![]() Celeste is now struggling to repair her reputation after a series of scandals. When Natalie Portman steps into the movie as Celeste 17 years years later, still famous, still with silver fabric around her throat, you never doubt she is the grownup version of the teenager toughened by trauma and experience when she was so young. "Vox Lux" gives a visceral sense of what overnight fame must actually feel like to those who experience it, the sped-up nature of time, how the earth falls away beneath your feet. But the music industry is not known for protecting the innocence of its young stars. Celeste's older sister Eleanor ( Stacy Martin) does her best to protect her sister, who is, after all, only 14 years old when all this happens. She is then pounced on by a manager ( Jude Law) and a record label executive ( Jennifer Ehle), who look at her and see dollar signs. ![]() Unlike Britney Spears or Madonna or Katy Perry, Celeste came to fame through a tragic event (shown in the absolutely terrifying first scene), which launched her into a national spotlight. "At least she wrote her own lyrics," says the voiceover, sounding defensive on her behalf. But Britney Spears can be a serious topic, especially when considered as cultural phenomena. "Her loss of innocence mirrored that of the nation." "She was prisoner of a gaudy and unlivable present." It's like a college term-paper from a student who takes Britney Spears very seriously. The voiceover keeps reappearing, interjecting commentary (social and political), loading down the film with a sense of portent, almost dread. Celeste is introduced by a voiceover, given by an immediately recognizable voice. How Celeste came to be a famous pop singer takes up the first half of the film (star Natalie Portman doesn't even appear until an hour in). The film is an onslaught, sometimes silly, sometimes profound, but always riveting and emotional, and dazzlingly sure of itself. "Vox Lux," written and directed by Brady Corbet, whose " The Childhood of a Leader" was one of the best films of 2016, mixes small quiet moments like this with hyper-stylized sequences, raw emotional confrontations, music videos, plus an entire concert, complete with backup dancers and a chanting cult-like audience. I just want them to feel good." She speaks of her recurring dream where she's careening through a long tunnel towards an unknown and probably bad destination, and her vision of a kind of music that makes it all go away. She looks very young and very tired, staring at the camera, delivering a monologue in a flat New York-accented voice, about how she loves pop music because "I don't want people to think too much. A piece of silver fabric is wrapped around her throat, and her eyes are smudged with mascara. After a discussion about their very different approaches they each took towards playing the same character, I brought up the end reveal and inquired about its impact on their performances.The moment is unnerving: 15-year-old Celeste ( Raffey Cassidy) lies in bed with a man she just met, a man much older than she is who is drifting in and out of pill-induced unconsciousness. The ending of Vox Lux was one that kept my brain spinning for a while after I walked out of the film, and my curiosity continued until the next day when I had the pleasure of sitting down with Natalie Portman and co-star Raffey Cassidy to talk about their work on the movie. You want to see her devilish sides for sure. ![]() I think it's sort of like what Raffey was just talking about, about it being a blessing and a curse when you know that the thing that kind of birthed you was kind of not innocent, like luck There's a Faust kind of, you know, story. ![]() Knowing this forces you to reexamine everything that you think you know about Celeste, but what makes it even more interesting is that it was a key detail that Natalie Portman kept in the back of her mind throughout her entire performance: ![]() Specifically, we learn that Celeste's success and career as a singer was a result of not amazing talent and/or fortuitous timing, but instead a literal deal with the devil she made during her near-death experience. Brady Corbet's Vox Lux has a legit bombshell ending, dropping a reveal that forces you to rethink everything you just watched. ![]()
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