In the spirit of spreading the Gospel of Dunst, this week’s column is free for everyone 🙏
I can’t believe I’ve held off on doing an actor-centric installment of this column. Remarkable restraint on my part, to be honest!
While I’m somewhat (okay, really) skeptical of the upcoming Alex Garland film Civil War, I will be viewing it to support one of my favorite actresses: Kirsten Dunst!
Many normies (NOT to be confused with Normal Newsletter subscribers) know Kirsten Dunst as Spider-Man’s girlfriend, one of the kids from Jumanji, and/or a cheerleader in Bring It On. Not necessarily bad things! These movies cemented her as a permanent pop culture touchstone, and they’re also pretty fun!
But because you are people of taste, I’m sure you know her as the formidable talent that she is. And if not… well, it’s never too late to learn!
From her collaborations with Sofia Coppola and other gifted auteurs to her underrated comedic gifts, let’s take a look at some of Dunst’s best work.
(Unless otherwise noted, all movies are available to rent from Apple, Amazon, etc. in addition to the listed streaming services. But if you watch them and like them, I’d consider buying physical copies 😃)
Double Feature: The Virgin Suicides (1999) and The Beguiled (2017)
The Virgin Suicides is streaming on The Criterion Channel. The Beguiled is streaming on Netflix.
While Marie Antoinette, the best of the Coppola/Dunst collaborations to date, is not streaming, you can’t go wrong with these two films that also explore the director’s frequent themes: isolation, desire, and repression.
The Virgin Suicides, based on Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel, is one of the great debut features. Coppola’s sensibility arrived nearly fully formed as she renders the lives of the Lisbon sisters (one of whom is played by Dunst) with stunning clarity and a keen eye for character and environmental detail.
Living in a repressive religious household in the Detroit suburbs of the '70s, the sisters must navigate the perils of girlhood while also tiptoeing around their parents. While the movie is framed through the recollections of now-adult male classmates looking back on their tragic tale, on the seeming unknowability of these girls, Coppola’s gaze goes deeper.
Megan Abbott writes in The Criterion Collection essay for the film that, “[Coppola] infuses her film with images—impressionistic, unnarrated peeks into the sisters’ world on its own terms. In so doing, she exposes the tragic chasm between the narrator’s assertions about the sisters (what they represent, how they might be ‘diagnosed’) and the sisters’ actual private experience.”
A playful chamber drama tinged with nervous desire, Coppola’s 2017 film took her predilection for insular worlds to a new extreme. The Beguiled is a remake of sorts of a wild, pulpy 1971 film starring Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Paige and directed by Don Siegel. (Both films are based on a novel by Thomas Cullinan).
The story is set at a secluded Southern girls boarding school in Virginia during the Civil War. Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst play the adults overseeing the school, trying to create an air of normalcy during the war.
That is, until Union soldier Corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell) arrives with a severe leg injury. They hesitantly take him in, and McBurney thinks his prison might actually be a temporary oasis. He doesn’t anticipate the torrent of longing his presence unleashes at the school, or the dire consequences of acting on his own desire, though.
The movie is an atmospheric marvel of erotic dread, and Dunst steals nearly every scene she’s in. Coppola is chronicling the decay of routine, of a bubble about to burst. Though the actual war has not yet landed on the school’s doorstep, they are still surrounded by it.
Other Movie Recommendations:
Melancholia (2011)- Streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, and for free on Kanopy.
One sister’s apocalypse is another’s catharsis in Lars von Trier’s sci-fi drama.
In Melancholia, Dunst plays Justine, a woman who suffers from crippling depression. Divided into two distinct parts, the first shows Justine imploding at her wedding and the second has her taking refuge at her sister Claire’s (Charlotte Gainsbourg) lavish estate during a depressive episode.
Amid all of this is the menacing presence of Melancholia, a rogue planet that has emerged from behind the sun and is heading toward Earth. The movie’s gorgeous prologue depicts the end of the world with gorgeous slow-motion tableaux, while the rest of it is marked with von Trier’s chaotically roving camera.
Dunst gives one of my all-time favorite performances in this film, rendering Justine’s illness with frightening clarity. The possibility of everything ending has a calming effect on her; in one iconic scene, she bathes nude beneath its blueish glow. Von Trier can sometimes (okay, often) lean into provocation to hit his point home, but this is his most clear-eyed, sincere, and moving film.
The Power of the Dog (2021)- Streaming on Netflix.
To watch Dunst in Jane Campion’s Frontier thriller is to see a performance that, as Hilton Als put it, “is based in part on everything she knows about performance, which is considerable.”
She scored her first Oscar nomination playing Rose Gordon, a troubled woman tormented by an even more troubled rancher. As her circumstances worsen, you can see the sadness and desperation accumulate across her face. A scene where she tries, and fails, to play the piano for a dinner party is among the most devastatingly rendered moments of her career.
Bachelorette (2012)- Streaming on Max
Dunst is at her acidic, hilarious best in this ruthlessly mean comedy from Leslye Headland. She’s part of a trio of high school friends (the other two are played by Lizzy Caplan and Isla Fisher) who reunite to be bridesmaids for another “friend” (Rebel Wilson) they can’t stand.
These women are self-absorbed and cruel; they mock the bride-to-be behind her back and casually reference her eating disorder in front of other family and friends. We join them on an all-night journey to fix her wedding gown after two of them tried to fit in it at once.
Decidedly unpleasant company, and yet I find myself returning to this movie every few years. Headland’s knack for one-liners and relentless pacing combined with these unrepentantly bad people just works for me 😁
Do you have an actor or actress you’d like me to spotlight in a future column? I’m always open to suggestions 🗣
This newsie LOVES her so much! I think I’ll do a mini self Dunst feat this coming week and watch all of these, which are some of my all-time favorites. I’ve never seen Bachelorette! Excited for that one too!!
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