Browse: Home / Celebrating the Living: Frances McDormand

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • Disney Byways: Non-Disney Properties on Disney+
  • The Friday Article Roundup: Writer's Blocks
  • Lunch Links: MOOMIN
  • Film on the Internet: BASKET CASE
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray

Celebrating the Living: Frances McDormand

Posted By Gillianren on June 18, 2017 in Features | 14 Responses

I have to confess it always takes me a minute to remember what her actual voice sounds like. That’s not her fault; if anything, it’s a credit to her talent as an actress. I’ve seen her in fourteen movies, and she was the lead in several of them. However, she so inhabited Marge Gunderson that it’s how I think of her first. I think that’s true for a lot of us. And I have to stop and separate her from the role in order to remember what she sounds like, a task not helped by the voices she’s used for several of her other characters over the decades.

She’s the adopted daughter of a minister; she does not know who her biological parents are. She’s the wife of (looks it up) Joel Coen, with whom she has an adopted son. She spent some time as Holly Hunter’s roommate (though the description of that on Wikipedia is vague and implies that they were roommates at Yale, which Hunter did not attend). She’s one shy of an EGOT, as she is a Triple Crown of Acting winner—the Oscar for Marge, of course, the Tony for a different Margie in Good People, and the Emmy for Olive Kitteridge in the HBO miniseries of the same name.

McDormand is another actress who has carved out a place as middle aged Middle American middle class women. Oh, Marge Gunderson is arguably working class, but after all, she and Norm can afford for him to stay at home and paint while she works. The point is that she’s still a relatively normal person in the way that Hollywood thinks of normal people. I happen to think she’s got a lovely, classic face, but she’s not as unbelievable at playing average-looking people as Olivia de Havilland always was. She’s utterly believable as just people’s moms.

I feel as though she’s one of a handful of women who are allowed to play moms and things, probably because her husband and brother-in-law have written such great roles for her. It’s obvious that Joel wasn’t going to stop casting her just because she’d gotten older, and that gave her one of the slots maintained for women of her age. Don’t get me wrong; we’re lucky to have her, and she’s talented. There are definitely worse choices to fit that slot. I’m just annoyed that there are so few places for women of her age.

I have to admit that I picture her life with Joel as being not unlike her life with Norm in Fargo. This is in part because the role was written for her, and I figure Joel wrote what he knows. But if that’s what their relationship is like, she’s pretty lucky. One of the reasons Marge remains so compelling, I think, is that she has the support to do what she wants to do. She and Norm both love the relationship they have and what they do, I think. It seems unlikely that Marge would be doing that much investigating and so forth that pregnant if she didn’t love it, and Norm brings her lunch without even having to be asked. It’s got to be nice. Whether it’s what her life is actually like or not, it’s probably one of the best moments I’ve ever seen in a film relationship.

Posted in Features | Tagged celebrate the living, Frances McDormand, tribute

About the Author

gillianmadeira@hotmail.com'

Gillianren

Gillianren is a forty-something bipolar woman living in the Pacific Northwest after growing up in Los Angeles County. She and her boyfriend have one son and one daughter, and she gave a daughter up for adoption. She fills her days by watching her local library system’s DVD collection in alphabetical order, watching everything that looks interesting. She particularly enjoys pre-Code films, blaxploitation, and live-action Disney movies of the ’60s and ’70s. She has a Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/gillianren

Related Posts

Don't mess with a Mercedes Ruehl character!Celebrating the Living: Mercedes Ruehl→

You, too, can hear this image once you know the voiceAttention Must Be Paid: Arthur Anderson→

Look at that face!Celebrating the Living: Stephen Rea→

She's the one on the rightAttention Must Be Paid: Edith Evanson→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    33861 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    27453 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    25068 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    20099 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • Yvonne, or: CASABLANCA In One Character and Three Scenes

    11142 views / Posted August 21, 2014
  • My face on seeing the "recently added"

    Disney Byways: Non-Disney Properties on Disney+

    March 24, 2023 / Gillianren
  • Oh, to have the straight line just hovering over your shoulder for when you need it.

    The Friday Article Roundup: Writer’s Blocks

    March 24, 2023 / The Ploughman
  • This was a tough one to find a properly formatted header image for.

    Lunch Links: MOOMIN

    March 23, 2023 / The Ploughman
  • Film on the Internet: BASKET CASE

    March 22, 2023 / ZoeZ
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray

    March 21, 2023 / Greta Taylor

Last Tweets

  • Disney Byways: Non-Disney Properties on Disney+ - https://t.co/NNBet9OWrd, 11 hours ago
  • The Friday Article Roundup: Writer’s Blocks - https://t.co/3a4Sy0roVA, 23 hours ago
  • The witty and bittersweet short film MOOMIN doesn't require a smartphone to watch, but it helps. https://t.co/gMMYZWtxgb, Mar 23

©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

Menu

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!