An Updated Ranking of the Best Performances to Date from Anne Hathaway

Like I said last time around, Anne Hathaway doesn’t quite get the credit she deserves for being an Academy Award winning actress. Her Best Supporting Actress win for Les Misérables was such a foregone conclusion, the effectiveness of her work has been lost to time a bit. Yet, she’s always an interesting actress to watch (or speak with, as I did here for She Came to Me), with a presence on screen that makes you invested in her turn, no matter who she’s playing. With a bold new performance in Mother Mary from earlier in the year, terrific work in Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey currently in theaters, and a new turn in The End of Oak Street hitting screens, a new ranking of her best work is what’s on the docket today.

In my review of Mother Mary (here) a few months ago, I said the following about Hathaway:

Michaela Coel and Anne Hathaway play off of each other quite well, making the central part of the film their relationship, more so than any of the mysterious elements. Coel starts out cold and still bitter over how their friendship ended, allowing her character to slowly show more and more vulnerability. Hathaway gets to both show off her on stage moves, giving Mother Mary a bit of a Taylor Swift concert vibe, while showing how small she can be in real life, as opposed to the larger than life persona. There’s layer upon layer to both characters, though once Hathaway starts to reveal a potentially supernatural element to things, a whole new side is opened up. They have a great, wounded, chemistry with each other that proves hypnotic.

Just a few days ago, my review of The End of Oak Street (here) includes this bit:

Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor are very good here, with Hathaway especially having far more to do than other films of this ilk would give her. Hathaway gets to play both determined and vulnerable, scared yet also fiercely protective of her family. You buy her terror as well as the immediacy with which she takes up arms. McGregor is the good cop in the family, more of a buddy at times to his son than a father, but when things get hairy, you see him at his best. Together, their spousal dynamic is compelling, even when they argue.

Below, you can see how Hathaway stacks up for me currently. Her Les Misérables Oscar win is top three worthy for yours truly, though her absolute best work comes in Rachel Getting Married. She’s stunning there and deserved to win Best Actress for that one, her first Academy Award nomination. Then, it’s her most underrated performance with Love & Other Drugs, which is far more complex than expected. Where does Mother Mary show up this time? How about debuts for The End of Oak Street and The Odyssey? What about some of her other most iconic roles? Find out next…

Here now is my ranking of the best performances to date from Anne Hathaway. Behold:

Honorable Mention: The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar, Ocean’s Eight, One Day, The Princess Diaries, and She Came to Me

10. Mother Mary

9. Armageddon Time

8. The Odyssey

7. The End of Oak Street

6. Brokeback Mountain

5. Eileen

4. Colossal

3. Les Misérables

2. Love & Other Drugs

1. Rachel Getting Married

What is your favorite Anne Hathaway performance? Let us know!