Gladys Cooper received her first Oscar nomination for her performance as Mrs. Vale in Now, Voyager.
Now, Voyager is an effective movie about a lonely, unattractive spinster who blossoms under therapy and falls in love with a kind, charming but married man. It's a very compelling character study, and even if the third act falls a bit into predictable melodrama it still remains a strong movie with a deservingly iconic final scene. The supporting cast is mostly quite good, with Claude Rains being particularly excellent in his portrayal of the warm, understanding psychiatrist. Paul Henried is also quite charming in his role and he shares a terrific chemistry with Bette Davis. Max Steiner's score is unforgettable and completely deserving of its Oscar win.
Gladys Cooper portrays Charlotte's (Davis) domineering, controlling mother. From her first scene, Cooper perfectly portrays Mrs. Vale's glacial and heartless behavior: each of her lines is cold and calculated without any single trace of warmth or empathy and her body movements are purposefully stiff - I particularly love the careful attention she puts on her hands which often remind of claws, like as if Mrs. Vale were an ferocious animal ready to attack. Cooper establishes her as an extremely selfish woman, who isn't afraid to psychologically harass her daughter in order to keep her under her influence - she turns Mrs. Vale into a frightenigly realistic monster, making Charlotte's physical and emotional state perfectly believable for the viewer. She doesn't even have a lot of screen-time in the beginning but she leaves an incredibly lasting impression and her presence can be felt all over the movie - throughout the scenes during the cruise and the scene in which Charlotte greets her family members after her return, Mrs. Vale's shadow seems to be always hanging over Charlotte and that's thanks to Cooper's memorable display of cruelty in her first scenes.
After Charlotte returns home, Gladys Cooper's performance becomes even more interesting as Mrs. Vale attempts to control her daughter again but she has to face the fact that Charlotte has become a stronger woman. Cooper excels in portraying again Mrs. Vale's controlling, cold behavior but this time suggesting a certain amount of insecurity behind it. Now, I think that Cooper's performance here can be taken for granted but she actually does a lot within the role and this can be clearly seen if you compare this performance to her work in 1958's Separate Tables: in the latter she portrayed a very similar role but her performance was much less effective as she never managed to make her character more than a clichè and it ultimately was just a standard version of the mother-monster type of role. In Now, Voyager, instead, she manages to humanize her character making it realistic and therefore much more terrifying: she never tries to redeem the character or partly justify her actions, but she shows a more vulnerable side of Mrs. Vale - she fears that her daughter might get away from her and leave her alone, and Cooper properly portrays the selfish desperation behind her character's attempt to hold her under her fist. The look on her face before Mrs. Vale deliberately falls on the stairs is pure brilliance.
And, of course, Gladys Cooper shares a tremendous chemistry with Bette Davis and their scenes together couldn't be more excellent: the two actresses pay off each other extremely well and realize the relationship between Charlotte and her mother perfectly. Their final scene together is exceptionally acted on both ends and Mrs. Vale's vicious speech to her daughter is an unforgettable moment that is handled wonderfully by Cooper (even if it is unfortunately a bit too short).
Ultimately, I admire greatly Cooper's performance here even if I have a few reservations about it: first off, the role itself is a bit too limited and even if Cooper, as I mentioned before, manages to make it more complex Mrs. Vale is mostly an obstacle for the leading character rather than a truly three-dimensional character. But nonetheless there is no denying that Cooper perfectly inhabits the role and supports the movie wonderfully. Maybe my rating is a bit too scrict but my reservations about the role itself prevent me from truly loving her performance. Still, it's a powerful and effective portrayal that strengthens the movie and its leading performance.
4/5
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