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...in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
We're so used to seeing her concealed behind an accent, a look, a meticulous virtuoso shtick that it's always a shock to see her as plain, blonde, milky-skinned Meryl, the woman behind the chameleon. As Joanne Kramer, Streep works a small miracle with what begins as an almost villainous role — a 30-ish housewife who abandons her husband and child, without much explanation. The audience spends the next hour bonding with Dustin Hoffman's Ted Kramer as he learns how to be a New Dad. But then Streep returns, and in court, during the custody hearing, she spins the movie in an entirely new direction, taking the stand to make the case for an ordinary mother's flawed, vulnerable, questing self. In 10 extraordinary minutes, Streep fills in the character's backstory — the guilt and anxiety, the months of therapy, the primal realization of what motherhood means. Her eyes shine with regret, her villainy melts away (for her husband, and for us), and what we're left with is Meryl Streep at her most exposed, and her most moving. —Owen Gleiberman
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