Third place:
Ryan Gosling [80 points / 14 votes]
Second place:
Adam Driver [84 points / 14 votes]
And the Muriel goes to...
Isabelle Huppert [176 points / 25 votes]
"Since her debut in 1971, veteran actress Isabelle Huppert has forged an incomparable catalog that has placed her at the forefront of international cinema. She has appeared in over one hundred films, mastering diverse roles for some of the most intrepid of the art house directors, including Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Ozon, Bertrand Tavanier, Hal Hartley, Claire Denis, Michael Cimino, Maurice Pialat, Joseph Losey, and Michael Haneke. She has been nominated for more Cesar Awards than any other actress, and has probably held pole position as the critics' darling. Much as Meryl Streep has personified movie star royalty through her similar span in the American cinema, Huppert has served as a surefire mode of critical agreement, an actress whose very presence in a film has invariably elevated the expectation of all films that feature her name in the credits."
"In the contemporary French cinema there are to be sure a bevy of extraordinary female thespians, of which Catherine Deneuve, Marion Cotillard, Juliette Binoche, Emmanuelle Beart and Huppert are the cream of the crop, but by way of emotional complexity and an an unusual ability read the depth of her portrayals along with her audience, Huppert stands alone. She is always up for the challenge of experimentation, and indeed once in an interview defined herself as an 'explorer' rather than an artist. She doesn't confine herself to audacious works only, as her resume includes several forays into comedies and mainstream fare. Choosing a favorite Huppert performance is no easy task, what with the histrionic riches to be found in one of the most remarkably accomplished careers, but her turns as the murderous Jeanne in Chabrol's chilling La Ceremonie, Erika Kohut in Haneke's sadomasochistic The Piano Teacher, Pomme in Claude Goretta's shattering The Lacemaker and Rose in the tragic Tavernier masterwork Coup de Torchon may well be her most celebrated. But even trying to highlight that quartet of stupendous performances cannot begin to properly frame her prolific canon. Her performance in the lead role of Chabrol's Madame Bovary (1991) is another for the ages.
"In 2016 Huppert pulled off what was arguably her greatest year of all with two wildly disparate performances that have captured awards around the world. As Things to Come's Nathalie, a Parisian philosophy professor whose husband leaves her for a younger woman, she miraculously negotiates freedom even after her mother dies and her publisher balks at reissuing her book. She defies sadness and disappointment in her successful navigation of her vulnerability. In the even more critically venerated performance she gives in Paul Verhoven's carnal Elle, she plays a successful video-game executive, whose family background would almost seem to guarantee the perversions on display in some shocking rape scenes. The specter of Japanese director Yusuzo Masumura seems omnipresent in the scenes where Huppert finds pleasure, and finally triumphs over her aggressor. This is psychologically heady stuff, but Huppert aces it, and in one fell swoop via two films contrasting darkness and light she shows the full possibilities of her craft." ~ Sam Juliano
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