Falconetti's performance in 'the passion of Joan Arc' IS the signature performance of the history of movies. Period. Streep gave her best performance in "sophie's choice", but I feel her performance here a little bit too proficient and pitch-perfect but coldly over-studied. Typical Streep way. I won't rank her performance in 'Sophie' above Jessica Lange's "Frances", which also came out in 82.<br /><br />There are lots of great female performances that you can cite on: Masina in 'la strada' and 'night of cabiria', Watson in 'breaking the waves' (heck, how can she ever lost to Frances M in 'fargo'? Another evidence that the Academy is clueless and run by morons), Ullman, Anderson, and Thulin in Bergman movies... The list goes on and on...