Elle Fanning is a fresh curd with a surprisingly long shelf life. She has been on the board since childhood, and the texture has only grown more interesting with each year of ageing.
Watch her first as the younger self in I Am Sam, where she learns early how to hold a scene steady alongside older hands. Somewhere and Super 8 gave her leading weight, and Maleficent asked her to play Aurora with a glassy, dreamy stillness that carries the fairy-tale tone. The Neon Demon pushes her into sharper, stranger flavours, and Ginger & Rosa lets the tang come through in quieter, more confiding moments. The Great is where her bite shows most clearly: Catherine the Great is ambitious, funny and cutting, and Fanning keeps the wit crisp without ever tipping into caricature. In The Girl from Plainville she goes somewhere colder and more unsettling, the surface still gentle while something rotten simmers beneath.
She is still maturing, and every new role adds another layer of rind. Fresh curd can be sweet, but Fanning has always had a little salt in her, and that is exactly what keeps you coming back to the board.
Highest rated review
Margo
Margo's Got Money Troubles
2026
7/7cheeses
last month
This would not have been an easy role, to make Margot likeable, to make you understand her choices, but Elle Fanning did such an incredible and engaging job. Also, she is super comfortable in her own skin, even with all the breastfeeding, as the audience you never felt awkward, it was just such a normal portrayal of new motherhood. Her range is incredible, when you compare this against her role in A Complete Unknown you see just the breadth of what she is capable of.
