Loder

Kurt Loder (wasn't he like an MTV anchorman or something?) just named his top ten for the year (again, shrug). He also selected the best performances of the year, and here's his pick for Best Actress:

Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"

Some of the most memorable performances by women came from abroad this year — the startling Tang Wei in Ang Lee's otherwise static "Lust, Caution"; the fearless Carice van Houten in Paul Verhoeven's World War II spy thriller, "Black Book." No one anywhere outdid Cotillard, though, playing the French songbird and national treasure Edith Piaf from boozy youth to desolate middle age (she died at 47). The movie itself was an awkwardly concocted melodrama, but this 32-year-old actress invested it with unforgettable emotional fire. To pass over Cate Blanchett ("I'm Not There"), Sienna Miller ("Interview"), Laura Linney ("The Savages"), and, yes, the superlative Ellen Page ("Juno") in an attempt to pick a winner among such dissimilarly gifted performers demonstrates the pointlessness of the enterprise. It can be argued that no one was better than Cotillard, though, so that'll have to do.

Source.