By Kim Morgan
Special to MSN Movies

When Jane Fonda believes in something, you believe she believes. It's true in her own eventual real life, which has often led to controversy (and "feel the burn" aerobic routines), and it's certainly true of her film performances, which make her one of the most remarkable actresses in film history. Blessed with gorgeous but intelligent blue-blood looks inherited from her famous father, Henry, a frank speaking, well-educated voice and rare mixture of indomitable strength and sometimes, melting vulnerability, Fonda is the dramatic blueprint for the ideal woman -- smart, sexy and curious.

But Ms. Fonda would value her smarts above her sex appeal and, like many of her famous film roles, is a woman constantly searching (read her superb autobiography "My Life So Far" and you'll find an honest, strong but often insecure woman). Fonda had been away from movies for 15 years before making the rather unfortunate "Monster-in-Law" (she was great, the movie was not) and now is back at it with "Georgia Rule," a film featuring an actress who could take a few tips from Jane: Lindsay Lohan.

So in celebration of Jane's second return to screen, we've gathered 10 of her finest performances -- no easy feat because, well, Ms. Fonda is always fine.

10. "The China Syndrome" (1979)
Leave it to Fonda to flesh out a fluffy TV news reporter. Although her character in the political thriller "The China Syndrome" -- a movie that raised serious awareness concerning the "safety" of nuclear power plants -- yearns to cover the real story, Fonda makes her sexier, big-hair looks nearly satirical. Happening upon an accident while her TV news team is filming a by-the-numbers segment about the plant, Fonda's reporter tries to get the story on the air. Meanwhile, the cameraperson (Michael Douglas) has secretly filmed the terrified control room. Fighting her superiors and unearthing more dirty facts, she simply can't turn away for the truth. What's terrific about Fonda's performance (and notably, Jack Lemmon's) is that she doesn't start as an antinuclear activist; she's simply a woman who must come to terms with the scary reality unfolding. It's a sympathetic performance toward women in TV (who're often called to show, be pretty and little else), and it's a wonderful vision of an awakening conscious.

9. "The Morning After" (1986)
"The Morning After" is not one of Fonda's greatest films (and certainly not one of director Sidney Lumet's), but she's so remarkable and believable as a washed-up, alcoholic Hollywood actress that she nearly redeems the picture from its many flaws. Her first scene is a stunner. Stumbling out of bed with a hangover and a guy in her bed whom she doesn't even remember, things go from floozy-boozy regret to nightmare. The mystery man has a knife in his chest. Her response is spectacular as she runs out into the icky Los Angeles light, desperately wondering if she actually killed him. And who the hell is going to believe her? When she hooks up with a shady Jeff Bridges for help, the movie begins to unravel from this first knockout sequence, but Fonda (especially in scenes with Bridges) does not. Never mind the mystery; the relationship that develops is fascinating -- you don't know what agendas lie in the hearts of these characters -- and yet, in the case of Fonda, you like her regardless.

8. "Barbarella" (1968)
This is supposedly the movie that Fonda had to live down, a movie that while in her more feminist days she found embarrassing, but one she now sees as something quite funny and appealing. A silly, sexy space comedy directed by her then husband Roger Vadim, "Barbarella" was made during her Gallic phase and directly before she became more serious, more political and a deeper actress. But "Barbarella" (cult credibility notwithstanding) is actually an interesting Fonda role in that she breathes a kind of saucy intelligence into this comic strip, even while, yes, stripping and being so sexually voracious that she famously breaks the Orgasma-tron. Fonda's sexy as all get out and cheeky (she knew this was good fun), and the film contains some sparkling dialogue written by Terry Southern. And Jane even stands up for herself when she says: "My name isn't Pretty-Pretty. It's Barbarella." There have been talks of a remake with Sienna Miller but, sorry, no one tops Jane. No one.

7. "Julia" (1977)
First off, casting Jane Fonda as "Little Foxes" playwright Lillian Hellman is very Hollywood. Lillian Hellman can best be described as -- how do I put this delicately? -- homely. And Fonda, well, you know what Jane Fonda looks like. But true to her talent, this never distracts from her performance in Fred Zinnemann's look at Hellman, her relationship with novelist Dashiell Hammett (Jason Robarbs) and the inspired friendship with a political activist named Julia (Vanessa Redgrave). Though the movie is called "Julia," it's truly Hellman's story because Julia inspires a political awakening in her. Fonda is so good that you can't help but wonder if her own real life overflowed into the picture (like Hellman, Jane tied herself to men taken more seriously than her, which happened to be politician Tom Hayden during this time). And though many have attacked the authenticity of this story, Fonda still shines with subtly and richness.

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