An average movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Natalie Portman, I was really eager to check it out. To be honest, I think it was pretty obvious that it was only the 2^nd directorial effort of Brady Corbet. Indeed, even though there were plenty of good ideas, half of it still didn’t work, I’m afraid. Still, I can’t remember the last time that Portman delivered such an intense performance. Seriously, it felt as if her character from ’Black Swan’ actually didn’t die and became some kind of unhinged pissed-off popstar. Eventually, she was so good that you almost wish they skipped the first part and only focused on her. It’s not that the first part was bad though. Indeed, it was really dark and intriguing but, in my opinion, these 2 parts, one focusing on when Celeste was a teenager and the other focusing on her when she was grown-up, didn’t really work well together. First of all, I have nothing against Raffey Cassidy, she was not bad at all but, to be honest, she didn’t look at all like a young Natalie Portman. The fact that she also played Celeste’s daughter didn’t help either to make her casting less bewildering. On the other hand, I have to admit that I was really floored by Stacy Martin. Indeed, in contrary to Celeste who ended up being played by 2 actresses who didn’t look like each other at all, Martin had to play the same character as a teenager AND as a grown-up and it was rather amazing how convincing she was in both cases. It’s too bad they didn’t give her much to do after all. Another issue was that the pacing in the 2 parts didn’t match at all. Indeed, the first part was taking place over roughly 18 months while the second part was taking place during a single day. Of course, you could argue that it was a creative choice but, in my opinion, it made the whole thing terribly unbalanced. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Natalie Portman's work.