Natalie Portman doesn’t simply play characters. She inhabits them with the sort of depth that makes each efficiency really feel lived-in. From her haunting debut in Léon: The Skilled to her fierce flip in V for Vendetta, she has been the filmmakers’ option to play sensible characters. However in 2010, Black Swan modified every little thing. Her flip as Nina Sayers, a ballerina crushed below the load of ambition and duality, was each award-worthy and career-defining. Portman earned an Oscar and have become one of the vital fearless actresses working in the present day.
By the point Black Swan hit theaters, Portman had already constructed a formidable filmography. But, that film cracked open a brand new part for her. One the place she embraced complexity and reinvention. Since then, Natalie Portman has taken on roles in a wide range of genres. She has directed, produced, and continued to problem viewers with each undertaking.
This listing takes a take a look at the ten greatest Natalie Portman films since Black Swan.
‘Knight of Cups’ (2015)
Written and directed by Terrence Malick, Knight of Cups stars Christian Bale as Rick, a disillusioned Hollywood screenwriter drifting by Los Angeles in quest of which means. The movie is instructed in ten loosely structured chapters named after tarot playing cards, and it follows Rick’s encounters with numerous girls and other people from his previous, with every of them representing a unique emotional crossroads.
Portrait of Misplaced Love
Natalie Portman performs Elizabeth, a married lady with whom Rick shares a passionate affair, nevertheless it ends on a tragic observe. Her chapter known as “Demise” and it is without doubt one of the movie’s most haunting ones. Their relationship is fleeting and intimate but in addition devastating, however Portman is luminous as ever. Although Knight of Cups acquired combined evaluations, it’s shot in Malick’s signature type, full with dreamlike visuals and poetic voiceovers.
‘Track to Track’ (2017)
One other one from Malick, Track to Track is about towards the backdrop of Austin’s indie music scene. It follows the intersecting love triangles between musicians and producers whereas exploring themes of longing and redemption. Portman stars as Rhonda, a former kindergarten instructor who will get swept into the orbit of Michael Fassbender’s manipulative report producer, Prepare dinner. Their romance turns right into a poisonous marriage full of emotional neglect and extra.
A Tragic Arc
Portman’s arc is lived-in and chaotic; she goes from hopeful and harmless to tragic, and the movie ends along with her character taking their very own life after being unable to reconcile her values along with her husband’s hedonistic life-style. In fact, the film divided critics. However Portman’s efficiency, nestled inside a star-studded ensemble together with Ryan Gosling and Rooney Mara, stands out for its emotional readability.
‘Fountain of Youth’ (2025)
Fountain of Youth is a globe-trotting heist journey the place Natalie Portman stars as Charlotte Purdue, a museum curator, who will get reluctantly pulled right into a high-stakes quest by her estranged brother, Luke, performed by John Krasinski. Their mission is to find the legendary Fountain of Youth utilizing clues hidden in six stolen work, all whereas being pursued by rival treasure hunters, secret societies, and Interpol.
Journey and Emotion
Man Ritchie’s most up-to-date directorial effort acquired combined evaluations, however was praised for its sensible stunts, and it turned a success on Apple TV+ as quickly because it arrived on streaming. Portman anchors the film with a efficiency that’s witty, susceptible, and fiercely decided. Her sibling dynamic with Krasinski is dripping with heat and her scenes with Domhnall Gleeson’s villainous Carver crackle with stress. It’s the contradiction we love her for.
‘No Strings Hooked up’ (2011)
Not lengthy after Black Swan, Natalie Portman landed the function of the feminine lead alongside Ashton Kutcher in Ivan Reitman’s romantic comedy, No Strings Hooked up. She performs Emma and Kutcher performs Adam. They’re longtime acquaintances who reconnect in maturity and impulsively determine to begin a relationship that’s purely bodily. No feelings, no expectations, and no dedication. Simply intercourse. Now, we are able to all think about how that turned out.
Fashionable Tackle Romance
Portman’s Emma is a busy physician who insists on protecting issues informal, however when her emotional partitions crack, it results in a messy breakup, a couple of romantic misfires, and in the end, a real reconciliation at her sister’s wedding ceremony. It’s not a rare film within the broader sense of the style, however it’s a refreshing departure for Portman, who often takes on dramatic roles. Watching her play an emotionally stunted, whip-smart, and hilariously blunt younger lady is enjoyable.
‘A Story of Love and Darkness’ (2015)
Set in Jerusalem throughout the remaining years of British rule and the start of Israel, A Story of Love and Darkness is an adaptation of Amos Oz’s memoir. It tells the story of younger Amos as he navigates a childhood formed by turbulence, battle, identification, and his mom’s psychological well being. Natalie Portman performs Fania Klausner, a cultured, melancholic lady whose perspective places her at odds with post-war life.
