Of A Certain Age

Thank goodness for The Age website, that infallible cultural commentator.



Their use today of the above photo and caption informed me that Helen Mirren, by winning the best lead actress BAFTA for The Queen, is now entitled to be considered "a favourite" for an Oscar.

Without this insight, I would have misinterpreted the awards season trend, which looks something like this.

Bodies awarding Helen Mirren's performance in The Queen prior to BAFTA

National Board of Review
Boston Film Critics Society
New York Film Critics Circle
Los Angeles Film Critics Circle
New York Film Critics Online
Las Vegas Film Critics Society
National Society of Film Critics
Dallas Fort Worth Society of Film Critics
Vancouver Film Critics Society
Washington DC Film Critics Society
San Francisco Film Critics Society
Golden Satellites
Southeastern Film Critics Society
Women Film Critics Circle
Iowa Film Critics Society
Toronto Film Critics Society
Florida Film Critics Association
St Louis Film Critics Association
Phoenix Society of Film Critics
Kansas City Film Critics Society
Chicago Film Critics Society
Online Film Critics Circle
Utah Film Critics Society
Oklahoma Film Critics Association
Golden Globes (Hollywood Foreign Press Association)
Screen Actors' Guild

Bodies not recognising Helen Mirren as Best Actress
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Of the remaining nominees, only Meryl Streep got a fleeting look at the podium thanks to the Golden Globes retention of separate drama and comedy categories. She won for The Devil Wears Prada.

The only other non-Mirren victor was Ellen Page, who somehow persuaded the Austin Film Critics that her reasonable turn as a 14 year old potential paedophilia victim in Hard Candy was the best performance of the year. It seems a bizarre choice until you begin imagining a cinema full of titillated trigger-happy Bush-loving Texans creaming themselves over her convincingly adult performance, and then it all makes sense.



The rest of the world realises that no woman other than Helen Mirren was ever in the running for the Best Actress Oscar this year.

I am now realising The Age online is actually a bit shit.