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My earliest encounter with an insult about my appearance remains vivid in my memory. A classmate in primary school mocked my eyes, claiming they were too big for my face. My mother consoled me, assuring me that he was simply envious. Although my eyes were unusually large, they didn’t function exceptionally well. At the age of five, I underwent eye surgery and had to wear an eyepatch for a period of time. The experience felt unjust and disheartening. How could I ever become everything I aspired to be as an adult when I was already condemned?
During the same period, my sister and I secretly indulged in numerous horror films. We worked our way through the classics, followed by the sequels, and even endured the dreadful ones like A Nightmare on Elm Street 5. We found them insane, terrifying, and brilliantly made. One evening, we watched The Shining, and the presence of Shelley Duvall with her exaggerated facial features captured our attention. She possessed eyes that seemed to grow rounder and rounder as she expressed fear. I couldn’t look away. Her wide-set brown eyes met mine, and she appeared more vivid and authentic than any other actress I had ever seen.
Interestingly, watching The Shining served as one of the most comforting experiences of my childhood, although Duvall was not conventionally beautiful in my eyes at that age. However, she possessed an unconventional and intriguing quality. Growing up in a small town, I became rebellious against what I perceived as narrow-mindedness. I recognized that Duvall would often be labeled as “ugly” or, at best, “unfortunate-looking”. Nevertheless, beauty was never her pursuit or undertaking.
What I admire most about her, even to this day, is her defiance of categorization. She cannot be described using a single word. Attempting to woo her with clichéd pickup lines would be futile. She is too eccentric, otherworldly, and disconcerting. Yet, one would inevitably fall in love with her across the room, captivated by her ethereal face and undeniable charisma.
It was at a party in Texas that a talent scout for Robert Altman discovered her, leading to her role as Suzanne in Brewster McCloud. Although she is widely recognized for her performance in The Shining, my adoration lies in her portrayal of Millie Lammoreaux, the imaginative, color-coordinated, and desperately feminine assistant in Altman’s enigmatic masterpiece Three Women. As Millie, she exudes both confidence and delusion, firmly convinced that men cannot resist her even as they show no interest, repeatedly sharing dinner recipes with uninterested listeners. Millie has no true sense of self identity. Her persona is derived from women’s magazines. Duvall expertly portrays a woman desperately clinging to a crafted façade, masking her depth beneath a veil of cheerfulness.
Duvall also displayed her comedic talent, fearlessly embracing silliness and goofiness. She steals the show as the “transplendent” Pam, the Rolling Stone journalist, in Annie Hall. However, Altman truly understood her and cast her perfectly. Even within the vast and diverse cast of his American masterpiece, Nashville, Duvall shines brightly as Martha, a woman unable to resist the charms of male musicians.
The pleasure derived from watching Duvall is largely attributed to her rawness and authenticity (especially considering her initial reluctance to enter the field of acting). As movie stars increasingly conform to a polished and homogeneous mold, her spontaneity and naivety have become incredibly rare. I will forever cherish the gift she gave me as a child: a face I had never before encountered. At the age of 74, after a hiatus of 20 years, she reemerged on America’s screens earlier this year in the werewolf film The Forest Hills. Has her magic endured? Undoubtedly.
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