A look back at Natalie Portman’s career in eight key roles, as the actress receives a tribute at the 49th Deauville American Film Festival, on the sidelines of the presentation of “May December”.
This was to be the biggest event of this 49th Deauville American Cinema Festival: the arrival of Natalie Portman on the stage. In order to receive a tribute (also called the Deauville Talent Award), on the sidelines of the preview presentation of May December.
But, like Jude Law, Peter Dinklage and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the actress canceled her stay, in solidarity with the actors and screenwriters who have been on strike in Hollywood for several weeks.
Having passed through Competition at the last Cannes Film Festival, Todd Haynes’ new feature film will be released in theaters on January 24, 2024. Natalie Portman plays an actress who is close to the one she is to play in a future film, and whose sentimental life ignited the tabloid press and excited the country twenty years earlier.
She faces Julianne Moore and Charles Melton in this drama full of nuances and ambiguity, which can already be classified as one of her best films. And while the tribute will still be paid to him, despite his absence, we look back at eight notable roles in his career.
LEON (1994): THE REVELATION
Gaumont Buena Vista International
The film has certainly not aged well, Natalie Portman herself having pointed out that the sexualization of her character and her relationship with the one played by Jean Reno (who should have been even less ambiguous in the cut scenes) gave the feature film “uncomfortable aspects”.
The actress now keeps “complicated feelings” with regard to this opus filmed when she was not 13 and a half years old. But it’s hard to miss when it comes to his career, seeing as he has revealed his talent to the world.
As in Heat the following year, Natalie Portman shows impressive maturity. At a time when many young actors are struggling to move from childhood to adolescence, she shows herself capable of taking on more adult roles, rich in strong emotions. Terms “gifted” And “early” come back regularly to talk about his performance, and rightly so. Watch on Prime Video and Paramount+
STAR WARS – EPISODE I (1999): TAKEOFF
Lucasfilm Ltd.
Tim Burton gave him his science fiction baptism, while keeping his feet on Earth (Mars Attacks). George Lucas takes him to a galaxy far, far away: that of the most anticipated film of all time. Never has a feature film caused a wind of madness like Star Wars – Episode I at the time of its release.
And this storm swept away its cast (Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Liam Neeson), taking them to the top of Hollywood with the bad sides that such overexposure entails, when fans expressed their disappointment very vehemently. Before reassessing their judgment a few years later.
In the role of Padmé Amidala, future wife of Anakin Skywalker and mother of Luke and Leia, Natalie Portman certainly does not always have a lot to play, even if she is better served in episodes II and III in this regard.
Despite the blue/green backgrounds and the digital effects that surround her, the actress is far from being ridiculous and ultimately concentrates little of the criticism leveled at the prelogy.
Feature films that it is impossible not to mention when looking back on your career. Because they constitute one of its turning points. And still remain, today, the biggest films in which she participated, in terms of expectations, scale and impact (positive and negative) in pop culture. More than the Thor in which she then distinguished herself at Marvel. To see on Disney+
GARDEN STATE (2004): THE INDIE ICON
Fox Searchlight
Accomplice of a hitman, daughter of the President of the United States, companion of the future greatest villain in the galaxy… If Natalie Portman has often played unusual characters, Zach Braff offers her a slightly more ordinary role: that of the young woman his character falls in love with in Garden State, his first film as director.
No special look, no superpowers, no extraordinary story… Sam looks like a “girl next door” endowed with her own little touch of madness, and whose concerns are those of young adults of her age, who contemplate an uncertain future. In addition to having very good musical tastes and introducing The Shins to the hero (and a good part of the public).
Thanks to this film, which has become cult for an entire generation, Natalie Portman established herself as an icon of American indie cinema. And a cliché: that of the “manic pixie dream girl”although officially created a few years later to evoke the character of Kirsten Dunst in Encounters in Elizabethtown.
But Sam from Garden State totally corresponds to this vision of an ideal woman, fanciful and sassy, without a personality of her own, which serves to facilitate the psychological evolution of the hero, who is very often in love with her.
Zooey Deschanel (in (500) Days Together and the series New Girl) is an even more pronounced incarnation, while Scott Pilgrim manages to turn away from it with Ramona Flowers, but we find this element in many American independent feature films. Including this one, which nonetheless remains enormously endearing.
CLOSER (2005): THE ADULT
Gaumont Columbia Tristar Films
The French subtitle, “Between consenting adults”, well designates this evolution in the career of Natalie Portman. If the previous scores were a little more advanced and complex than those reserved for young actors and actresses, she really puts herself in danger in this modern marivaudage staged by Mike Nichols (The Graduate), in his most sexualized role (of his willingly) until then.
