Let’s get this out of the way: Lady Gaga's greatest performance is her portrayal of Lady Gaga. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta has always treated music, and her place in it, like performance art, a Warhol-ian tribute to every creature of the zeitgeist who came before. And her depiction of the turn-of-the-millennium pop star known as Lady Gaga will always be some of her best work.
That's not to say she's inauthentic, but as anyone who read the recent New York Times Magazine profile of the singer knows, Gaga is an evolving being, constantly consuming and repurposing culture to make a statement. It's hard work, and while the person of Gaga and the persona of Gaga may be similar, at least some of it is a character.
But what about Gaga's other roles? The ones that don't involve a spending 72 hours in a giant egg? Most of them have been in genre work—but with A Star Is Born, which features her most prominent screen role to date, opening tomorrow, we thought we'd comb through them to establish just what are Lady Gaga's best performances, ranked from maybe-not-so-best to best.
How do I say this? Machete Kills is not a good movie. Danny Trejo could not save it, no matter how many sleeveless leather vests he wears. Lady Gaga's killer-in-disguise isn't in it that much (possibly a blessing, for her), but she's a sight for sore eyes when she shows up—even if just makes you wish you were watching the "Telephone" video instead.
[#video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/IxI1iOi0t-c
Unlike many of the other roles on this list, which in one way or another riff on Lady Gaga’s persona, this role—if anything—pulls from her life pre-Gaga, or from her life if Gaga had never taken off. At the beginning of director/star Bradley Cooper's remake, her Ally is already performer, but she’s doing a drag performance of "La Vie En Rose," not singing her own songs; she’s an artist who hasn't had the opportunity to build herself into a juggernaut yet. A lot has already been made of her role in A Star Is Born, and a lot more will undoubtedly be made in the future (practice the phrase "Oscar-winner Lady Gaga" just in case), and all of it is deserved. The possibility that Lady Gaga could play an aspiring musician was never a stretch, but the depths of power and vulnerability she reaches as Ally are remarkable. So is the music, much of which she co-wrote and all of which she (and Cooper) sang live during filming. It's Gaga at her best, raw and fearless—and there’s nothing more all-consuming than watching her rise.
[#video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/nSbzyEJ8X9E
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