning is the screenplay which, as I mentioned, is rather shaky there: Richardson can't always get away with it unfortunately (her conversation with Juliette Binoche at dinner early on in the film is awkwardly written in particular as it feels almost painfully artificial) but she still rises above the quality of the material and she recovers quickly once the writing starts to find its way.
The movie sadly does not focus very much on the character of Ingrid, which is in fact mostly defined by her relationship with her husband and her son. To Richardson's credit, she actually does her very best to give Ingrid a personality and to an extent she does succed - she might not overcome the limitations of the role but within those limitations she manages to imbue the character with grace, intelligence and a certain humor. Considering that for a large chunk of the movie Ingrid is completely unsuspecting of the affair between her husband and Anna (Juliette Binoche), she does not get to do anything truly interesting to do but Richardson manages to stand out to a certain extent by realizing so well the character's feelings in her interactions with her son and his fiancèe. In her moments with Graves, Richardson does a terrific job at portraying her character's motherly love and she exudes such a lovely amount of warmth when the two of them share the screen. And she's great in her few scenes with Binoche at portraying Ingrid's distrust of this woman while keeping a very polite, well-mannered behavior. I particularly like her reaction to Martyn's and Anna's engagement as she conveys so well her actual disapproval while trying to fake enthusiasm in order not to disappoint her son.
Her performance is mostly remembered nowadays for her final two scenes once the affair is exposed with major consequences and Richardson is indeed amazing in them. For such a conventionally conceived character, I found those last two scenes to be absolutely brilliant, original and unexpected: in the first one, Richardson does an absolutely phenomenal job at portraying her character's grief but what really took me aback was the fierce, aggressive, venomous anger Ingrid unleashes towards her husband. Her "You should have killed yourself" speech is nothing short of astonishing: Richardson is absolutely devastating in her painfully violent outburst and her depiction of her character's hartred towards her husband is particularly hard-hitting because it contrasts so strikingly with the previously gentle characterization of Ingrid. And her breakdown as she screams for her son is unforgettable and raw - I literally felt chills down my spine. And she is equally brilliant in the scenes of the morning after: it's a much quieter scene than the previous one but Richardson is equally powerful in her bitter reflection on the whole situation and her marriage itself. Her last moment as she stands naked in front of her husband and confronts him about why she couldn't be enough for him is a terrific exit for the character - it's almost too painful and brutal to witness in its quietness but Richardson's excellent, captivating performance makes it impossible to look away.
This is a very difficult performance to rate. There is no denying that her final two scenes are stunningly acted, but at the same time it's hard for me to ignore the fact that she is severely underused for an hour and a half. If the rest of her work had been on par with her acting in the last act, it would have been one of the best performances ever: but she's unfortunately side-lined for the majority of the movie and as it stands it's "merely" a respectable performance from a terrific actress who makes the most out of an underwritten part. Her final scenes are undeniable and just for them she is a worthy nominee, even though I felt she was actually better in The Crying Game from the same year.
3.5/5
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