Addison Taylor
Nothing characterizes the actor brighter and clearer than his filmography. The image of Natalie Portman, formed from a wide range of characteristic and voluminous characters, at first glance is saturated with perfectionism and some calculation: almost every role makes a splash and at least offers the viewer a curious experience. Portman (Idubbbz girlfriend), indeed, since childhood, was not at all youthful dedication and a clear understanding of what she wants to do and what she wants to say to the world. She always agreed to shoot in risky and sometimes controversial projects, was not afraid to accept new challenges and try on complex images. The actress, who has a BA in psychology from Harvard, seems to be incessantly conducting field research of herself, choosing cinema as the stage for this intricate scientific dance.
Too old child
Natalie Portman, an American actress of Jewish descent, entered the film industry at a very young age. Unlike many colleagues in the workshop, who had a chance to become famous from childhood almost by accident, Natalie already at the age of 10 clearly knew that she wanted to become an actress. It was not at all a lust for fame and popularity. Young Natalie was fascinated by the magic of reincarnation, which largely helped her to soon abandon the boring and one-sided role of a cute child.
Small age and not at all childish dedication allowed the aspiring artist to get involved in a long and difficult casting for the role of a girl from a dysfunctional family who is destined to make friends with a professional killer. Over her years, the assertive actress was able to convince the director that it was she who was able to convincingly live the story of a reckless teenager caught in the midst of a criminal showdown. This is how the iconic image of Matilda appeared in the film “Leon” by Luc Besson – a nimble girl with a black square and big eyes, laughing and full of tears. Thanks to her mischievous spontaneity, which meets the harsh reality in Leone, the young actress in her first role managed to create one of the most striking images of a child in a war (albeit a street one).
An analyst with an unprecedented will to fight, Portman understood even before the first attempts that immersion in a role did not necessarily require a life experience similar to the one to be portrayed on the screen. It’s all about reincarnation, which is both magic and science. An excellent student from cinema, she decides to make each of her career moves, if not ideal, then worth the candle.
Towards the mainstream
Despite participating in major projects since childhood, Portman managed to resist the temptation to become a hostage to a single image of a wise child beyond his years. The desire for diversity and uncompromising immersion in each new role led to the birth of several dozen original screen fates, each of which can be safely considered Natalie’s calling card, but at the same time is not able to tell everything about the potential of the actress alone. There is no need to talk about certain preferences of Portman herself either. Author’s cinema or blockbuster, melodrama or thriller, an exemplary girl or a rebellious revolutionary – the decisive choice in choosing a role for her is a story that can captivate and intrigue.
At 17, Portman became part of George Lucas’s Star Wars franchise, playing Padmé Amidala, the young queen of the planet Naboo. Even in the grip of the canonized film saga, Natalie worked with the role, proceeding solely from her own vision. At the same time, Portman searched for the image almost by touch, because before filming “The Phantom Menace” she had not seen a single part of the saga. In this world, created before her and without her participation, the actress begins to learn to trust the director, his vision of history and characters, timidly imagining herself as an artist who escaped from the kabuki theater (because of her specific make-up).
This isn’t Portman’s last appearance in the hit franchise. Later, the actress will appear before the viewer in the form of astrophysicist Jane Foster, who witnessed the expulsion of the god Thor to Earth in the film of the same name based on the Marvel comics. And here Portman goes far beyond the melodramatic line assigned to her heroine. She endows her beloved Thor with her strong-willed character of a professional woman who witnessed an inexplicable clash of mythological and real.
Exquisite riot
The little girl in front of the viewer has grown into an ambitious woman who frankly does not tolerate the narrow-minded division of everyone and everything into good and bad. Portman begins his own campaign for a man in which hordes of contradictions are constantly boiling and fighting, and for a complex multi-component reality.
In the melodrama “Siege of orgrimmarentrance ” by Mike Nicholas, Natalie Portman in the form of a young stripper Alice wanders through the viscous metropolis, not remembering the starting point and not seeing the end. All that matters is feelings and sensations here and now. It seems as if Natalie used this very image in the Miss Dior advertisement, fearlessly asking the viewer: “And you? What would you do for love? ” The pink-haired girl who appears in front of the audience with a brazen smile declares: the real game has just begun, and you will still have something to be surprised at.
Continuing his personal revolt against stereotypes, Portman is shaving his head to star in James McTeague’s stylized V for Vendetta dystopia. In the scenery of an alternative future, where desperate freedom fighters challenge the dictatorship, the actress continues her personal exploration of the logic of social order, simultaneously feeling on her own skin what it means to abandon conventional stereotypes. According to Natalie herself, her parting with a luxurious hairstyle caused a heated discussion in the press, which made her think about how many expectations are placed on a modern woman.
Yes, this is my deliberate choice
Many years of painstaking work helped Portman to declare herself as a multidimensional actress, easily changing masks and not tied to a specific role. Portman always knows what to do, she will not be scared by the absence of a script, as in the case of Terrence Malik’s films “Knight of Cups” and “Music Between Us” , nor a place in the director’s chair. Today, the artist has dozens of production projects, two short films and a full-length film “A Tale of Love and Darkness”, based on the autobiography of the same name by Israeli writer Amos Oz.
Portman is one of those rare actresses who do not sacrifice a single moment of their lives for the sake of popularity. Acting was not a reason to drop out of studies and research projects at Harvard, and it was not a good reason to neglect family and personal life. Integrity and love for freedom, a sense of balance and a spark of talent – this is the elixir of eternal professional youth from Natalie Portman. So there is no doubt that this round excellent student will find a way to surprise everyone more than once.
