Next Sunday (March 10th, in Germany on the night of March 11th) Lily Gladstone could become the first actress with indigenous roots to win an Oscar for best actress. She would be honored for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers Of The Flower Moon.” However, the 37-year-old also has strong competition in her category.
However, Gladstone is by no means a blank slate. Most recently, she caused a stir with the Sundance hit “Fancy Dance.” This film is also about the fate of Native Americans. But she appeared on the lists of film lovers especially in 2016 with the indie gem “Certain Women”. The sensitive episodic drama by Kelly Reichardt can be seen on arte on Wednesday (March 6th, 8:15 p.m.).
“Certain Women”: Quiet portrait of women
Gladstone plays a ranch worker named Jamie and is one of three women whose lives in Montana are shown in half-hour segments. Above all, it describes how isolated the protagonists live – alongside Gladstone, Laura Dern is a lawyer and Michelle Williams is a house builder. When Jamie sees how many cars are parked in front of a school, she takes advantage of a trip into the city to make a spontaneous visit. There she listens to a lecture by a lawyer her own age on school law (Beth, played cautiously and sensitively by Kirsten Stewart). She actually knows little about such topics, but they both start talking and agree to meet for dinner. The beginning of an affair that immediately begins to tear Jamie out of her life, but doesn’t last long.
“Certain Women” is the film adaptation of three short stories by the US writer Maile Meloy, who is best known for her novel “Keep Calm”. Kelly Reichardt is considered one of the most talented independent directors in the USA and also cast Lily Gladstone in her acclaimed prairie film “First Cow”. Michelle Williams is also one of the companions of Reichardt’s extraordinary, largely minimalistic filmed work. She is a leading actress in her films “Wendy And Lucy” and “On the Road to Oregon” (Meek’s Cutoff).