In Character: Joan Allen

There’s a popular critique that many women share about the American film industry. Females play characters whose only purpose is to enhance the lead actor’s motivations. Female characters exist as exaggerated background, act as aimless creatures unequipped without original thoughts or intentions. And while that certainly isn’t true of all films, it’s an argument we hear often.

So then I look at Joan Allen. Joan Allen, a woman who, on the surface, has made a career out of playing such women. Women who exist to propel whatever narrative their husbands are offering. Wives who sit in the corner, saying little. But look closer. Watch what Allen does. With a sharp stare, convincing line delivery and a trademark look of utter devastation, Allen has managed to make all the women she plays matter. She makes every character essential, and every role greater.

Five Essential Roles

Nixon (1995)

Pat Nixon

Oliver Stone’s epic retelling of Richard Nixon’s life is a vast story purposefully structured with little conscience. While most of the men in the movie think to tell Nixon how mad he’s being (and some, rather boldly, even do) the only person he listens to is his patient and beloved wife, Pat.

As Pat, Allen has the difficult job of being the sole person who can get through to this impossibly stubborn man. And does she ever. Through subtle threats of divorce, Pat has the keen ability to make Nixon fall to his knees and beg forgiveness, or, adversely, buck up and force him to fight. In one of Nixon’s most compelling moments, Pat has a little too much to drink and gives Tricky Dick the verbal thrashing of his life, demanding that he burn his Oval Office recordings. It’s a fierce scene, made great by an actress who is a sheer force of nature.

The Crucible (1996)

Elizabeth Proctor

Ever notice how everyone in this film adaptation of The Crucible screams? It’s as if the actors are incapable of getting their point across, unless they’re the loudest one in the room. And then there’s Joan Allen, who welcomingly plays the quiet, reserved Elizabeth Proctor. Once the Salem Witch Trials take hold, Elizabeth is forced to do many things against her will, including testifying in front of her husband as to whether or not her husband cheated on her. It’s a gut wrenching moment of near silence. Allen only needs a petrified look and a few broken words to get her point across.

The Ice Storm (1997)

Elena Hood

The beauty of Allen’s work as suspicious housewife Elena Hood in The Ice Storm can be found in the scenes surrounding the film’s infamous Key Party sequence. The set-up is simple: Elena attends a party with her husband, Ben (Kevin Kline). At the party, all couples have the choice to put their keys in a large bowl. At the end of the night, the wives choose a set of keys from the bowl, and go home with whatever male the keys belong to. But Elena knows something is up. She knows Ben’s lover, Janey (Sigourney Weaver) is going to somehow choose Ben’s key. Ben denies this, and even suggests that they leave the party.

Elena darts a look his way, and with perfect spite says, “Oh, we’re not leaving.”

Two can play at this game.

Pleasantville (1998)

Betty Parker

Poor Betty Parker. The woman is so stuck in her black and white world that she has no idea what to do when she inadvertently lets a little color into her life. In Pleasantville’s most heartbreaking scene, we watch as Betty, now fully realized in bright color, cries tears of shame as her son, David (Tobey Maguire) covers her back to monochrome with make-up.

But one of the things I like most about Pleasantville is that director Gary Ross doesn’t let that be the end of Betty. Instead, he lets her spread her wings and fly as one of the town’s most subtly rebellious citizens. She gets off, leaves her husband, falls for another man, poses nude for a painting… there’s fire in Betty, and no one could bring that to light quite as well as Allen.

The Upside of Anger (2005)

Terry Ann Wolfmeyer

I mention this a lot in my In Character posts, but I am really drawn to movie actors (particularly females) who embrace playing a character their age. They don’t hide behind heavy make-up or giant wigs, they simply stand in front of the camera and say Go. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if Allen has shied away from playing women her age, but there’s something about Terry Wolfmeyer that seems distinctly un-Joan Allen. Admittedly, this is more than age. Through Terry, Allen gets to play mean, harsh, and vindictive. She’s a middle-aged woman who’s pissed about being a middle-aged woman. She’s pissed that her husband ran out on her, pissed her daughter is dating a much older guy, pissed that her neighbor won’t stop hitting on her. Terry Wolfmeyer is Joan Allen at his most unforgiving, and I absolutely adore it.

The Best of the Best

The Contender (2000)

Senator Laine Hanson

I’ve always considered Rod Lurie’s The Contender one of the best, most criminally overlooked films of this century. It is a ballsy, ingenious and immensely entertaining political thriller anchored by as audacious a performance as Joan Allen has ever given.

In the film, Allen plays a liberal senator who the President (Jeff Bridges, playing my all time favorite movie President) nominates for Vice President, following the current VP’s untimely death. The President anticipates a smooth conformation for Hanson, but things go very wrong, very quickly. The chairman of Hanson’s confirmation committee is Congressman Shelley Runyon (Gary Oldman, better than he’s ever been), a vile creature of a man who doesn’t care much for Hanson. I risk divulging further details, in fear of giving too much away, but just know that Hanson’s fight for Vice President is a brutal one at best. Runyon and his goons stop at nothing to steer her away, if for no other reason than because she’s a woman.

The Contender is a strong film with a strong script, but much of its intensity should be credited to its cast. Laine Hanson is the type of strong-willed, independent woman that, quite frankly, more movies need. She proves that she doesn’t need a man to help tell her story, nor is she only capable of acting as background decoration. Laine Hanson is a woman all her own, and I can watch her fight for justice repeatedly. Everything about Joan Allen’s work in this film hits in the best, most exceptional way possible.

Other Notable Roles

In Face/Off

Manhunter (1986)

Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)

In Country (1989)

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)

Mad Love (1995)

Face/Off (1997)

Off the Map (2003)

The Notebook (2004)

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

Yes (2004)

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Georgia O’Keeffe (2009)

Luck (2012)

The Bourne Legacy (2012)