‘Annihilation’ Is A Reminder That Natalie Portman Is One Of The Best Actresses Working Today
Natalie Portmanis always proving herself.
It’s not a conscious effort, not some desperate act of retribution. There’s nothing cloying or even necessarily deliberate about her methods of reinvention, if you’re able to even call it that. She’s been a professional actress since she was 11 years old. She’s a Harvard graduate, a wife and mother, an Oscar winner. Her career is peppered with both high-caliber performances and less sexy – but certainly more impressive – scientific accolades. She’s a woman who’s starred in threeStar Warsfilmsandpenned anacademic studycalled “Frontal lobe activation during object permeance: data from near-infrared spectroscopy.”
And yet, she still feels under-appreciated, occasionally disregarded. Her new film,Annihilation, is a reminder that she’s one of the finest, and most interesting, actresses working right now.
The Divisive Natalie Portman
Some of that is due to her fiercely self-protective instincts, which might appear more self-righteous than cautiously – and understandably – guarded. Portman supposedlypulled out of her Marvel contractafter Patty Jenkins was fired as the director ofThor 2. She doesn’t participate inStar Warsfan events like many of her prequel-era co-stars. At age 14, she wasslammingdirector Adrian Lyne for his “sleazy” films, dismissing herself from hisLolitaremake to avoid sexual exploitation. (In a recent interview with BuzzFeed, Portmanadmittedthat post-The Professional, “Everything I was being offered was, like,sexy little girls.")
It’s disheartening, as a fan, to see how poorly Portman is often regarded. There are rampant claims that she’s too much of a “freaky baby,” that she “ruined the Thor movies,” when her choices and comments are admirable takedowns of the sexist and dangerous Hollywood system she grew up in.
These aren’t universal complaints, of course. Portman is still an Academy Award-winning actress, a major star of beloved films, aself-referential rapper(“Say something about the motherf***ing prequels."), and a loud, proud voice in the #TimesUp movement. She recentlyjoined Instagram, a for-the-people PR move that’s sure to garner goodwill. And now, perhaps most excitingly, she’s the lead of a film that feels like the culmination of everything her career has been building towards: the complicated, transcendentAnnihilation.
Annihilation bridges the two versions of Natalie Portman
As a pre-teen, Portman was a member of theWorld Patrol Kids, a kids band that sang about environmental issues. In addition to her frontal lobe study, she alsoco-authored a paperabout “the enzymatic production of hydrogen from sugar.” She has a degree in psychology from Harvard, and studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Academia and science are as important to her as acting, which is why her role as a biologist inAnnihilationfeels especially tangible – like she can finally express her extracurricular achievements through a performance, and send a message about female intellectualism and psychology in the process.
“I’ve never come across some of these questions that [director Alex Garland] poses, and found it really fascinating the way he connected the interior psychological world of these women with their environment,” Portmantold BuzzFeedabout her role as Lena, a former Army officer and current biology professor at Johns Hopkins University. In the opening scenes, we see Lena teaching a class about molecular biology; Portman looks right at home in the part, as if, in another world, this could be her reality. (Portman was aguest lecturerat Columbia University in 2006.)
This isn’t the first time Portman has played a scientist onscreen: herThorcharacter, Jane Foster, was an astrophysicist. “What a great opportunity, in a very big movie that is going to be seen by a lot of people, to have a woman as a scientist,” shetoldtheLA Timesin 2010 about her decision to take on the stereotype-shattering role. Though Jane was eventually written out of the MCU films, there’s no question that Portman’sAnnihilationcharacter was a chance to evolve that idea, and to include even more women in the discussion this time around.
Annihilation is an Extension of Natalie Portman’s Activism
Portman has always been an outspoken advocate, but the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have positioned her firmly in the awards season spotlight. She’s used the opportunity toname-checkDylan Farrow in a televised condemnation of Woody Allen,apologizefor signing a petition to grant accused rapist Roman Polanski immunity in the Unite States, and tocall-outthe whitewashing in her new film. She’s also been sure to name-check other women in the movement, like Reese Witherspoon, who are hoping to change Hollywood’s systemic sexism and stop its cycle of sexual abuse.
What does this have to do withAnnihilationitself? For starters, the filmis a firestorm of representation. Fresh on the heels ofBlack Panther’s roaring success and trailblazing black cast,Annihilationis another feast of diversity, with female narratives and perspectives at its core. All of the leads are women, the three supporting male characters are all men of color. The film talks about mental illness, addiction, debilitating grief. One character is openly gay, another terminally ill. The women are mothers and wives, but they are also masters of their chosen fields, and the fact that they’re all female is barely highlighted – it simplyis.
A film about women working together to overcome insurmountable odds is absolutely the sort of biting, female-focused work that’s indicative of #TimesUp. And that’s exactly where Portman has focused her vision.
Annihilation further proves Natalie Portman’s greatness
In addition to the personally meaningful stuff,Annihilationreally solidifies Natalie Portman as a purveyor of eclectic, risky projects. In the last five years, she’s starred in two tricky Terrence Malick films (Knight of CupsandSong to Song), played an iconic first lady in Pablo Larraín’s magnificently bizarreJackie(in an underrated, fearsome performance), and directed and starred in the Hebrew-language filmA Tale of Love and Darkness, adapted from Amos Oz’s autobiographical novel of the same name. Though her entire acting career has been punctuated with bold choices – including her Oscar-winning turn as a tortured ballerina in Darren Aronofsky’sBlack Swan– her recent efforts further prove she isn’t sleepwalking her way through easy Oscar bait, wasting away in franchise hell, or resting on a rom-com safety net.
There’s absolutely nothing safe aboutAnnihilation. It’sa tour-de-force of hard science fiction, with a third act so poignant, large, and mystifying that it’s sure to enrage casual moviegoers. Portman is the center of the storm; the focus of the back-half’s immense weirdness. She handles it with knowing aplomb, an actress finally – wholly – in her element.
