20 Best Movie Performances Of 2021

8. Caitriona Balfe - Belfast

Easily the strongest and most trenchant performance in Belfast is that of Caitriona Balfe, who plays Buddy's long-suffering mother throughout the monochrome period drama.

Balfe gives an expertly wrought performance as a woman whose marriage seems to be crumbling before her very eyes, just as Northern Ireland itself struggles to hold together.

But this role is far more than a mere typical put-upon wife and mother: Ma is certainly a woman defined by her relationships with her husband and son, but Branagh and Balfe ensure to render her as a well-rounded human being with her own distinct agency.

It's a deeply empathetic performance - a tribute to motherhood above all else, but also achingly humanistic as a singular character study.