W arning: the piece below contains spoilers for ‘Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood’.

Towards the end of Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, a narrator informs us that the blistering August heat has left Sharon Tate feeling “especially pregnant in all the worst ways”. It’s unclear exactly what Quentin Tarantino means by that (is Tate feeling big? Bloated? Sweaty? Heavy?), yet this acknowledgement of Tate’s “pregnancy-induced melancholy” is the first hint that the actor might be treated like a fully fledged character after all, as opposed to the hazy, sexy fever dream she’s reduced to for most of the film’s two hours and 41 minutes.

It is a well-known fact by now that Margot Robbie, who plays Tate, has a ludicrously scant number of lines in Tarantino’s film. She does, however, have a good amount of screen time, which is filled with sequences of Tate dancing, laughing, talking, holding hands with her husband Roman Polanski, and in one instance, going to the cinema.

This version of Tate, to be clear, is not a character. She doesn’t change. She doesn’t experience any kind of personal growth. (Granted, a lot of us don’t experience personal change on a daily basis, but that’s a luxury characters in works of fiction cannot be afforded. Watching people just live is boring, even in a Tarantino movie. Even reality TV, the medium that most frequently purports to let us watch people “just live”, heavily resorts to storytelling techniques to keep us hooked.)​

Instead, Tarantino’s Tate is a presence – a luminous, kind, generous angel of a woman whose heart seems wide open to the world. It’s a flattering depiction, for sure, but it’s also terribly reductive – and as a result, Tarantino’s film is just plain dull. What could have been an ambitious, insightful-yet-goofy take on late-Sixties Hollywood, the Manson Family murders, and the end of innocence ends up a male-gazey mess that suggests Tarantino – the same director who brought us The Bride, certainly the best female character on the Tarantino scale – is losing his touch.

