Cynthia Nixon was delightful as Eleanor Roosevelt!
and really all the actors are so wonderful. What a great film!
share ~ I think this is the best role Cynthia Nixion has ever done.
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MovieChat Forums > Warm Springs (2005) Discussion > Cynthia Nixon was delightful as Eleanor ...
This was a lovely film and Branaugh and Nixon were both wonderful. I have never enjoyed Branaugh on film as much as I did here...deeply moving performance and Cynthia Nixon surprised me with a warm, yet rock solid portrayal of Eleanor that could have so easily eased into caricature territory but never did.
shareI always thought that she was far too pretty for the role. Bear in mind the Elenore was always considered the "Ugly child" in her familiy, and that the only man brave enough to marry her was her cousin Franklin. Something that a few lines on the face due to make-up cannot replicate. It must be understood that Elenore was not only considered ugly by her family, but herself as well (due to the constant renforcement of her family).
This is not a critque of Cythina Nixon (who is very pretty I feel) or her performance, but rather my reflection on history.
Delightful and Eleanor Roosevelt would be an oxymoron in my book. I will say Cynthia Nixon did a great job mimicking her accent and mannerisms but I can't find anything appealing about ER in general. Being raised in a different generation I certainly wouldn't have put up with FDR's philandering no matter the family's position but in her defense she really didn't have much choice, she didn't have a career to support her family if she had left him and it would have destroyed him politically. As it was, there was a massive cover-up of how seriously paralyzed FDR was but it was easier to manipulate the media then--and they would play along for access to candidates.
It was actually very radical of her to offer the divorce.
The times were different then.
ER and FDR co-opted the media by opening up their lives to close scrutiny to a degree much further than previous WHouse residents - to prove that even though he was crippled, he led a full life. Reporters were invited - spontaneously - to spend nights in the White House, to see the R's rooms in DC and Hyde Park, to go swimming with them, etc.
It also showed that despite his career, his mother and his being crippled, it seemed to be a fairly happy, oddly functional family even if it wasn't traditional.
I thought the producers of "Eleanor and Franklin" did a better job of making Jane Alexander look like Eleanor. The receding chin is very difficult to replicate. And I thought that Jane Alexander did a better job of capturing Eleanor's vocal qualities, though some might argue that her characterization was too much a characature.
Having said that, I thought Cynthia Nixon did a very credible job in "Warm Springs". And Jane Alexander was fully believable as Sara in this film. I'm sure a little research would answer the question: How many times has an actor portrayed the spouse AND parent of the same character in two different films?
Ciao, e buon auguri
Yes, Cynthia Nixon was very good as Eleanor Roosevelt but the best (and almost definitive) depiction is by Jane Alexander in 'Eleanor and Franklin' from 1976. I would watch that series also if you enjoyed 'Warm Springs'.
Frank: Just a man.
Harmonica: An ancient race.