Fresh off her Golden Globes nomination for Best Actress/Drama, Angelina Jolie is back at work in Paris on a new film called Stitches. It’s from French actor and filmmaker Alice Winocour, who is best known for the films Disorder, Proxima, and Revoir Paris. Stitches is about an American filmmaker, played by Jolie, who “arrives in Paris for Fashion Week on a life-and-death journey”. The film co-stars Louis Garrel, who is currently playing Louis XIII in Martin Bourboulon’s Three Musketeers franchise, and Ella Rumpf, lately of Tokyo Vice.
When it comes to awards season, there is some debate about which award shows are good (“good”) bellwethers for the Oscars. To me, that is defined by the groups that have significant overlap with Academy voters, because those awards can highlight how different groups within the Academy are thinking, such as the SAG Awards, the Producers Guild Awards, and the BAFTAs. The Golden Globes aren’t a good bellwether because they 1) are ridiculous and 2) don’t overlap with Oscar voters.
But the Globes can contribute to an award campaign’s overall momentum. In such a competitive year, how often your name is announced matters, so while the Globes are very silly, it doesn’t hurt that Angelina’s name got called yesterday morning. And it doesn’t hurt to see her back at work on a new film with a reputable French filmmaker, continuing the narrative that “Angie is back” after a period focusing on family, filmmaking, and franchises. Whatever her status within the high school cafeteria that is Hollywood, she has always been regarded as a talented actor, and nudging along a narrative that Angelina is reengaging with that side of her career is another demarcation in a competitive year. There are so many good performances from actresses this year, more than can be nominated, so who has the best narrative matters. “Angie is back” is a pretty good narrative.