30 greatest Tarantino characters Show all 30 1 /30 30 greatest Tarantino characters 30 greatest Tarantino characters 30. Stuntman Mike Played by: Kurt Russell in Death Proof Kurt Russell nails the slime-ball nature of Stuntman Mike, a character who's as B-movie as they come. Dimension Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 29. Billy Crash Played by: Walton Goggins in Django Unchained Of all the supporting characters in Tarantino's revisionist western, Billy Crash looms largest in the memory. Perhaps it's due to his mispronunciation of the protagonist's name ("Duh-jang-go") right after being shot in the genitals. "The D is silent, hillbilly," Django responds, before finishing Crash off. What happens next, Goggins nails. TWC 30 greatest Tarantino characters 28. Trudi Fraser Played by: Julia Butters in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood Like much of the film that surrounds her, Trudi is a fantasy version of a child star – safe, in total charge of her own destiny and far smarter than many of the adults that surround her, including the has-been actor (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) she is paired with in her latest project. But through Trudi, and her overjoyed glee at being thrown to the ground while shooting a tense face-off scene involving her on-screen abductor, Tarantino reflects the pure, heady thrill of movie-making, and it’s glorious to behold. Sony Pictures Releasing 30 greatest Tarantino characters 27. Melanie Ralston Played by: Bridget Fonda in Jackie Brown A SoCal surfer girl bored out of her mind by the men she's holed up with, Bridget Fonda's Melanie only works because every one of her lines drips with scorn and apathy. There's a real pleasure in watching her kick back with a bong or answer the door with a bothered "WHAT!", even if it does lead her to a grim demise in a shopping mall parking lot. But at least she died as she lived: pissing off very unremarkable men. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 26. Gogo Yubari Played by: Chiaki Kuriyama in Kill Bill Vol 1 Many of Tarantino’s greatest villains take a kinky glee in violence, and none are more confident in their madness than Gogo, the personal bodyguard of O-Ren Ishii. She’s also one of the most fun Kill Bill characters to watch on-screen, a twirling, spiked ball-wielding madwoman whose grace is only matched by her sadism. Miramax 30 greatest Tarantino characters 25. Honey Bunny & Pumpkin Played by: Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth in Pulp Fiction Because we would hardly dream of splitting them up. “Any of you f**king pricks move, and I’ll execute every motherf**king last one of ya!” remains one of cinema’s greatest line readings, but Amanda Plummer’s Honey Bunny and her on-screen fella Pumpkin, played by Tim Roth, are spectacular even before the line smashes the film into Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” and Pulp Fiction’s opening credits. The pair carefully dissect their imminent robbery of the patrons of a diner, spewing racist slurs and profanities while they go. They’re a prototype for Mickey and Mallory from the Tarantino-scripted Natural Born Killers, with just as much manic and unmistakably carnal energy. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 24. Captain Koons Played by: Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction Captain Koons is the perfect example of a character damn well near stealing a film with a single scene. This is a character who hid a pocketwatch in his anus for years to protect it from being stolen, all to uphold the honour of one day delivering it to his friend's son. If that doesn't get you on this list, nothing will. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 13. Pai Mei Played by: Gordon Liu in Kill Bill Vol 2 The kung fu master responsible for shaping Beatrix Kiddo into a warrior, Pai Mei is Kill Bill’s by turns tyrannical and tender mentor figure. His beard, it should be said, is truly what all men should aspire to. Miramax 30 greatest Tarantino characters 22. Lance Played by: Eric Stoltz in Pulp Fiction Everyone needs a Lance in their life – someone you can call on night or day no matter the emergency. He might angrily protest when Vincent (John Travolta) shows up with an unconscious Mia (Uma Thurman), who has snorted one line too many, but there's never any doubt of him helping his pal through his predicament. Lance is as loyal as they come. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 21. Rick Dalton Played by: Leonardo DiCaprio Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood A classic down-on-his-luck Tarantino character who’d rather self-destruct than acknowledge he doesn’t truly matter anymore, Rick Dalton is so magnetic because he’s also wildly funny. Played with as much a heavy-browed weariness by Leonardo DiCaprio as he is a child-like sense of wonder, he is entitled, ludicrously demanding and completely loveable. Sony Pictures Releasing 30 greatest Tarantino characters 20. Elle Driver Played by: Elle Driver in Kill Bill Vol 1 and 2 If Kill Bill is essentially a live-action cartoon, full of fantastical set pieces, superhuman fight sequences and discarded limbs, then Elle Driver is its most cartoonish element. Also, arguably, its most dazzlingly spectacular. As played by Daryl Hannah with tongue firmly in cheek, Elle sports an eyepatch, the cadence of a drag queen and a wardrobe straight out of Frederick’s of Hollywood. She’s the gay icon who never was. Miramax 30 greatest Tarantino characters 19. Zoë Bell Played by: Zoë Bell in Death Proof Zoë Bell is the unsung hero of every Tarantino films she's a part of, from Kill Bill (she's Uma Thurman's stunt double) to her sweary cameo in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Her real time to shine came in Death Proof in which she played herself and gets to lead the film's female characters in wreaking vengeance on Kurt Russell's murderous Stuntman Mike. Dimension Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 18. Butch Coolidge Played by: Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction Considering Bruce Willis rarely does subtle, it is striking that Butch Coolidge is such a laconic character. He is a man happy to throw boxing matches, flee to Mexico and use shotguns and samurai swords to fend off potential threats, yet barely breaks a sweat as he goes. It’s probably because he’s a sociopath, but Tarantino also grounds him in something that resembles heroism, or at least a Pulp Fiction spin on it. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 17. Mr Pink Played by: Steve Buscemi in Reservoir Dogs Tarantino himself loved Mr Pink so much that he wanted the role for himself, but fortunately opted for Steve Buscemi after being blindsided by his audition. It's easy to see why. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 16. Bill Played by: David Carradine in Kill Bill Vol 1 and 2 If you build a film around somebody so villainous the protagonist spends the entirety of its running time trying to kill them, you better make sure they're a good character. Bill, thankfully, lives up to expectations. Miramax 30 greatest Tarantino characters 15. Vincent Vega Played by: John Travolta in Pulp Fiction There's a jaded melancholy to Vincent Vega that makes him so compelling to watch. He's no longer entirely fulfilled by his job and he’s a little soft around the middle, his silent stoicism only broken by the occasional release of a cheesy grin, or his moves on the dancefloor with Mia Wallace. Additionally, there’s a lovely black comedy to his presence throughout Pulp Fiction – from his ambiguous but clearly eventful history in Amsterdam, to his frequent trips to the bathroom, all of which seem to end in disaster. