From True Romance to Boyhood: Patricia Arquette’s Career in Film

When Patricia Arquette’s Alabama delivers her memorable, hypnotic monologue to close the curtains on the masterpiece that is True Romance, you knew that one day this talented actress would win an Oscar. Such is the way she can be so vulnerable and yet so strong in the same scene; the poetic nature of her dialogue; and her gentle, Southern-tinged voice. Now, over 20 years later, Arquette has finally been rewarded for her talents, winning the Best Supporting Actress award at the recent Academy Awards, for her emotive display in Richard Linklater’s Boyhood.

Despite her role in the groundbreaking drama – playing the protagonist’s mother – feeling like a return, the very fact the picture was shot across 12 years is a clear indication that Arquette has been asserting her talents in a triumphant way across her career. Though it is fair to say that until this point she had struggled to match the exploits achieved in the Tarantino-penned True Romance, starring in very few films of note this side of the millennium.

She impressed in Holes, playing the beguiling Kissin’ Kate Barlow, while other notable turns have come in David Lynch’s Lost Highway, and a starring role in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood. But Boyhood is something else – to portray the same character for over a decade is no easy feat, and she’s so remarkably subtle and nuanced, managing to give the character such an incredible degree of depth, as we believe in and abide by her own respective journey – one that is equally as engaging as that of her son’s.

To say the Oscar is deserved is an understatement, as she was the standout actress amongst her fellow nominees. There aren’t too many projects in the pipeline for Arquette, but needless to say her agent will be busy dealing with scripts at present. Arquette is an actress who deserves any success she can get. And to quote her character Alabama in that aforementioned closing monologue in True Romance: “three words went through my mind endlessly, repeating themselves like a broken record; you’re so cool, you’re so cool, you’re so cool.”