Her talent was not to be questioned, but it was with Closer that Natalie Portman took the next step and became an actress whose name can often come up during award ceremonies. The scene of his striptease in front of Jude Law has obviously remained in many memories, but his performance goes beyond that.
She takes full charge of the chiseled and scathing dialogues of Patrick Marber (who adapts his own play), breaks his wise image, stands up to the rest of the cast (Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Clive Owen) and gets his first Oscar nomination. But not the last. To see on Ciné+ (until 09/17)
V FOR VENDETTA (2006): THE STRONG GESTURE
Warner Bros. Pictures
In May 2005, on the steps of the Cannes Film Festival where she presented Star Wars – Episode III in its world premiere, Natalie Portman attracted attention for hair reasons: it was with a shaved head that she stood at the sides of george lucasHayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor.
Challenge lost? Want to mark the occasion to celebrate the end of your participation in the intergalactic saga? The answer comes quickly: the actress cut her hair for the needs of V for Vendetta, a highly anticipated adaptation of the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd by James McTeigue, protégé of the Wachowskis.
Many have drawn the parallel with Sigourney Weaver in Alien 3, and the comparison is valid in more than one way. Because the feature film, the story of a revolution underway in a London that has become totalitarian, allows her to play the action heroine. Even more so than in Star Wars, which offered him few opportunities to let off steam on this level, except in the finale of Episode II.
His performance is raw, physical, emotional. And the emancipation of her character, Evey Hammond, is also hers. Proof that she is a challenger who intends to be where she is least expected. The feature film certainly did not bring in “that” 135 million dollars at the worldwide box office (for a budget of 54), its aura has since grown outside the theaters.
BLACK SWAN (2010): CONSECRATION
Twentieth Century Fox
Even more physical than V for Vendetta. More intense psychologically. To say that Natalie Portman gave it her all on Black Swan is far from an exaggeration, because she gives herself body and soul. And not just for the purposes of the dance scenes, which required drastic training (although her understudy has since suggested that we see more of her on screen than we think).
The actress must also embody the madness into which her character plunges, Nina, a declining star ready to do anything to land the main role of the “Swan Lake” against a younger rival. The world of dance was at least as ruthless as that of cinema; there are many metatextual aspects that can be noted here. To see on Disney+
In front of the camera of Darren Aronofsky, filmmaker of obsession and loss of direction, among other themes, Natalie Portman delivers her most total performance. The most visible too and this also explains why the Academy of Oscars, very sensitive to this type of letting go, awarded her the statuette for Best Actress in 2011. Her first and, to date, last.
A STORY OF LOVE AND DARKNESS (2015): THE DIRECTOR
Focus World
The main interest of this film in her career lies not so much in the role of Natalie Portman in front of the camera. But the one she holds behind. After a segment in New York, I Love You and the short film Eve with Lauren Bacall, she took the plunge and signed her first feature film. Without choosing the easy way.
While many opt for light films with a semi-autobiographical tendency (like Zach Braff, who directed her in Garden State), she takes on a novel by Amos Oz, inspired by her own life and upbringing in Jerusalem during the creation of the State of Israel.
The ambition is there, but the result is not up to par. The Anglo-Saxon press welcomes its risk-taking but deplores a somewhat academic staging and a vague point of view. Presented in a Special Screening at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, A Story of Love and Darkness goes unnoticed and is released directly on video and on Canal+ in France.
But this first attempt is nevertheless worth a look, as it shows predispositions in the young director that only need to be confirmed, with a little more confidence. And it constitutes a key stage in his career.
JACKIE (2016): THE REBOUND
Film Tray
Besides her Oscar for Black Swan, the 2010s were not as significant as hoped for Natalie Portman. Her role in the two Thor films will not remain among the peaks of her career (especially since she wanted to leave the second film when Patty Jenkins was ousted).
Jane Got A Gun is most memorable for its chaotic behind-the-scenes, with a director who never showed up and a cast that changed. And Planetarium, his first feature film under the direction of a French director (the very talented Rebecca Zlotowski) disappoints. Fortunately, there is Jackie.
Second biopic in a row for Pablo Larrain, after the very exciting Neruda, the feature film focuses on the widow of John F. Kennedy. By following her during the days following the assassination of the 35th President of the United States, to reveal to us what was hidden behind the elegant and sophisticated image that was hers.
A pure game of mirrors where the brilliant staging deciphers an icon by contrasting its public and private facets, as the director will do a few years later with Lady Di in Spencer.
In a much more complex and nuanced role than one might have thought, Natalie Portman gives us one of her best performances, without falling into performance.
Like the film and its heroine, the actress has often tried to go beyond her image, with more or less success. But the Oscar nomination received for Jackie doesn’t do enough justice to its phenomenal score.