Every year French Toast Sunday takes a look at the best of the past film year with a series of top 5 lists. By using a ranked score from our collective lists, we determine the overall highest rated choices. Now let’s take a look at our favorite female performances of the past year. WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS!
Honorable Mentions
Zoe Saldana in Guardians of the Galaxy / Jenny Slate in Obvious Child / Kristen Wiig in The Skeleton Twins / Patricia Arquette in Boyhood / Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow / Elizabeth Banks in The Lego Movie / Zoe Kazan in The Pretty One / Felicity Jones in Theory of Everything / Jessica Chastain in Interstellar / Shailene Woodley in The Fault in Our Stars / Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 1 / Tessa Thompson in Dear White People / Jennifer Lawrence in X-Men: Days of Future Past / Rene Russo in Nightcrawler / Kim Dickens in Gone Girl / Carrie Coon in Gone Girl / Jessica Chastain in A Most Violent Year / Essie Davis in The Babadook / Sarah Gadon in Enemy / Mia Wasikowska in Tracks
#05 / Rose Bryne in – Neighbors
Rose Byrne shows her knack for comedy and steals a few scenes as a young parent trying to stay cool in Neighbors. When the Frat moves in next door and she has to protect her baby from being woken up in the middle of the night, she is not afraid to play dirty. From her delivery of “Keep it down” to her plotting in the Bros before Hos scheme. Its great that they didn’t relugate her character to the voice of reason because we would’ve missed out on some memorable moments in her performance. – Rob
[virtual_slide_box id=”13″]#04 / Tilda Swinton – Snowpiercer
Tilda Swinton, for me, was the strongest actress in Snowpiercer. The characters quirks and strict adherence to the rules of the train gave way to groveling and insurrection, all emotions performed masterfully to create a truly unique stand-out character. – Will
[virtual_slide_box id=”12″]#03 / Emma Stone – Birdman
As Riggan’s brooding, post-rehab daughter, Emma Stone gives a complex and committed performance that has earned her a much-deserved Oscar nod. Every moment she’s on screen, especially during her intensely emotional monologue, we see– and truly feel– her struggling to suppress her compassion and affection for her father (or for anyone/anything, really) out of self-defense, rebellion, and sadness. – Sara
[virtual_slide_box id=”10″]#02 / Scarlett Johansson – Under the Skin
Under the Skin became famous in 2014 as “that movie where ScarJo gets her Lucys out” but there’s a lot more to her performance than it simply requiring her to remove her clothing. Don’t get me wrong, that was welcome and encouraged, but for anyone who may have doubted her acting ability (not to mention a capability to work on-the-fly during some unscripted guerilla segments), here she really proved herself as a character who couldn’t be in a more unfamiliar environment. I’m not entirely sure how, but she managed to make an almost emotionless character who does some truly despicable things into someone I began to feel sorry for. – Jay
[virtual_slide_box id=”9″]#01 / Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
There are no words more fitted to describe what Rosamund Pike does in Gone Girl than these: cool and amazing. Amazingly cool. Coolly amazing. No matter how you arrange them, they will always be true. Is it that surprisingly deep voice, that innocent face, the slow elegance of her walk? But they are only part of what makes Pike perfect for the role of Amy Elliott-Dunne. The secret is in her transformation, her masquerade – the way she pretends to be someone who pretends to be someone. The way she double-tricked all of us. – Mette