The 10 Best Natalie Portman Performances: ‘Black Swan,’ ‘May December’ and More
When people talk about good acting, one of the most common ways to praise an actor is by talking about how they “transform” into their character. Performances that feel lived-in and real, often using some method acting techniques, are often the performances singled out by critics and award groups for praise and acclaim, as the highest form of performance.
But sometimes, a role calls for an actor with a heavier touch. Subdued or naturalistic acting has its place, but occasionally, you need an actor who doesn’t necessarily embody a character but heightens them, that takes their essential qualities and outsizes them to new extremes.
More from IndieWire
More than any modern actor, Natalie Portman exemplifies the strengths of this latter type of acting. A child star turned adult A-lister, Portman has never quite been a performer who disappears into a role. In almost every single role, you can feel the gears turning in her head and the sheer effort and calculations that go into the performance she delivers. That makes her an awkward fit for lighter fare; it’s not a coincidence that her two major franchise turns, her star-making work as Padmé in the “Star Wars” prequels and her stint in the MCU as Thor’s love interest Jane Foster, are generally considered lower points in her career.
But when deployed properly, Portman’s specific acting style makes her one of the best and most interesting performers of her generation, an actor who can go for broke while playing mercurial, complicated women. Fittingly, when you look at her filmography, the predominant theme quite literally is performance. From her Oscar-winning work in “Black Swan” to her turn as Jackie Kennedy attempting to pull herself together in the wake of her husband’s death in Pablo Larraín’s “Jackie” to her stunning recent performance as an actress researching a complicated part in “May December,” so many of Portman’s characters are people that put on fa?ades, who have an uneasy relationship between the figure they present to the world and who they truly are. It’s when she digs into that hazy area between reality and artifice that Portman shines, not just as an actor but as a movie star.
This summer, Portman is making the transition that many film stars have before her, into the world of prestige television. She’s leading “Lady in the Lake,” a period crime drama that sees her play an investigative journalist trying to solve two murders in 1960s Baltimore. With her first major TV role soon to come, IndieWire is taking a look at the star’s best work on the big screen. Read on for Portman’s 10 best performances, ranked.
Best of IndieWire
Quentin Tarantino's Favorite Movies: 63 Films the Director Wants You to See
The 53 Best Sexy Movies of the 21st Century, from 'Spring Breakers' to 'X'
Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
