Oscars spotlight: Trace Lysette (‘Monica’) is looking to make history
Looking back to the unveiling of last year’s Oscar nominations, Andrea Riseborough’s generally unexpected Best Actress mention shouldn’t have been considered particularly surprising. After all, prognosticators had two full weeks to come to the now obvious realization that the “To Leslie” star’s crusaders would inevitably achieve their goal. In the context of the current acting races, no one has a better chance of emulating Riseborough than Trace Lysette (“Monica”).
As was true of Riseborough, Lysette is nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Performance based on her work as her low budget movie’s title character. Having premiered at the 79th Venice Film Festival, Andrea Pallaoro’s “Monica” tells the heart-rending story of a proud yet discontented trans woman who returns to her hometown many years after facing rejection from her now ailing and forgetful mother. Prior to being added to the AMC+ library and becoming rentable elsewhere, “Monica” was given a limited spring theatrical release through IFC Films, which found its greatest awards success to date with 2014’s “Boyhood.”
Since its initial screening, “Monica” has inspired countless glowing reviews, practically all of which cite Lysette’s “elegantly restrained” (Wes Greene, Slant) star turn as its greatest aspect. Fionnuala Halligan (Screen Daily) notes that the actress’ “lived experience as a trans woman… helps [her] deliver a powerful, internalized performance,” while Peter Sobczynski (RogerEbert.com) credits her for single-handedly elevating the film “from a well-made drama [to] an absolute must-see.” Jude Dry (Indiewire) even goes so far as to say that this movie “raises the bar for trans stories” and that its “stunning” lead “carries [it] with a graceful dignity.”
It can’t be understated how impactful Lysette’s potential Oscar nomination – the first for any out trans performer – would be. Given the prevalent, persistent need for trans visibility and acceptance, it also couldn’t come at a more appropriate time. In terms of the Academy Awards (but certainly not limited to them), we are living in an era of firsts, and it would make perfect sense for Lysette’s possible groundbreaking achievement to follow the recent ones of deaf actor Troy Kotsur (“CODA”) and Asian trailblazers Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) and Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”).
Lysette is also poised to profit from what has quickly become a strong Oscars statistic related to the BAFTA Awards. That is, her absence from the British academy’s pre-nominations longlists sets her up to become the fourth such snubee in as many years to land a Best Actress Oscar bid anyway, following Andra Day (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” 2021), Penélope Cruz (“Parallel Mothers,” 2022), and Riseborough herself. While recent Golden Globe nominees Natalie Portman (“May December”) and Cailee Spaeny (“Priscilla”) are also eligible for that distinction, Lysette’s under-the-radar status more closely aligns with those of Cruz and especially Riseborough.
Assuming it helped Riseborough to be supported on and off screen by Oscar winner Allison Janney (“I, Tonya”), Lysette should benefit from the fact that her film’s ensemble includes two past nominees: Patricia Clarkson (“Pieces of April”) as Monica’s mother and Adriana Barraza (“Babel”) as her caretaker. Although the academy has now clarified that its members cannot use social media to elicit votes for or against performances or other film achievements, plenty of actors – including several of Lysette’s cast mates – are not members. Even if they were, they would still be allowed to publicly praise her work in a strictly general sense and hold informal events focused on her and the film, provided they receive no studio funding or endorsement.
The truth is that Lysette likely won’t be nominated unless her peers advocate for her the way they did for Riseborough, or at least to the extent that they can under the new AMPAS guidelines. As a veteran cast member of films like “Hustlers” and TV series like “Transparent” and “Pose,” it stands to reason that Lysette would at least be able to count on support from her former costars. Given the whirlwind nature of Riseborough’s campaign, there’s still time for a carefully altered version to be carried out this year, and there’s hardly any performance more worthy of such a boost.
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