Brenda Blethyn: 10 essential performances

Secrets and Lies (1996)

In an interview in the Telegraph in 2012, Brenda Blethyn said: “I couldn’t care less about the way I look on screen. If you did, you’d never play the interesting parts.” There’s something of the mission statement in Brenda Blethyn’s observation: here’s an actor who has often given expression to a fragile ordinariness that we can all recognise. Blethyn’s performances have consistently reminded us of how our moments of nervousness and uncertainty, of happiness and of anger, collide in the interaction between ourselves and the demands of those with whom we share our lives.

A River Runs through It (1992)

Director Robert Redford

Blethyn portrays Mrs Maclean, mother to two sons, in this Robert Redford-directed, Brad Pitt-starring adaptation of Norman Maclean’s classic and archetypal American novella about two brothers and their strict father in early 20th-century Montana, where flyfishing borders on functioning as a ‘religion’. Blethyn captures the stillness that typifies Mrs Maclean as the strong and quiet strength in the family. Just watch the scene in which she breaks up a fight in the kitchen between her two adult sons.

• Watch A River Runs through It online on BFI Player

Secrets & Lies (1996)

Director Mike Leigh

This is the role with which Brenda Blethyn came to the attention of many cinemagoers, collaborating with director Mike Leigh. Blethyn portrays Cynthia, a woman tracked down by the daughter she gave up for adoption. Relish the long-take scene when Cynthia first meets Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), and her shift in composure when she realises who Hortense’s father might have been.

Little Voice (1998)

Director Mark Herman

Blethyn’s performance as Mari Hoff, mother of Laura, the titular Little Voice (played by Jane Horrocks), brilliantly combines the comic and the melancholy. Mari is a loud character, a caricature almost, but it’s one of several mother characters that Blethyn has rendered with real power and emotional authenticity. Mari’s control over Laura is flipped when she finally finds the opportunity to berate her mother and Mari’s mascara-streaked face registers shock, sadness and anger. Blethyn was Oscar-nominated for her efforts here.

Night Train (1998)

Director John Lynch

This little seen but effective Irish movie showcases John Hurt and Brenda Blethyn in a story that’s mostly domestic drama and partly thriller. Hurt portrays Poole, a newly released prisoner, who takes lodgings in Dublin where he befriends Alice (Blethyn), the reticent middle-aged daughter of the landlady. Alice is an essential Blethyn characterisation, a woman who yearns for more from life; in Poole she finds a man with whom she is able to imagine a life less ordinary for herself.

Saving Grace (2000)

Director Nigel Cole

Nigel Cole’s comedy focuses on a character named Grace Trevethyn, who, in the wake of the death of her husband and the prospect of eviction, finds herself befriending a gardener and embarking on a venture that would seem to be totally out of character for this respectable woman. Together, Grace and Matthew the gardener begin growing marijuana. This is the kind of small-town comedy drama that British cinema can do well. Saving Grace allows Blethyn to apply her skill at communicating fragility through both drama and comedy.

Lovely & Amazing (2001)

Director Nicole Holofcener

In this affecting slice of American naturalism, director Nicole Holofcener charts the knotty territory of family life. Blethyn portrays Jane Marks, a mother to two adult daughters (portrayed by Catherine Keener and Emily Mortimer) who then adopts a young African American child (Raven Goodwin). The actor’s skill at expressing a recognisable ordinariness comes to the fore in this film. 

On a Clear Day (2004)

Director Gaby Dellal

This Glasgow-set drama centres on married couple Joan and Frank (portrayed by Blethyn and Peter Mullan). Frank decides to swim the English Channel in an effort to deal with his recent unemployment as a shipyard worker. Blethyn portrays Joan as a strong-headed character who makes her own decision to deal with the problem at hand by training to become a bus driver. Blethyn’s role features in what are some of the more assured scenes in the film. 

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Director Joe Wright

The nervy energy of Cynthia in Secrets and Lies finds a similar outlet in Blethyn’s portrayal of Mrs Bennet as she chatters her way through this adaptation of Jane Austen’s iconic romantic comedy novel about young love. Blethyn embodies the character’s busy, bustling manner, also managing to communicate both the desperation of families to marry off their daughters and Mrs Bennet’s love for her children.

Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005)

Director Frank Nissen

In what couldn’t be more of a counterpoint to the roles that she is most recognised for, Blethyn has also voiced a number of animated characters. She can be heard as the character of Mama Heffalump in both this and the later Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too (2009). She brings the requisite warmth and nurturing spirit that we’d expect from a Disney studio produced animated film for very young children.

London River (2009)

Director Rachid Bouchareb

A drama that explores the ramifications of the terrorist attacks in London in summer 2005, London River features one of Blethyn’s strongest screen performances. Her character, Elisabeth, comes to London to get news about her daughter in the aftermath of the attack. Elizabeth befriends an African man, Ousmane (Sotigui Kouyaté), also in London for news of his son. In this tentative friendship, Blethyn’s low-key manner and body language often say more than the spoken word.