Kirsten Dunst: Her Best Roles

After a year of its release, this film directed by Alex Garland has become even more relatable — even if it is just fiction. In a chaotic and violent America, where paramilitary groups rise against an absolutist government, Dunst portrays a war photojournalist navigating this fractured future. The film is gritty and chaotic, and Dunst understands it, portraying a woman who’s seen too much but keeps going because she knows someone has to bear witness. This is Dunst in full control, and it shows.

Sad and, of course, melancholic, Dunst’s portrayal of Justine, a bride spiralling into emotional collapse due to the end of both the world and her potential marriage, it’s not her usual role. However, her raw vulnerability and eerie calmness granted her the Best Actress award at Cannes. This performance marked a turning point in her filmography and cemented her as more than just a former child star, but a true dramatic actress.

Sofia Coppola’s debut behind the camera carries this dreamy and melancholic atmosphere, but it wouldn’t be the same without Kirsten Dunst as Lux Lisbon. As the most rebellious and magnetic of the five doomed sisters, Dunst captures perfectly that mix of adolescent allure and deep sadness. A sense that is captured in the entire film, for which Dunst’s presence is one of the key reasons it works so well.

Though her screen time is limited compared to the real protagonists, Kirsten Dunst still manages to give a strong impression in this modern sci-fi classic. As an employee of a company that specialises in erasing painful memories, Mary Svevo is unaware that she also had some of her past deleted. However, she will face a sour truth when she finds out what it was. Even in this supporting role, Dunst gives the character a youthful naivety that slowly unravels into something far more tragic.

Playing one of history’s most controversial queens could have easily turned ridiculous, but Kirsten Dunst brought something fresh and surprisingly relatable to Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. Through pastel-coloured opulence (it couldn’t be any other way giving the character), Dunst captures the loneliness of a young woman trapped in a world of excess. Though it is never really likeable, her performance makes that obnoxious character a sense of humanity. Perhaps it is not the typical period drama, and that’s precisely what makes Dunst’s take on the iconic monarch so memorable.

Set in the rural America of the 1920s, with impressive cinematography and direction, Jane Campion’s slow-burning Western was the perfect opportunity for one of Dunst’s most emotionally raw performances of her career. She plays Rose Gordon, a widow recently married to George Burbank, a gentle man and owner of a ranch. However, the pressure and judgment of his brother-in-law will make her life difficult. Dunst’s quiet, restrained, and nuanced approach speaks volumes about her character and earned her an Academy Award nomination. As an interesting fact, her husband in the film is also played by her real life husband, Jesse Plemons.

Standing out in a film with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as co-stars requires a lot of talent, but Kirsten Dunst did it when she was only ten. The movie follows the atypical relationship between two vampires (Cruise and Pitt’s characters) and their surrogate daughter, Claudia. A girl who, no matter how old she is, will always look like a kid. Thought the film received overall mixed reviews, Dunst’s performance was not overlooked by the critics. How she was able to convey the impression of a mature woman when she was still a kid was, and still is, impressive.

If you are a kid from the 90s, Jumanji is probably one of those films you grew up with. The cursed board game was the perfect mix of comedy and thrill, spiced up with mystery. But it’s also one of Dunst’s first performances on the big screen. She was only eleven then, and even though her role was rather discreet (playing a big sister, a mix of good judgement and sensibility despite her young age), she is undoubtedly a special part of our childhood.

If you are a fan of the most popular arachnid in New York, you haven’t missed her in this film. Sam Raimi’s take on Spider-man not only catapulted the superhero genre, but also helped Dunst finally establish her career in the big league. She plays Mary Jane Watson, the charismatic girlfriend of the famous superhero, who tends to turn into a damsel in distress at the end of every film. Truth is, it might not be her strongest role, but it is undoubtedly one of her most iconic ones and has become the blueprint.

In a film that celebrates the legacy of those undervalued but brilliant Black women who worked in NASA, Dunst takes the difficult role of Vivian Mitchell. She is the supervisor who tries to maintain the status quo in an age when racism was prevalent. She’s not overtly cruel, but her quiet complicity makes her moments of growth feel deserved. It’s a supporting role, yes, but an essential one, and Dunst handles it with the maturity that the film’s message demands.