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 14. Mr Blonde Played by: Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs Reservoir Dogs is one hell of a cold film and that's a lot to do with Mr Blonde. Madsen's character just loves committing unspeakably violent acts and it's this trait that infuses the film with the tension that makes it so memorable. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 13. Marsellus Wallace Played by: Ving Rhames in Pulp Fiction In lesser hands, Marsellus Wallace would have faded into obscurity alongside the more irreverent Tarantino characters. But the way in which the viewer witnesses him experience an unspeakable trauma after his brawl with Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) – a fight that sees the pair's worlds collide with extremely sick-minded individuals – can't help but warm him to the viewer. Rhames's best role to date. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 12. Jackie Brown Played by: Pam Grier in Jackie Brown Jackie Brown is introduced, in the words of an abusive federal agent, as “a 44-year-old black woman desperately clinging on to this one sh**y little job [she] was fortunate enough to get”. A flight attendant and part-time drug courier, Jackie’s journey over the course of her film is among Tarantino’s most invigorating. She finds the excitement sorely missing in her life, meets a man who respects her rather than uses her, and regularly outsmarts everyone else in the room. It’s often of the fake-it-till-you-make-it variety, like in the nervous test runs of swiftly yanking a pistol out of her desk drawer in advance of the arrival of a man likely to kill her. But it makes her Tarantino’s most human hero, nowhere near as showy as The Bride or Major Marquis Warren, but arguably all the better for it. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 11. Aldo Raine Played by: Brad Pitt in Inglourious Basterds "You probably heard we ain't in the prisoner-takin' business; we in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin'" – need we say more? Universal Pictures 30 greatest Tarantino characters 10. Max Cherry Played by: Robert Forster in Jackie Brown Like Jackie Brown herself, bail bondsman Max Cherry arrives with decades of regrets weighing on his shoulders. Robert Forster grants the role an air of understated cool, Max eager for a fresh start and believing he has found it when an in-trouble flight attendant enters his life. If you kicked off your shoes, lifted a glass of scotch to your lips and threw on some vintage soul, you might match the energy Max exudes in every one of his scenes. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 9. Shosanna Dreyfus Played by: Melanie Laurent in Inglourious Basterds If you think that Shosanna's placement on this list is anything to do with the scene in which she paints stripes on her face ahead of burning numerous Nazis to a crisp – all while David Bowie's "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" plays – then you'd be right. Universal Pictures 30 greatest Tarantino characters 8. Stephen Played by: Samuel L Jackson in Django Unchained Stephen is Django Unchained’s version of a rorschach test – either a desperate victim forced into the unthinkable by circumstance, or the most insidiously evil character in the movie. A classic ‘Uncle Tom’ figure who runs the day-to-day operations of Calvin Candie’s plantation, Stephen is a giggling, preening yes-man to Candie and his white superiors in public, but a ruthless and petty psychopath behind closed doors, expressing disgust at the sight of a free black man. Jackson contorts his face into a glowering, terrifying scowl, and it’s the greatest thing he has ever done. TWC 30 greatest Tarantino characters 7. Calvin Candie Played by: Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained It was once difficult to think of DiCaprio as a villain, but thanks to the role of Calvin Candie, it's suddenly all too easy. Sometimes the greatest characters are the ones you can't wait to see meet their end and the horrendously racist Candie fits seamlessly on that list. TWC 30 greatest Tarantino characters 6. Beatrix Kiddo AKA The Bride Played by: Uma Thurman in Kill Bill Vol 1 and 2 The many shots of Uma Thurman in that yellow outfit, sword in hand, is as iconic as anything Tarantino has done – and the character proves she's worthy of that status. Beatrix isn't just one of Tarantino's greatest creations, but one of the best heroines in cinematic history. Miramax 30 greatest Tarantino characters 5. Cliff Booth Played by: Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood Could stuntman Cliff Booth be Brad Pitt's greatest achievement? He's certainly up there. The kind of character that only Pitt could have played at this particular stage of his life. Sony Pictures Releasing 30 greatest Tarantino characters 4. Mia Wallace Played by: Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction The iconic femme fatale whose ambivalent glare on the Pulp Fiction poster became one of the definitive images of 1990s cinema, Mia Wallace is a woman comprised of numerous contradictory parts. She is an icy addict permanently sticking things up her nose, but also a helpless dreamer captivated by what might have been. In anyone else’s hands, Mia would be little but a male fantasy, but Uma Thurman imbues her with so much grit and heart that regardless of how brilliant the rest of Pulp Fiction is, you can’t help but wish you could follow her on her own separate adventure. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 3. Hans Landa Played by: Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds Is Hans Lands – perhaps best remembered by the moniker "Jew Hunter" – Tarantino's most detestable character? He's certainly up there. But he's also one of his greatest creations – a character you so desperately want to see get their comeuppance but fear they never will due to the exemplary way Christoph Waltz manages to switch on the charm as fluidly as the terror. Just remember, in his presence, always wait for the cream. Universal Pictures 30 greatest Tarantino characters 2. Jules Winnfield Played by: Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction Tarantino's crowning glory might always be hitman Jules Winnfield's reciting of Ezekiel 25:17 before firing a round of bullets into the poor goons who dared to screw over his employer, but it probably wouldn't be so had it had been delivered by anyone but Samuel L Jackson. Miramax Films 30 greatest Tarantino characters 1. O-Ren Ishii Played by: Lucy Liu in Kill Bill Vol 1 Many of Tarantino’s best characters are dreamers of a sort – men and women left abandoned by the world who, through sheer force of will, climb to victory. Tarantino paints O-Ren as neither hero nor villain throughout Kill Bill, but instead a woman who took back the power stolen from her as a child, and who will do anything to maintain it in the face of threats from far weaker men. Her death at Beatrix’s hand is stunning but also saddening, both due to Tarantino’s interest in granting O-Ren the empathy, humour and sheer appeal of Beatrix herself (“Silly caucasian girl likes to play with samurai swords” remains one of the finest lines in any movie), and via Lucy Liu’s masterful performance. O-Ren is the finest depiction of what Tarantino can do with his creations, and one of the most fun and compelling characters in the QT canon. Miramax

