American actress Annette Bening has racked up a plethora of awards and nominations during her 40-year career, including a BAFTA, Tony Award nominations, and several nominations at the Academy Awards. Originally a child from the Midwest, she moved to California in elementary school with her family. There, she instilled a love for the arts, and she grew up to receive her undergraduate degree in Theater Arts. She began her theater career, like many other actors, performing the Shakespearean classics, but eventually made her way to Broadway and the movie world.
14 years after graduating from college, Bening found her breakout role in 1990’s The Grifters, which landed her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards. Ever since then, she has hit the ground running. Appearing in a variety of films, shows, and plays, she has proven her expertise and adapted it for the medium she is performing in. Although Bening had her start on the stage, nowadays, she is more active in the movie world. That said, these are the best Annette Bening movies.
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8 Death on the Nile
Kinberg Genre
Kenneth Branagh returned with the follow-up to his adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express: Death on the Nile. Branagh is Hercule Poirot, the detective from the first movie. Now, in this adaptation, he finds himself in Egypt at the center of yet another big crime: an heiress (Gal Gadot) has been shot and one of her valuables stolen. Death on the Nile is a classic Agatha Christie whodunit, although, at times, this adaptation falls flat in keeping the suspense and magic in her work alive.
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7 The Kids Are All Right
Gilbert Films
Released in 2010, The Kids Are All Right came to prominence when it first premiered at Sundance. It is the first movie to depict a same-sex LGTBQ+ couple raising teenagers; its main characters, the two mothers, are portrayed by Julianne Moore and Annette Bening. Their children are now 16 and 18, and when the 16-year-old wants to find out who his real father is — they were conceived via a sperm donor — he requests his sister to contact him. This decision turns out both catastrophic and therapeutic as an unlikely affair begins, filling in the cracks in their relationships.
6 Bugsy
Baltimore Pictures
Historical crime drama Bugsy opens in 1941, a nod to the classic era of gangster and film noir movies that set Hollywood ablaze. In Los Angeles, a gangster known as Bugsy (Warren Beatty) finds love with a Hollywood starlet (Bening), but there is a big problem: he is already married. As he investigates a potential business opportunity opening a casino in Las Vegas, his past life keeps creeping up on him. The movie took home Best Motion Picture — Drama at the Golden Globes that year.
5 Valmont
Renn Productions
Valmont, per LA Times, is in the vein of its slightly older, more seductive predecessor: Dangerous Liaisons. Annette Bening was only in her second movie role so far, but she starred as Merteuil, a wealthy French woman in the 1700s. As her 15-year-old niece becomes engaged to be married to her lover, she plots with another one of her former lovers (Colin Firth) to seduce her niece and take away her virginity, thus making her less appealing. He ultimately does so, sparking a series of events that could only end in tragedy and suffering.
4 The American President
Columbia Pictures
The American President is now considered one of the greatest love stories depicted on film, and that is for a good reason. A Democratic President (Michael Douglas) is up for re-election with a steady approval rating, and to solidify his good standing, he decides to pass a bill on controlling crime through Congress. He then meets and falls in love with a lawyer (Bening) lobbying him to try and create more legislation on carbon emissions, setting the stage for what he will do for the rest of his time as President of the United States.
3 Being Julia
Sony Pictures Classic
It is not easy being an actress, no matter the decade and whether it is 2022 or 1938. Being Julia transports viewers back to 1938 when actress Julia Lambert (Bening) is one of the most successful and popular actresses on the stage in London. As she gets older, these notions of fame are starting to get to her head, and she has doubts about where her career is going next. To rediscover her passion for life, she begins an affair with a younger man than her husband, trapping her in a new love triangle.
2 The Grifters
Cineplex Odeon Films
1990’s The Grifters was said to be one of the best movies to come out that year, but, besides that, it also introduced Annette Bening to the mainstream movie world for the first time in her breakout role, as outlined by People. A con artist goes to visit her son in Los Angeles when she discovers he is in dire need of a hospital, and when she meets his girlfriend, there is an abundance of disappointment coming from his mother. All three — mother, son, girlfriend — turn out to be con artists, making their dance a deadly one.
1 American Beauty
Jinks/Cohen Company
Sam Mendes’ American Beauty is now a classic, a staple in the world of contemporary American cinema even if its star has fallen from grace. A magazine executive (Kevin Spacey) is in an unhappy marriage with his wife (Bening), while their teenage daughter suffers from her own problems along with her parent’s issues. A collection of themes, whether about sexuality or repression, then emerge in the story, offering an interesting collage on the characters’ actions to reflect on. Although the movie does have its own problems, visually it is a stunning film.
