On almost any other year, Annette Bening would be looking forward to the Academy Awards, safe in the knowledge she has a nomination to her name, such is the magnetism of her performance in Mike Mills’ 20th Century Women.

Annette Bening - 20th Century WomenAlas, the competition this year is so high she’s just missed out – and we discussed with the four-time Oscar nominee, how strong a year it has been for actresses. Much of the reason why she had been mentioned in the conversation in the first place, is down to the wonderful role of Dorothea, and she speaks about getting her teeth stuck into such a nuanced character, and where she took inspiration from her own life to help craft and inform her performance.

Bening then discussed why she wanted to work with Mills, the beauty to imperfection – and how her own upbringing compared to that of the one we see within this indelible production.

 

Synopsis

In 1979 Santa Barbara, Calif., Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women — Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields’ home and Julie, a savvy and provocative teenage neighbor — to help with Jamie’s upbringing.

20th Century Women is released on February 10th, and you can read our 4* review of the film here.