Natalie Portman names her five favourite movies of all time
When Natalie Portman was just 12, she starred in Luc Besson’s Leon: The Professional alongside Jean Reno, whose titular hitman character takes Portman’s Mathilda under his wing after her family members are murdered. Her fantastic performance marked the beginning of her career, and she has since gone on to become one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
After impressing critics with her role in Leon, Portman appeared in Mars Attack! and Heat before taking on the role of Anne Frank in the Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank. With her success snowballing, an even bigger break came for Portman in 1999 when she starred as Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. From there, Portman bagged more roles on stage and screen, earning her first Academy Award nomination for Mike Nichols’ Closer in 2005.
Solidified as one of the biggest names in Hollywood, Portman’s meteoric rise was confirmed when she eventually won her first Oscar in 2011 after portraying the obsessive ballerina Nina Sayers in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. Other notable credits of Portman’s include Jackie, Annihilation, Thor and the rest of the Star Wars prequel series.
While Portman has starred in many successful blockbusters, she has also lent herself to considerably more experimental and indie pictures – a testament to her love of cinema. Talking to Letterboxd, Portman picked out a few of her favourite movies, starting with Days of Heaven by Terrence Malick. The 1978 movie that followed his debut, Badlands, also received critical acclaim.
Subsequently, the movie, starring Richard Gere and Linda Matz, is remembered as one of Malick’s greatest achievements. Malick didn’t make another film for 20 years, although during his return to cinema, Portman collaborated with him on 2015’s Knight of Cups, co-starring Christian Bale.
Her second pick is Safe by Todd Haynes, featuring Portman’s May December co-star Julianne Moore, also directed by Haynes. The movie follows Moore’s Carol White, a healthy housewife who soon develops a mysterious illness. Also starring Peter Friedman and Xander Berkeley, Safe is often regarded as one of the greatest movies of the 1990s.
Portman also shared her love for Austrian director Michael Haneke, finding it hard to choose between Code Unknown and The Piano Teacher. The former stars Juliette Binoche, whereas the latter features Isabelle Huppert in what is arguably her greatest role. Haneke is known for his transgressive approach to cinema, using unconventional formal techniques, such as extensive long takes in Code Unknown, to convey bold themes. In The Piano Teacher, Haneke depicts a lonely woman’s preoccupation with sadomasochism and subsequent affair with her piano student, making for a harrowing yet beautiful piece of cinema.
Finally, Portman picked out an old favourite, Dirty Dancing, directed by Emile Ardolino. The classic romantic movie became incredibly successful upon its release in 1987, winning ‘Best Original Song’ at the Academy Awards for ‘(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life’. Portman called it “the seminal movie of my youth that I watched over and over and over again and made me love movies.”
Natalie Portman’s favourite movies:
- Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)
- Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995)
- Code Unknown (Michael Haneke, 2000)
- The Piano Teacher (Haneke, 2001)
- Dirty Dancing (Emile Ardolino, 1987)
