Natalie Portman Should Have Two Oscars

When an actress starts out in the acting business as young as Natalie Portman did, should their career endure, they’ll have a film that signals that they have fully transitioned from a child to an adult. Portman’s acting career began at the age of 12 when she portrayed the protégé of a hitman in 1994’s Leon: The Professional. The debut garnered the actress favorable reviews, and it kicked off a career that sent her to a “galaxy far, far away” when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequels, beginning in 1999.

Portman was never without work, and she shined in roles across genres, but it was 2004’s Closer that proved to audiences and critics that not only was Portman now a woman, but a woman with the instincts to portray complicated and nuanced characters. Alice Ayres is very much that character, and her work in the film led her to her first Academy Award nomination, scoring a nod for Best Supporting Actress. As Closer celebrates its 20th anniversary, one thing continues to stand out the most: Portman’s captivating performance. One that should’ve won her the Oscar before she became victorious following her turn in 2010’s Black Swan.

‘Closer’ Is a Unique Drama Starring Natalie Portman

Directed by Mike Nichols from a screenplay by Patrick Marber, who is adapting his award-winning play of the same name, Closer examines the relationships of two couples that become intertwined and complicated by deceit when the man from one of the couples becomes involved with the woman of the other. Portman portrays Alice Ayres, a free-spirited American woman who comes across Dan Woolf (Jude Law) on an England street after she is hit by a car. The incident sparks a relationship that appears to thrive until Dan, a struggling novelist who has written a book based on Alice’s wife, becomes infatuated with an American photographer named Anna Cameron (Julia Roberts), who is photographing him for publicity purposes for his book.

Dan is so consumed by Anna that a year later, he goes into a cybersex chat room and begins corresponding with Larry Gary (Clive Owen), another man living in England. Dan pretends to be Anna in some kind of attempt to humiliate her and get her attention, but the plan backfires when Larry and Anna meet and begin a relationship. However, Closer is all about wanting more than we have and feeling like it’s never enough when we seemingly have it all. These four individuals become even more linked as hearts are broken and secrets come to the surface.

Natalie Portman’s Multi-Faceted Portrayal of Alice in ‘Closer’ Is a Defining Moment

Closer is elevated by four strong performances from its leads, but it’s arguably Portman who shines the brightest because her character proves to be the most interesting as she’s surrounded by mystery. She has a snarky sense of humor, which immediately enamors Dan, but in subsequent scenes, she’s also a character dealing with a devastating amount of pain. It’s clear that she’s hiding something and covering up her true self with armor full of confidence and deceit when necessary should more cracks begin to show.

It’s this confidence that Portman sells effortlessly, displaying a character that appears so sure of herself that it’s almost disarming. The character, as we learn, is a stripper, and it’s an element of the character that raised some eyebrows when the film was released, although the actress doesn’t appear nude in the movie. Portman was seen for so long as someone who was a bit sugary sweet, and Alice was anything but. This was a fully-formed adult performance that was not only brave for Portman but necessary.

Perhaps Portman’s ability to bear it all in the emotional sense was her comfort with the film’s director. The actress mentioned in 2021 that he became her best mentor when she was 19 years old after working with him in the Central Park production of The Seagull, which also starred Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The actress admitted to being intimidated by her more veteran counterparts, but Nichols made her feel at ease. In fact, Portman said Nichols was “The only older man who mentored me without there ever being a creepy element in it” when she was quoted for the book Mike Nichols: A Life by author Mike Harris.

“I think he was a genuine feminist. There was nothing, nothing there except him seeing you as a creative, interesting, talented human. It is the rarest, finest quality, and not many directors of his generation had it.”

This confidence in Portman made him cast the actress in Closer, and he continued working with great care with her as she had to navigate some difficult scenes, including what proved to be one of her most confident moments in the film at a strip club. During the pivotal scene, Larry has come to a strip club, not knowing Alice works there, after discovering that Anna has slept with Dan. Larry is aware of the past relationship between Alice and Dan and chooses to go with her into a private room. Even though Larry is presumably the alpha in the scenario, Alice dismantles all of that with a confident sense of sexuality and the complete knowledge that she is the one in control.

Larry throws money at her and tries to demean her in his attempts to seduce her so he can stick to Anna and Dan, but Alice is always in a position of control in the situation, moving at her own pace and on her terms. The scene also reveals a truth about Alice, and that’s her real name, Jane Jones. Larry believes she’s lying to further insult his intelligence, but it proves to be a pivotal truth and a reveal that Portman handles with gutso.

It’s a scene that could’ve only moved the way it did if Portman was on the same wavelength as Owen, who also earned an Academy Award nomination for his stellar supporting work here. For all the anger and intense emotion he displays in this scene, she counters it with a level of measured control that never wavers. It was a scene that included more upfront nudity, but Nichols catered to Portman’s comfort level, which likely led to how empowered she felt during the scene. When she delivers the line, “Lying’s the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off – but it’s better if you do,” the viewer can feel that she believes every single word.

“With Portman, Nichols was careful and protective, particularly in the strip club sequence, for which, at her request, he was happy to eliminate some of the nudity. [Nichols] made sure [Portman] was comfortable with the angles, the costumes, and the movement, and walked her through the scene until she felt ready.”

Natalie Portman Has Effortless Chemistry With All Her Co-Stars in ‘Closer’

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Closer

Release Date

December 3, 2004

Runtime

104 Minutes

Portman’s confidence is conveyed in every pairing she has in the film, and all of her moments with each of her co-stars feel exciting and different. Her chemistry with Law is impeccable, going from their sweet “meet cute” to the devastation that is felt when she learns of his affair with Anna. She only shares one direct scene with Roberts, and it follows overhearing Anna and Dan discussing the kiss they have just shared during the photography shoot.

After Dan leaves the room, Alice asks Anna to take her photo and, even though Roberts was the veteran of the two actresses at the time, she dominates the scene, alternating from confidently sizing Anna up while ending the scene with a single tear close-up take as the emotions of the betrayal truly hit her. As she turns to the camera, Alice exclaims, “Just take my picture,” and after a moment of displaying that her armor is vulnerable, Portman conveys true pain in a single shot.

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Closer was released on December 3, 2004, to favorable reviews, registering a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes. Some felt the film’s beginnings as a play were a detriment to its transition to film, but what critics agreed on was that the film featured the best performance of Portman’s career up to that point. In James Beradinelli’s review, he wrote, “Portman, in what has been called her first truly adult role (it’s certainly nowhere close to Queen Amidala), is also very, very good. Like Owen, she must essay a character who undergoes a complete personality transformation – from vulnerable waif to ice queen seductress. There’s a rawness and courage to her work.”

Portman was nominated for most major awards for her work in Closer, taking home the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress while securing an Academy Award nod in the same category. Cate Blanchett took home the prize for The Aviator, which is interesting in its own right because Blanchett was originally intended to be in Closer portraying Roberts’ role but had to drop out before filming began when she became pregnant with her second child.

It would be a travesty to say Blanchett wasn’t worthy of the award for her work in the Martin Scorsese film, and maybe Portman’s moment was meant to come when she won Best Actress for Black Swan a few years later. That being said, it was a transformative performance worthy of a win and remains a testament to Portman’s evolution as an actress. Closer is streaming now on Netflix.