Vox Lux * * *
Celeste says to her manager, "Please don't swear, my sister doesn't like it when you swear", so Eleanor, if you're reading this you'd best avert your eyes when you get to the last paragraph. Just as I wanted to avert my eyes - and block my ears - when we got to the last section of this film.
This is a weird little film which definitely has some virtues, I'll give it that, especially in the first half.
Starting in the mid nineties, we are introduced to Celeste, a young girl from a "born-again" Christian family in middle America. She and her sister Eleanor, write songs together. They attend the local high school. One day a disturbed student goes crazy with a gun killing several other students and a teacher. Celeste is wounded.
At the memorial service Celeste sings a song she and Eleanor have written. A producer gets to hear it and sees the star quality of Celeste. Next thing, you know she is being made offers and being looked after by a manager (Jude Law).
Although Celeste is the performer and the one being promoted she is inseparable from Eleanor. Besides, Eleanor writes most of the songs. This first half of the film is actually pretty good as we watch the pop star image of Celeste being shaped and the record company finding the right producers, then sending them to Europe to record.
Soon these very young girls from a sheltered background are being exposed to the world of night-clubbing, sex, drink and drugs. Celeste is cautious but Eleanor is especially excited by this other world. Then an incident causes a rift between Celeste and Eleanor - just as the World Trade Centre is attacked, which I thought was a bit of a corny symbolic coincidence.
We leap forward to today. Celeste - now being played by Natalie Portman - is in her thirties and hugely famous. I don't know if Nat was taking the piss out of unmentionable celebrity rock stars or if she had something else in mind when she was performing this, but she gives us an amazingly unattractive character: arrogant, egocentric, insensitive, dressed horribly, comically staggering around on high heels and consuming drugs by the bucket. (Kudos to Natalie for taking on such a degenerate role. She always delivers). Meanwhile, sister Eleanor has developed a detestation of the "party life". She is now a bullied, belittled helper. An unappreciated babysitter of Celeste's daughter.
We see the Celeste of today through an afternoon and evening of her life . She takes her teen daughter out for "quality time" and talks only of herself. She throws a pop star hissy in a cafe, She has to face an awkward press conference as terrorists are using imagery from her video, she overdoses, she has a blistering fight with her sister and begs her forgiveness, and then she goes on stage for her concert.
This is the second film from director/writer Brady Corbet, and at times I have to admire it. I like the concept an the story. There are some very good scenes, especially in the first half. And all the actors are good. The occasional voice over by Willem Dafoe gives the story gravity.
But I also wish a lot of it was different. We know she is a fictitious rock star, made-up for the film, with made up songs that sort of sound awful and could never actually be a hit (sorry Sia not your best work). So asking the audience to sitting through a portion of her "concert" is completely unnecessary and painful - and adds nothing to the drama. But perhaps after seeing all her ugliness the director wanted to show us her other side. The reason she is loved. Here on the stage is where she shines for all of us - like a turd rolled in glitter.
This is a weird little film which definitely has some virtues, I'll give it that, especially in the first half.
Starting in the mid nineties, we are introduced to Celeste, a young girl from a "born-again" Christian family in middle America. She and her sister Eleanor, write songs together. They attend the local high school. One day a disturbed student goes crazy with a gun killing several other students and a teacher. Celeste is wounded.
At the memorial service Celeste sings a song she and Eleanor have written. A producer gets to hear it and sees the star quality of Celeste. Next thing, you know she is being made offers and being looked after by a manager (Jude Law).
 |
| How does all that glitter stick to her? |
Soon these very young girls from a sheltered background are being exposed to the world of night-clubbing, sex, drink and drugs. Celeste is cautious but Eleanor is especially excited by this other world. Then an incident causes a rift between Celeste and Eleanor - just as the World Trade Centre is attacked, which I thought was a bit of a corny symbolic coincidence.
We leap forward to today. Celeste - now being played by Natalie Portman - is in her thirties and hugely famous. I don't know if Nat was taking the piss out of unmentionable celebrity rock stars or if she had something else in mind when she was performing this, but she gives us an amazingly unattractive character: arrogant, egocentric, insensitive, dressed horribly, comically staggering around on high heels and consuming drugs by the bucket. (Kudos to Natalie for taking on such a degenerate role. She always delivers). Meanwhile, sister Eleanor has developed a detestation of the "party life". She is now a bullied, belittled helper. An unappreciated babysitter of Celeste's daughter.
We see the Celeste of today through an afternoon and evening of her life . She takes her teen daughter out for "quality time" and talks only of herself. She throws a pop star hissy in a cafe, She has to face an awkward press conference as terrorists are using imagery from her video, she overdoses, she has a blistering fight with her sister and begs her forgiveness, and then she goes on stage for her concert.
This is the second film from director/writer Brady Corbet, and at times I have to admire it. I like the concept an the story. There are some very good scenes, especially in the first half. And all the actors are good. The occasional voice over by Willem Dafoe gives the story gravity.
But I also wish a lot of it was different. We know she is a fictitious rock star, made-up for the film, with made up songs that sort of sound awful and could never actually be a hit (sorry Sia not your best work). So asking the audience to sitting through a portion of her "concert" is completely unnecessary and painful - and adds nothing to the drama. But perhaps after seeing all her ugliness the director wanted to show us her other side. The reason she is loved. Here on the stage is where she shines for all of us - like a turd rolled in glitter.
Comments
Post a Comment