Vox Lux ★★★
A STAR is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, Yesterday, Wild Rose and Judy have all recently examined, to varying degrees, the nature of what it means to be a celebrity.
Add to those documentaries like Amy and Homecoming and it’s clear that our obsession with this subject matter continues unabated.
Vox Lux, featuring a terrific performance from Natalie Portman, is another addition to the list.
It follows the fictional story of a young teenager, Celeste, over an 18-year period, from overnight singing sensation to failure and comeback.
The film starts in startling fashion and continues with a very strong first half, but unfortunately peters out to an unsatisfying end that fails to capitalise on the initial promise.
After a short, home video style prologue that gives us a quick sense of Celeste as a child, we are thrown into a violent incident that occurs in 1999 when she is aged 16.
Her singing career takes off soon after when, as is a regular occurrence these days, she is seen giving a performance on the internet.
She and her equally talented older sister, Eleanor, are taken under the wing of a manager (Jude Law) and the rollercoaster ride commences.
During this early period, which mainly covers a couple of years, Celeste is played exceptionally well by Raffey Cassidy while Stacey Martin French plays Eleanor.
The next time we join Celeste it’s 18 years later. She is attempting to claw her way back from controversy that has severely impacted her career with a reinvented image and concert unveiling.
But Celeste’s searing honesty and abrasive manner, combined with her personal demons and insecurities and a potential new controversy, are conspiring to derail these plans.
The film is the second feature from Brady Corbet following his strong debut in 2015 with the award-winning The Childhood of a Leader which I have not seen.
Corbet also wrote the screenplay for Vox Lux from a story by Norwegian Mona Fastvold, who co-wrote The Mustang, one of my favourite films of 2019.
The problem with Vox Lux is simple – after an exceptional set-up that clearly suggests this will have a profound effect on Celeste’s life, it fails to follow through.
The final act of the film presents a story of a celebrity that we have seen many times before, rather than specifically tying the latter events back to the original one to create a fresh perspective.
In the end we are left with a gaping hole that is filled instead with an extended concert sequence that is impressively staged but doesn’t provide the expected emotional resolution.
Perhaps this is Corbet’s point – the impact we thought an event would have on Celeste simply hasn’t. If that’s the case, then the point is lost in translation.
Portman gives her best performance since 2016’s Jackie, both mentally and physically authentic as the celebrity pop star.
The rest of the central cast is good, particularly Cassidy in the early part of the film, but a couple of directorial choices also detract from the second half.
Corbet chooses to have French continue playing Eleanor but doesn’t age her appropriately and also has Cassidy play Celeste’s teenage daughter Albertine.
The film features original songs by Sia and an original score by Scott Walker. Your enjoyment of the final 15 minutes will be influenced by whether you enjoy the style of music.
If only the film had followed through I would have rated it higher, but the performances are still worth watching.