It might be a given that 2015 hasn't been the vintage year that, say, 2007 or 2014 was, but it remains that there have been some damn fine films released this calendar year. And within those fine films have been some extraordinary performances, 2015 having been an especially standout year for female characters at the cinema. Again, 2015 hasn't quite matched some preceding years in terms of great performances across the board, but there have nevertheless been some phenomenal turns this year, a couple of which can be realistically seen as some of the finest of the decade. A few notes before starting. Firstly, though in other 2015 retrospectives I've included the likes of Birdman, Inherent Vice and Whiplash, all of which were technically released in early 2015 in the UK but are really 2014 films, I've eschewed them here in order to focus on a set of truly 2015 pictures. Secondly, every single performance here has another co-performance which is vital to its brilliance. I could've included all of the following in each separate entry, but in order to keep the list a bona fide top ten, I'll instead list them as honourable mentions: Domnhall Gleeson, Juliette Binoche, Idris Elba, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks, Jesse Eisenberg, Cate Blanchett and Ryan Reynolds.