Blake Lively has an issue that’s as ancient as the patriarchy that produced it: You’re nothing if you’re not a beautiful woman. As a result, when Lively rose to fame after landing the part of it girl Serena van der Woodsen on the CW’s soapy, hypersexualized “Gossip Girl,” it was easy for fans to whittle her down to her most visible assets.
It was easy for people to confuse Lively with the role she played on television at that early time of her career — after “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” but before “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.” Lively was born into an affluent family with roots in show business; her first screen credit was in a low-budget film made by her father, and she earned her first Hollywood role after her brother asked his agency to send his bored kid sister on some auditions during summer break. From the outside, everything appeared to be so simple.
Her current work, on the other hand, appears to be determined to dispel those prejudices. She has revolutionized into one of the most vital and bankable stars in Hollywood by confronting and subverting her image from the inside out, following a three-year acting hiatus with an ongoing streak of raw and riveting performances, including her biting, Oscar-worthy turn in Paul Feig’s hilarious and sharp “A Simple Favor.” She’s also made it appear simple.
Of course, it’s possible that Lively was forever a tremendous genius who went unnoticed by the rest of us; it’s also possible that the business had to write her off before she could be given her own blank page. Make no mistake: the industry dismissed her even more harshly than “Gossip Girl” dismissed Jenny Humphrey.
It began when Lively began to parlay her TV stardom into a series of risky Hollywood parts, which overshadowed her more daring work in non-studio projects like “Hick” and “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.” Actresses appear to be limited to only being one thing at a time. It’s amazing how quickly people forget you played the title character in a Rebecca Miller film if you adopt a Fenway-sized Boston accent while straddling Ben Affleck. Star opposite your future husband in one of the silliest superhero movies ever made, yet “Green Lantern” seems to sum up everything you’ve accomplished in life. Everyone recalls when you said “wargasms” without a trace of sarcasm in a trashy Oliver Stone epic while acting the pants off everyone else.
Even before Lively started a failing Goop-esque lifestyle brand called “Preserve,” the public was willing to denigrate her as a less brilliant Gwyneth Paltrow. About a year after it began, the project came to an end. Is it possible that this is for a good reason? The site’s failure was partly attributable to the fact that everything Lively offered was “apparently planned for a southern-themed bridal shower,” according to Vanity Fair’s postmortem. Lively was mocked by Gawker for her “Allure of Antebellum” fashion spread, which is now likewise a thing of the past. In light of this, it’s no wonder that the actress later got herself into trouble for marrying Ryan Reynolds on a South Carolina farm where “slave street” still exists.
“I know people are going to have a field day with this,” Lively told Vogue after deciding not to save Preserve, “but it’s so much worse to keep putting something out there that isn’t the best [I] can do. I’m going to take it, and the only way I can prove all the critics wrong is to come up with a plan that will astound everyone.” In retrospect, she could have just as easily been discussing her acting career.
That was in September 2015, just five months after Lively’s first film in three years, and her first leading role overall. “The Age of Adaline” isn’t a particularly good film, but it demonstrated that Lively could work with greats like Ellen Burstyn and Kathy Baker and that she could even bring a sleepy Harrison Ford to life. Looking back on this humble romantic fantasy now, it’s rather fitting that Lively made her return in a story about a deathless young woman who returns from the shadows desperate to grow up and take chances, rather than just staying gorgeous forever, after a terrible accident freezes her in time forever.
Lively starred in two films released within a few weeks of each other the following summer: Woody Allen’s “Café Society” and Jaume Collet-“The Serra’s Shallows.” Whatever you think of Allen’s work (even before the #MeToo movement mercilessly ended his career), “Café Society” is one of his best recent films, and Lively’s soft, yearning performance as an elegant divorcée on the verge of her “prime” — the other woman in an unresolved love triangle aimed at Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart — is a big reason why.
It’s a little character that could have gone to any number of talented actresses, but Lively, playing against type, finds something wounded and melancholy in the portrayal of a woman who will always be second in her husband’s heart. Watch how she stares at Eisenberg in a pivotal scene at a jazz club, smiling and grimacing at the same time as she hints at a deep inner existence that neither her partner nor her screenwriter would discover. Lively sparked debate when she claimed that her encounter with Allen was “empowering to women,” but the emotional space she carves out for herself in “Café Society” only adds to her case.
“The Shallows” is a more magnificent (and less compromised) beast, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lively was ready for the big screen. Lively is left to carry the whole film on her shoulders as Nancy Adams, a heartbroken surfer travels to her dead mother’s favorite beach only to find herself stranded on a small rock while a great white shark patrols the sea nearby. That was a “very hazardous” move for her to make; not only is there a lot of pressure on set, but the final product was destined to be a do-or-die test for Lively’s box office prominence.
It’s not a problem. Lively carries the entire film on one leg, fending off every manner of peril as she develops into a soulful female MacGyver in front of our eyes. Lively’s character transforms from a lost young woman to an unstoppable survivor over the course of 86 frenetic minutes. Her tenacious and athletic performance, which was captured just after she gave birth to her first kid, is a middle finger to everyone who thinks she’s simply another gorgeous face. “The Shallows,” which had a budget of less than $25 million, made $119.1 million, and Lively was back and better than ever.
The most intriguing part of Lively’s comeback, though, was her biggest failure in her whole career. “All I See Is You,” a seductive and erotic love drama that grossed $344,331 on a $30 million budget, starring Lively as Gina, a blind lady who lives in Bangkok with her millionaire husband (Jason Clarke). Their connection is held together by a “Phantom Thread”-like dependency between them, but once Gina has successful eye surgery to restore her sight, the whole thing threatens to fall apart. Her husband, understandably, is irritated by the notion that his beautiful wife — once a bird with a broken wing — no longer requires him.
