1. Cate Blanchett & Rooney Mara- Carol– This year, the top spot on the list is also an act of protest.  It’s ridiculous to debate who gives the leading performance in Carol, and it’s ridiculous to campaign Rooney Mara for Best Supporting Actress awards when most of the film is told from her point of view.  Lost in the debate are two performances destined to be iconic; Mara as the young store clerk Therese and Cate Blanchett as Carol, the regal housewife she falls in love with.  Todd Haynes’ sublime 1950s melodrama is a superb showcase for both of them; never has a director better understood the distinct power of Blanchett’s slow-burning gaze, or the quietly devastating power of Mara’s wide, wondrous eyes.  Together the two actresses sketch a bond as intimate and ravishing as any screen romance in recent memory.

2.  Julianne Moore- Maps to the Stars- Julianne Moore gives a brutal, merciless performance in Maps to the Stars, playing a woman who is gradually unraveling at the thought of no longer getting movie roles as she reaches 50.  Her Havana Sagrand is Valerie Cherish of HBO’s The Comeback stripped of any sympathy and dignity.  She is ruthlessly mean and unhinged, the kind of character you’d want to keep your distance from in case she spontaneously combusts.  Like Keira Knightley in A Dangerous Method or Jeff Goldbloom in The Fly, this is exactly the kind of performance that director David Cronenberg loves to lavish with close-ups.  It’s among the most terrifying and memorable performances from one of the greatest living actresses.

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