The last time Natalie Portman was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars (she’s been up for Best Actress twice, winning once), it was for Closer. She’ll try her luck again in another movie co-starring Jude Law.
In director Brady Corbet’s celebrity-obsessed Vox Lux, Portman (with her most distinct accent since Jackie) plays a pop star named Celeste, who’s trying to reenergize her career following a scandal. Portman’s gunning for Best Supporting Actress, rather than lead, because she’s in only half the film: the other half is centered around Celeste as a teenager, who becomes world famous, with the help of her songwriter sister, after surviving a tragedy.
Here’s the official plot synopsis.
Vox Lux begins in 1999 when teenage Celeste survives a violent tragedy. After singing at a memorial service, Celeste transforms into a burgeoning pop star with the help of her songwriter sister and talent manager. Celeste’s meteoric rise to fame dovetails with a personal and national loss of innocence, consequently elevating the young powerhouse to a new kind of celebrity: American icon, secular deity, global superstar. By 2017, adult Celeste is mounting a comeback after a scandalous incident almost derailed her career. Touring in support of her sixth album, a compendium of sci-fi anthems entitled, Vox Lux, the indomitable, foul-mouthed pop savior must overcome her personal and familial struggles to navigate motherhood, madness, and monolithic fame.
Vox Lux opens in select theaters on December 7.
