When thinking about what to write about Vox Lux, the words “What the hell happened?” keep popping into my head. I thought I was getting Natalie Portman satirically impersonating a shallow pop star, with a little Black Swan thrown in. Instead, we get the shallow pop star behavior but surrounded by stuff that well, you just won’t see coming, and comes off more and more distasteful and cruel as you think about it. Vox Lux I guess will stay with you like the taste of beer during a particularly strong hangover. And yet, like the previous night, Vox Lux will have you staring at the screen enthralled at what his happening.
Vox Lux is about Celeste (played as a young woman by Raffey Cassidy). At a young age, something horrific happens to her, and in her grief she writes a beautiful song with the help of her sister Eleanor (Stacy Martin). The world becomes instantly enraptured by this sad girl, and pushes her into the music industry. With the help of a manager (Jude Law) and a publicist (Jennifer Ehle), Celeste becomes a super duper pop star. Years later, another world tragedy similar to Celeste’s personal tragedy occurs. However, the older Celeste (played by Natalie Portman), is at a totally different point in her life, estranged a bit from Eleanor and her own daughter Albertine (also played by Cassidy).
Very rarely does one scene completely derail an entire film. There have been a couple in recent memory: The Accountant’s JK Simmons backstory and the opening scene of Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Those scenes completely transform or set the tone for the movie in a way that it’s hard to watch the rest of the film without thinking of the awful scene. This is basically me saying that the opening sequence is so graphic and cruel and shocking that the movie punches you awake. I get that the movie does this to parallel the situation later in the film, but the scene is so horrific that it will be hard to disengage your mind from it at all times. There have to be other ways for Celeste to end up on the radar of the music industry, and the one Vox Lux chooses will so consume you that you’ll roll your eyes at the story Brady Corbet is trying to tell, mostly because he fast forwards through the parts of the film that would see Celeste evolve from someone affected by her tragedy to someone who turns everything into a personal tragedy, using distractions instead of talking about it with someone.
And yet, those tragedies Vox Lux chooses are slow motion car wreck watchable; you hate watch what’s unfolding but cannot look away. And, the acting is really fun and interesting. Natalie Portman has a blast playing this self-obsessed pop star who feeds on her own awesomeness, plus she rocks onstage. She’s paired with the lovely Stacy Martin, who picks up awesome acting right where she left off in Nymphomaniac. Martin plays that conflicted behind the scenes family member, who is giving more than the credit she deserves. Rafael Cassidy is also solid playing the same role twice: a shy person afraid to reveal her feelings. The cast does the best they can with material that eschews real incisive introspection, and almost elevate Vox Lux into a really great character study, a testament to their talents.
But in the end, it all just feels too shallow. Tragedy like the type Vox Lux opens with shouldn’t exist and then be quickly forgotten. Oh yeah, and September 11th is invoked and then quickly forgotten to talk about what’s going on with the inner life of a pop star? What the hell happened???? Indeed…