When confronted with his decision to give Robbie just a scarce few lines, Tarantino famously told the female journalist who raised the issue at the Cannes Film Festival, “I reject your hypothesis.” It’s worth pointing out that “You didn’t give Margot Robbie many lines” isn’t a hypothesis; it’s an assessment and, as anyone who has seen the movie can attest, a regrettable fact.

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood has been out since 26 July in the US, where I live. In that time, some have found ways to make sense of Tate’s relative mutism in the film. Tarantino (who was six years old when Tate was murdered) is writing a love letter to the Los Angeles of his childhood. Tate – his version of Tate – is an element in the picture he’s painting. Tarantino said it himself, telling Deadline: “I thought it would both be touching and pleasurable and also sad and melancholy to just spend a little time with her, just existing. I didn’t come up with a big story and have her work into the story so now she has to talk to other characters and move a story along. It was just a day in the life.”​

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood trailer

When researching Tate and her life, Tarantino became “very enamoured” with her, he told Entertainment Weekly. But just because a portrayal is motivated by love – a very specific kind of love that only lets you exist within the boundary of someone else’s vision of you – doesn’t mean it’s kind. And it certainly doesn’t mean it’s fair. In this case, the treatment of Tate seems like a vast missed opportunity to tell the story of a multi-faceted woman. That Tarantino manages to reduce Tate – a talented actress, a woman who battled to be known for something beyond her good looks, a mass murder victim, the spouse of a man who would later plead guilty to unlawful sex with a minor and flee to Europe – to a lifeless, perpetually cheerful doll is a feat of the saddest kind.

