Gene Tierney gives a fine and touching performance in this film. I agree her big confessional scene was very powerful indeed.
You've seen Guy Standeven in something because the man was in everything.

She looked like a deer caught in the headlights the entire film. It was distracting.
Sheldon:"Was the starfish wearing boxer shorts? Because you might have been watching Nickelodeon."

Gene Tierney was undeniably beautiful, but she wasn't much of an actress. In her best performances, she was adequate and Whirlpool wasn't one of her best.
Oh, that's ridiculous. Tierney was an excellent actress even Scorsese has called her the best of the film noir heroines.
Yes, in WHIRLPOOL she walks thru her scenes in a bit of a trance, but she's
supposed
to be in a trance!
The most profound of sin is tragedy unremembered.

Gene Tierney was undeniably beautiful, but she wasn't much of an actress. In her best performances, she was adequate and Whirlpool wasn't one of her best. To be fair though, I thought her dialogue was pretty badly written and would have made most actresses look bad.

I've seen her in about a dozen films and I think this is her most mannered and her worst performance. And that hairstyle again!

I disagree. Gene Tierney looked hypnotized even when she wasn't.

I agree. I think this performance, and especially "Leave Her to Heaven" were excellent. I think her great beauty got in the way of her performances being better appreciated.