Diane Keaton's Face Told The Story | Defector

"There is no way around the fact that most movies are written by men, for men, about men, and as a result women usually figure into them in tertiary roles, as objects more than subjects in themselves. It's often thankless work, trying to portray a full person from within the confines of that box. The best actresses find a way to reorient the movie in their direction, if only for a moment or two."

"Yes, as Kay, she is in some ways the audience surrogate, a narrative device used to introduce us to this heavily Italian, heavily masculine, heavily traditional and honor-bound world, and also to reflect the horror we are meant to feel as Al Pacino's Michael gets sucked into the mafia lifestyle. At the same time, she is also a trophy, a box Michael has to tick off on his path to fill his father's shoes as the new boss."

Actresses often must create depth within limited, male-centered roles that treat women as objects rather than subjects. Keaton excelled at making tertiary characters dimensional through subtle facial acting and presence. In The Godfather (1972) Keaton's Kay functions as an audience surrogate and a trophy, yet Keaton conveys horror, affection, and uncertainty through expression. Across the three Godfather films, Keaton's performances culminate in a haunting final moment where Kay watches Michael's transformation before being shut out. Keaton combined intellect, wit, and sensuality and embodied the postmodern woman in films by Woody Allen and Nancy Meyers.

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