WOMEN FILM CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCE

Best Performance by an Actor

                George Clooney (The Descendants)

·         Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

·         Tom Hardy (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy / Warrior)

·         Ryan Gosling (Drive / The Ides of March)

Best Performance by an Actress

                Viola Davis (The Help)

·         Jessica Chastain (The Debt / The Help)

·         Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

·         Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

Best Young Actress

                Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

·         Jordana Beatty (Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer)

·         Liana Liberato (Trust)

·         Amara Miller (The Descendants)

Best Family Film

                Hugo

·         The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

·         Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer

·         The Muppets

Lifetime Achievement

                Kathy Bates

                Cicely Tyson

·         Hium Abbass

·         Michelle Yeoh

Best Movie by a Woman

                The Iron Lady

                We Need to Talk About Kevin

·         Pariah

·         The Whistleblower

Best Comedic Actress

                Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)

·         Katie O’Grady (Rid of Me)

·         Sarah Jessica Parker (I Don’t Know How She Does It)

·         Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids)

Courage in Acting

                Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)

·         Josiane Balasko (The Hedgehog)

·         Mimi Chakarova (The Price of Sex)

·         Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

The Invisible Woman Award (performance by a woman whose exceptional impact on the film dramatically, socially or historically, has been ignored)

                Hiam Abbass (Miral)

                Michelle Williams (Meek’s Cutoff)

·         Danai Gurira (3 Backyards)

·         Red Shirley (Red Shirley)

Best Woman Storyteller (Screenwriting Award)

                Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady)

·         Angelina Jolie (In the Land of Blood and Honey)

·         Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

·         Dee Rees (Pariah)

Women’s Work: Best Ensemble

                The Help

·         Albert Nobbs

·         Bridesmaids

·         The Whistleblower

Best Documentary by or about Women

                Semper Fi: Always Faithful

·         !Women Art Revolution

·         The Price of Sex

·         The Woman with the 5 Elephants

Best Foreign Film by or about Women

                The Hedgehog

·         In the Land of Blood and Honey

·         A Separation

·         When We Leave

Best Movie about Women

                The Help

·         Albert Nobbs

·         Cracks

·         Rid of Me

Josephine Baker Award (for best expressing the woman of colour experience in America)

                The Help

·         3 Backyards

·         America

·         Pariah

Karen Morley Award (for best exemplifying a woman’s place in history or society, and a courageous search for identity)

                Albert Nobbs

·         The Conspirator

·         Meek’s Cutoff

·         Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Adrienne Shelly Award (for a film that most passionately opposes violence against women)

                The Whistleblower

·         In a Better World

·         In the Land of Blood and Honey

·         Life, Above All

Best Animated Females

                Puss in Boots

·         Arthur Christmas

·         Gnomeo & Juliet

·         Kung Fu Panda 2

Best Screen Couple

                Bérénice Bejo and Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

·         Emily Blunt and James McAvoy (Gnomeo & Juliet)

·         Jim Broadbent and Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

·         Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin (Like Crazy)

Best Equality of the Sexes

                The Debt

·         The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

·         The Iron Lady

·         Midnight in Paris

Acting and Activism

                Elizabeth Taylor

·         Mia Farrow

·         Daryl Hannah

·         Alfre Woodard

Mommie Dearest Worst Screen Mom of the Year Award

                Judi Dench (J. Edgar)

Best Female Images in a Movie

                The Whistleblower

·         Albert Nobbs

·         The Iron Lady

·         Soul Surfer

Best Male Images in a Movie

                The Descendants

·         50/50

·         Meet Monica Velour

·         Of Gods and Men

Worst Female Images in a Movie

                Melancholia

·         Jack and Jill

·         My Week with Marilyn

·         Young Adult

Worst Male Images in a Movie

                The Hangover: Part II

·         No Strings Attached

·         The Skin I Live In

·         Straw Dogs

Don't even get me started. Worst female images in a movie? I think this lot just have a vendetta against Lars von Trier, to the extent that even when he makes one of the most progressive films of the year for the female sex, his film wins the Worst Female Images in a Movie award. My Week with Marilyn and Young Adult also fall foul of these women's opinion that the depiction of women in states of depression or mental instability is, by necessity, degrading. Michael Bay's rampant objectification of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Transformers, though, or The Hangover: Part II's one-dimensional view of women are just fine with them.

I never bother giving these awards much credence. You'd almost think they were a parody of themselves.