MERYL STREEP as Sister Aloysius in DOUBT

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep is held to a different standard - her own. Especially when it comes to passing out Oscars. She should have at least five by now, but unfortunately, the Academy has adopted the attitude of - "Well... she'll be back next year, so who ELSE could we pick ?"

Meryl Streep has given many Signature Performances (SOPHIE'S CHOICE, SILKWOOD, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE), but the one that keeps haunting me is her turn as Sister Aloysius Beauvier in John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer Prize winning play that became a film - DOUBT. Meryl has an endless multitude of talent, power, and range. Her significance can't be denied - the quality of films and characters is unprecedented. In the early 80's I remember people saying, "cold", "heady", "too much of a technician" - incapable of doing a comedy. We now know this is absurd. Here she is in the one of the most gripping dramas ever. Threatening and coarse, but her portrait as the strong minded principal is also very funny, soft and vulnerable at the films close.

I first saw Linda Hunt do the play at the Pasadena Playhouse and then twice with Cherry Jones. They both were incredible. I thought Linda Hunt was a pint size little bullet, but I think I was so overwhelmed with the play on the my first impression - I couldn't see anyone else in the role after her. Her size gave her room to be comedic in a few moments that were really perfect. But then I heard about Cherry Jones and how incredible she was. Cherry Jones was very serious, rough, had that voice down but believe it or not - actually called for 'line' a couple of times and that ruined that second viewing. I gave her another chance and thought she was amazing as well. Streep in DOUBT did something very interesting with this character that is nothing without her convictions. She gives of a hint of a woman that had a complete past way before she ever took on the habit. There is a line that indicates her past marriage but Streep drops little feeling hints of her past throughout the films journey. A character that had once suffered, felt joy, passion and once lived in uncertainty. A lessor actor would just played the latter - what she's become. Even though I heard that she didn't always know all her lines - she created a complete history for her character. A previous life. Something actors say they do in junkets, and are told to do in their training as young actors but never actually do it in a way that is felt in the performance. With Meryl you feel it.

Meryl does it here in DOUBT. She did her homework. She contemplated Sister Aloysius' previous life. She gave it detail. She made it real. Hey, I don't always think Meryl walks on water. In THE HOURS I thought she didn't do enough homework and didn't make a few of the crucial scenes work. The scene where she says she's 'unravelling' - I didn't feel it. I thought it was forced and she was still trying to find it. And when I first saw the movie DOUBT I didn't know what to think of the ending. I wasn't comfortable with her final moment. I've since changed my mind.

The church gave her rigid parameters and firm boundaries. There she can keep life the same and her firm beliefs safe, "There is nothing new under the sun". Even if at times I thought her accent was inconsistent, and the final head-to-head scene with Hoffman was too much of a shouting match. I still thought the film was incredible and a tighter version of his masterful play. The Best American play in 50 years. Great plays to great films, especially character driven plays, can get tricky. Long sections of dialogue are tough, especially here in the three-way confrontation scene. John Patrick Shanley did an awesome job with his own material. In the play, I definitely sided with Sister Aloysius. In the film, I just didn't know...I still don't. And that's exactly where I should be.

I've seen the film many times in the last two years. Every time it's on I have to follow it through to the end. Meryl Streep acts to get it right, to go deeply into another world, but it this film I really feel she's acting for her Meryl fans. She gives it those little extra sprinkles of deadpan 'Merylisms'. With this rigid character she still manages to find moments where she can throw in a dash of sarcastic humor and a touch of coquettish sexuality. Yeah sexuality. Not that she's seducing anyone but there's a hint of past romances and lovers. She can for the jugular with her all the sharp knives in her arsenal, all the while throwing in a little burlesque under-wink for her true blues. That may sound like a bad review - but it's a huge compliment. I thinking specifically of the scene with Amy and Meryl when then the house manager  comes in with the dead mouse - ' Takes a cat'. "Yes it does...(pause with only a look Meryl could muster - darting out of the corner of her eyes to Sister James, she repeats) Yes, it does". Genius!

I've heard some bad reviews on Meryl on this one. One calling her the "Chicken Little Lady" or something, that Variety guy nearly chopped her head off. He reviewed her performance so badly it nearly derailed her awards potential. She is operating with major constraints, so her performance is all coming out in only part of her face at a time, so she's turned the nob full blast; her frequency way up. I went in with major doubts in DOUBT, not only did I have two previous fine performances swimming through, but I had this Variety review buzzing around my head. I have a lot of small criticisms on this performance, her scene with Viola Davis I thought she went completely blank and lost a couple very important moments, (maybe it was the choice to walk her to work - I understand why they'd want to move it around a bit but that scene, OH THAT SCENE, those words are so incredible, I felt 'the walk' to work and 'the wind' were distractions). And the William Lundons 'wrist memory moment' - a pivotal moment - wasn't deep enough...but it's still an amazing performance. A signature performance that gets better each time I watch it. Streep on an off day is still better than everyone else on their best. The scene with Amy when she first sits her down to ask what she has seen, that ends with "Yes it does, yes it does". Is some of her most brilliant work. I remember when I fist saw it in the theater I start cracking up. The woman next to me thought I was watching another film - 'What? It's funny you cow!' And the scene with the three of them - Where Sister James (Amy Adams) and Sister Aloysius confront Father Flynn, is acting out of this world. For all three of them, (Amy, Philip & Meryl), are brilliant and it terms of capturing each of their independent missions and character layers: it's a landmark achievement. It feels like it's all in one take - it's tense and nuanced as any trio captured on film. I love it for all the reasons I love acting, theatre and film. It unfolds just right, it's a long scene that builds and builds. Amy is scared out of her wits in the middle of this see-saw of certainty, Philip Seymour Hoffman is in his truth and Streep is razor sharp. All being clever, intelligent and passionate about what they need from each other. Both Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius have been around the block a few times, maybe even, been here before.

Streep is the best we got. Riveting and relentless as Sister Aloysius. She shows us a woman that is in the highest position allowed for a woman at the time - understanding of the limitations, full of piss and vinegar, perhaps in a battle she can't win. Her eyes dart about - disapproving when kids dance to modern songs, or when Flynn wants three sugars in his tea. She muses under her breath, shots feeling asides and screams without making a peep. Giving us a hint of a complete life before and a present that is more open and imperfect. DOUBT, I may have doubts, but none about Streep, (well a few). The ending, Streep flails and falls into Amy's arms, is visceral, rattles and shakes you to the very core. "I have s-such doubts", about her position or her life? You'll have to decide for yourself. I'm still wondering, (in a good way).