Poetic Debut Rooted in Complexity
A Story of Love and Darkness can also be Natalie Portman’s directorial debut. It’s an intimate and deeply private story instructed with restraint. Her efficiency as Fania radiates anguish. She speaks virtually fully in Hebrew, which provides authenticity to her, imparting her desires and despair to Amos. The film had a modest run on the field workplace, nevertheless it was warmly acquired at Cannes and Toronto and is a standout in Portman’s post-Black Swan profession.
‘Thor’ (2011)
Marvel’s cosmic-meets-Earth origin story, Thor, is helmed by Kenneth Branagh. It follows Thor, the boastful Norse god of Thunder, as he’s banished from Asgard to Earth after he reignites a battle with the Frost Giants. Stripped of his energy and hammer, he crash-lands in New Mexico, the place an astrophysicist named Jane Foster discovers him. Thor learns humility and earns again his worthiness, with a curious and emotionally open Jane as his anchor.
Compelling Foil to Thor’s Bravado
Underneath Branagh’s course, Thor balances Shakespearean drama with comic-book spectacle. And whereas the central story revolves round Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Tom Hiddleston’s villainous trickster, Loki, Portman’s Jane Foster does fairly a formidable job bringing heat and intelligence to the superhero style. She bridges a tonal divide, and it’s a personality that launches Portman into the Marvel fold and permits an evolution that’s seen in later installments.
‘Vox Lux’ (2018)
Vox Lux opens with a faculty capturing that leaves a young person named Celeste Montgomery so bodily and emotionally scarred that she decides to channel all of it in a efficiency at a memorial, which catapults her into stardom. Now, in 2017, as a risky, fame-hardened grownup, Celeste is just not solely making an attempt to arrange for a comeback, but in addition coping with drug-fueled breakdowns and strained relationships, particularly along with her daughter Albertine.
Dives Into Manufactured Stardom
Natalie Portman takes over because the grownup Celeste within the film. Her character is brash, wounded, and deeply unsettling. She leans into these contradictions with fearless depth, and it’s obvious in scenes that the restaurant meltdown and the backstage panic earlier than the live performance. Her accent, physicality, and erratic vitality, paired with Brady Corbet and Willem Dafoe’s narration, make the film price testing.
‘Annihilation’ (2018)
This high-concept sci-fi thriller facilities on Lena, a biologist and former soldier, who joins an all-female expedition into “The Shimmer,” which is a mysterious zone the place DNA mutations occur unpredictably. Inside this zone, the workforce encounters hybrids, like a crocodile with shark tooth, a bear with a human voice, and crops rising in humanoid shapes. Additionally, Lena discovers footage of her husband Kane, who occurs to be the one survivor of a earlier expedition.
An Existential Sci-Fi Masterpiece
Directed by Alex Garland, Annihilation is without doubt one of the most hypnotic and ambiguous sci-fi films on the market. It’s backed by gorgeous particular results and an ethereal rating. And, in fact, Natalie Portman’s flip as Lena. She isn’t just a scientist, but in addition a lady who’s grieving, guilting, and trying to find which means. The ultimate act within the lighthouse, when Lena confronts a faceless doppelgänger, is a layered, wordless sequence that’s nonetheless unforgettable.
‘Might December’ (2023)
In Might December, Natalie Portman takes on the function of Elizabeth Berry, a revered actress who travels to Savannah to analysis her function in a film about Gracie Atherton-Yoo, a lady notorious for her relationship with a 13-year-old boy, now her husband, Joe. As Elizabeth eases into their lives, interviews Gracie, and reenacts scenes from her previous, she finds it onerous to separate efficiency from actuality.
A Examine in Efficiency
Directed with a eager eye for nuance and ambiguity by Todd Haynes, Might December is a personality research that refuses to supply straightforward solutions or judgements. It lets discomfort construct slowly, by provocative scenes. And on the heart is Portman’s character, whose curiosity slowly morphs into manipulation. She not solely absorbs the function throughout the function, but in addition the pathology of Julianne Moore’s Gracie, and it’s actually seductive to look at.
‘Jackie’ (2016)
Set within the days following JFK’s assassination, Jackie revolves round First Girl Jacqueline Kennedy, who is just not solely navigating grief, but in addition legacy and public picture. The film weaves flashbacks of her White Home tour, the assassination itself, and her conversations with a journalist and a priest. We see her orchestrate the funeral, shield her youngsters, and form her husband’s fantasy.
Intimate and Sorrowful
Pablo Larraín’s biopic is a portrait of a lady thrust into the glare of the nationwide highlight throughout the darkest second of her life, and who higher to painting Jackie than Natalie Portman? It’s a transformative efficiency for the actress. She is elegant and composed, but in addition going by internal turmoil, and Portman nails the function with uncanny precision. The film acquired vital acclaim and three Oscar nominations, together with Greatest Actress for Portman.
Black Swan
- Launch Date
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December 3, 2010
- Runtime
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108 minutes
