Saoirse Ronan and her ‘avant-garde’ onscreen characters
Saoirse Ronan recently became the second-youngest actress to receive four Academy Award nominations. And she is just 25!
Basically talking about her onscreen characters, Saorise has redefined what it means to execute absolute fierceness and power unlike many female characters (in main role or otherwise) written for the movies.
Starting off, her big-screen debut in Amy Heckerling’s 2007 rom-com ‘I Could Never Be Your Woman’ Saoirse, equipped an infectiously personality and an abundance of charming energy makes her a scene-stealer.
In Joe Wright’s ‘Atonement’, Ronan’s difficult character, Briony Tallis got her nominated in the Oscars for the Best supporting actress category. Juvenile, unknowing callousness causes a fatal rupture in the lives of many in Atonement, and that is down to Briony’s rash actions. And beyond the audience’s annoyance and anger at her childish thoughtlessness lies a scary vein of relatable truth.
Her final 2007 film, Gillian Armstrong’s magic-themed ‘Death Defying Acts’, as well as the 20th Century Fox would-be-blockbuster ‘City of Ember’; both films utilize Ronan’s youthfulness to the fullest as she unravels darker secrets about their respective fictional worlds.
Ronan maintains collaborating with renowned filmmakers. She is effectively the only girl in a large collective of older men starring in Peter Weir’s survival drama ‘The Way Back’. Consequently, she successfully plays the character that is equal parts emotionally sentimental and resolutely independent.
Ronan’s ‘Susie Salmon’ has an unusually empowered voice, threading throughout Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lovely Bones.’ Her character is extremely polarizing; as would be the case for any story dealing with the rape and murder of a child, and the aftermath of such tragedy.
As quickly as she morphed into a compelling ‘lead actor’, Ronan continues to blend more seamlessly into ensemble acts at the same time as proven by Wes Anderson’s ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, which is one of the director’s best endeavours simply because each performance weighs out one another splendidly.
Ryan Gosling’s psychedelic directorial debut, ‘Lost River’, lies on the moodier end of the spectrum. Ronan depicts a breadth of human experience in the film is in itself rewarding.
Nikole Beckwith’s quiet dramatic indie ‘Stockholm, Pennsylvania’ sees Ronan play a young woman who is kidnapped as a child. When she returns to her biological parents in adulthood, their reunion spills deep familial wounds that prove suffocating and dangerous. Although the actress portrays an unavoidably muted character, her portrayal of her inner storm is crucial in establishing substantial depth in Beckwith’s film.
Not long after comes the genius of Greta Gerwig’s ‘Lady Bird’, on the surface, this sort of coming-of-age but it focuses on a teen who believes she’s wise beyond her years. She goes up against the confines of small-town living that stifles her but finds deeper connections to her roots and her complicated relationship with her mother.
Post-Lady Bird, Ronan’s reunion with Gerwig in ‘Little Women’ gave her fourth Oscar nomination. She has presented her own notable acting challenges with this film. Her character Jo March, being set up for a meaningful journey of self-Discovery and surprises. Her dreams and dislikes are going to be turned topsy-turvy; her desire to make her way in the world and her distaste for staying at home will be altered forever.
Josie Rourke’s ‘Mary Queen of Scots’ is another such gripping piece of cinema because they go for the heart over the head. They are unapologetically emotionally charged character studies about feminine power and authority within stiffly established social hierarchies.
Ronan play women whose strong-minded decisions fill the cinematic space with veracity and vivaciousness. A less emotive actress wouldn’t have made this stark expressive transition so organic. However, Ronan refuses to draw straight correlations between vulnerability and weakness. It’s part of what makes many of her characters so complex. Ronan operates on feverish impulsiveness and striking honesty that ultimately results in tragedy.