Yes, Tarantino does acknowledge Tate’s acting talents to some extent. When he shows her going to the cinema to watch one of her own films, The Wrecking Crew, footage of the movie plays in the background, showing Tate in all her klutzy glory as the bumbling Freya Carlson. This specific sequence, in which Robbie is, by the way, excellent, appears to have struck a particular chord with viewers, for understandable reasons. There’s something deeply touching about Robbie’s portrayal of Tate’s delight when she hears the audience laugh at Carlson’s antics, and of her trepidation when one of her fight scenes plays on the big screen.

But as far as the rest of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is concerned, Tate recedes into the background. She’s a wife, a party girl, a welcoming neighbour, a pair of arms awaiting eagerly to pull the whole world into one big mothering hug. She’s one-dimensional. She’s not a character. She’s a version of femininity that those who have never experienced womanhood want to believe in.

This seems all the more unfair given that the movie’s two main characters, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton and Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth, are given plenty to work with. Sure, they’re cartoonish in that Tarantino kind of way, but they’re also interesting. On the surface, Dalton is a ridiculous, down-on-his-luck Western actor with a drinking problem and a propensity for outbursts. But over the course of the film, he experiences crippling self-doubt, picks himself up only to fall again, travels to Italy and gets married, which in turn impacts on his friendship with Booth. Booth, meanwhile, finds ways to remain in Dalton’s life even when he’s not needed as a stunt double, pays a tense visit to the Manson Family ranch, and his interactions with a young cult member afford him a surprising amount of character depth (let’s just say, I didn’t think Booth was the type to turn down the advances of a beautiful, young hitch-hiker, but Booth, unlike Tate, is awarded the luxury of being full of surprises).

Robbie, it should be noted, does a brilliant job at working with what Tarantino gave her, which in this case is not much. Tate’s sister Debra told Vanity Fair the actor left her in tears during a visit on set “because she sounded just like Sharon”. The problem is that having a character such as Tate in the background doesn’t work, simply because Tate was never meant to be in the background. Someone of her magnitude demands to be front and centre, but Tarantino wasn’t interested in telling that story. Instead, he demands we focus our attention not on the woman with a true, heart-wrenching background, but on a pair of fictional guys who wouldn’t hold our attention for more than a minute if they weren’t played by charismatic actors such as Pitt and DiCaprio.

The result is a film that never quite figures out what it’s trying to say. Its first half lingers; the Western scenes are, I’m sorry to point out, far too long, and the whole movie feels self-indulgent. We’re taken on a nostalgic ride, but we never get to the core of what, exactly, we’re supposed to feel nostalgic about. Tarantino seems to revel in his own directing, which would be fine (his directing can be so very enjoyable when done right) if the movie didn’t overly rely on aesthetics to the detriment of substance. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, in that regard, seems to be part of a growing trend to which Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman could be an unfortunate addition – a trend that sees filmmakers such as Tarantino and Scorsese reviving and heightening their own signature brands, sometimes to the point of caricature. The Irishman won’t be released for a few more weeks, so the jury’s still out on the movie’s fate – but, judging by the trailer, it revives an old formula (Scorsese + Robert De Niro = crime film) without necessarily bringing anything new to the table (to the point that expensive special effects were used to make De Niro appear younger, as if there were a shortage of young male leads in Hollywood).

The most touching part of Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood comes through Booth and Dalton, who do seem to experience the end of an era (and of their marriage-like friendship) once Dalton ties the knot. It’s a form of emotional payoff, but it lacks magnitude. The film wants to encapsulate the loss of innocence, a perennial theme in fiction, but it stays on the surface (yes, those images of late-Sixties LA are stunning and impressively detailed, but they don’t provide the emotional heavy lifting the movie so desperately needs) and fails to pull us in.