Every Best Actress Oscar Movie Winner Of The 21st Century Ranked
16. Kate Winslet - The Reader (2008)
Who should have won: Meryl Streep - Doubt.
Stuffy, overdrawn, melodramatic and controversial, The Reader is a mediocre romance movie set amongst the turmoil of post-WWII life, but it's worth checking out for Kate Winslet's heartfelt central role.
Though long-overdue her first Oscar, Winslet's portrayal of the secretive tram conductor Hanna, whose links to the Holocaust tears apart the life of the teenager she once had an affair with, was deserving of the win. Complex and sympathetic, Winslet's performance elevates everything around her scene-after-scene.
It's easy to see the role as obvious Oscar-bait, because it clearly is, but that doesn't mean Winslet isn't on staggering form, breaking hearts and slowly revealing Hanna's secrets with wrenching results.