Margaret Qualley's Most Underrated Performance Is In A Small Thriller That Nobody Talks About

Not many actors currently working in Hollywood are as hot right now as Margaret Qualley. Her rise to stardom kind of came from out of nowhere, yet she has delivered whenever she gets an opportunity on the big or small screen. She's not just an actor who has been appearing in a ton of roles but one who has been great in almost all of them. Qualley grew up around the industry, as her mother, Andie MacDowell, has been a successful actor for several decades.

Margaret Qualley made her acting debut in the indie film Palo Alto in 2013, but most people first discovered her on the acclaimed HBO series, The Leftovers. She then popped up with supporting parts in quality projects like The Nice Guys and Fosse/Verdon before breaking out as the most prominent member of the Manson Family in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. She was also fantastic in the Netflix original miniseries, Maid.

Although it has only been a few years, Margaret Qualley has carved out an impressive career filled with great performances. However, the best acting role of her career might be one from an erotic thriller called Sanctuary, which not enough people have seen.

Sanctuary Is An Intense Indie Thriller

The reason that not a lot of people know about Sanctuary is that it didn't get a very wide release. The movie first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 before a limited theatrical run began in May 2023. Ultimately, the film only grossed around $794,000 worldwide. When Sanctuary was finally released on streaming services, it didn't get a ton of hype or advertising, which meant that people overlooked it.

For those unaware, Sanctuary is an erotic thriller that tells the story of a complex relationship between Rebecca Marin and Hal Porterfield. Hal is the heir to a hotel empire, while Rebecca is a dominatrix who has also helped prime him for success. The plot centers on them stuck in a claustrophobic hotel room and they go back and forth on what happens next as he wants to end their relationship, while she wants something in return for helping him.

Reviews for Sanctuary were pretty great. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie holds an 88% rating, which is among the highest in Margaret Qualley's career, only behind Poor Things, The Nice Guys, The Substance, and Blue Moon. The critical consensus is that the film is a tightly written thriller that is boosted by the tremendous performances of its two leads.

Margaret Qualley Is Fantastic In Sanctuary

Christopher Abbott is one of those actors, as he does great work as Hal. However, the work done by Margaret Qualley is about as good as it gets and it really lets her shine. To this point, most of Qualley's best performances came as characters like Jill Garvey in The Leftovers and Alex Russell in Maid, who are both troubled women trying to get through tough situations. In Sanctuary, we get to see a totally different side of the actor.

Rebecca is a strong, confident woman who knows exactly what she wants. Qualley completely commands the screen in every single scene. She feels like she's in total control and you believe everything that Rebecca says. As things intensify, Qualley gets even better and this is one of the best performances of her impressive career. It also worked as a preview of her great future roles in The Substance and How to Make a Killing.

In fact, when looking back at Margaret Qualley's career, it feels like Sanctuary will be a good place to see what encapsulates her body of work. Since she has gone on to play cunning, confident, and smart women in the time since Sanctuary, that movie hits all the aspects of her best work.

Other Margaret Qualley Performances That Are Great

Calling her work as Rebecca in Sanctuary the best of her career is quite telling because, as noted, Margaret Qualley has been fantastic despite still being so young. When it comes to her greatest performances, the conversation has to include Maid. The series on Netflix is based on Stephanie Land's memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive. This was where people really got to see how good Qualley is, as she earned major nominations at both the Oscars and Golden Globes, among others.

The way Qualley embodied Alex, a single mother who escapes her abusive boyfriend and gets a job cleaning houses, is remarkable. If there was ever proof that she was going to become a star, Maid was the biggest hint at that. Before Maid, she stood out as Pussycat in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Unlike Maid, Qualley's role in this film was relatively small, yet she knew how to make an impact in those few scenes. She shared the screen with Brad Pitt and was right at home, which is hard to pull off.

Qualley has also developed working relationships with some of the top filmmakers around. For example, she appears in Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness. In fact, in Kinds of Kindness, Qualley plays a quadruple role as Vivian, Ruth, Martha, and Rebecca. There's also Honey Don't! and Drive-Away Dolls, two comedic thrillers from Ethan Cohen, and she's also had key roles in Blue Moon, which comes from Richard Linklater.

Maid might be Margaret Qualley's best overall performance and Sanctuary is an ideal one to capture her talent, yet The Substance is the other movie that stands out in her filmography. The movie was a hit with critics, including scoring major Oscar nominations. Qualley plays Sue, the new "younger" version of Demi Moore's Elisabeth Sparkle, a fading Hollywood star who takes the titular substance to try and remain in the spotlight for as long as she can, even if the results are dangerous.

While it was Moore who got the Oscar nomination, Margaret Qualley is just as good in The Substance. Between that film and Sanctuary, you can't deny her talent and it's clear that she'll be delivering these kinds of quality performances for the rest of her career. She's that good and Sanctuary helps prove that.

Release Date May 19, 2023

Runtime 96 Minutes

Director Zachary Wigon

Writers Micah Bloomberg