In Directorial Debut “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” Natalie Portman Honors Jewish Heritage [MOVIE REVIEW]
Natalie Portman in “A Tale of Love and Darkness.” Courtesy of Voltage Pictures
by Morgan Rojas/Cinemacy.com
Natalie Portman is regarded as one of the most ambitious and hardest working people in Hollywood today. Opting to place her career on hold to attend Harvard University in 1999 (getting her degree in Psychology, she is a perfect example for actors everywhere that one shouldn’t rely on beauty, not even talent alone, to survive in show business. The new film “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” based on Israeli author Amos Oz’s bestselling memoir, further proves her abilities as a triple threat in a film that Portman not only stars in, but adapts and directs. Oh, and did I mention the film is in Hebrew with English subtitles?
“A Tale of Love and Darkness” is told from the perspective of Amos as an elderly man, reminiscing about his childhood in the budding State of Israel in the 1940s and ’50s. Amos (Amir Tessler) is a 10-year-old Jewish boy, not yet mature enough to comprehend the politics of the Middle East. He meets a young Arab girl at a party and although they only speak a few words, they are enough for him to understand the conflict around him. His father Arieh (Gilad Kahana), an author with an awareness of the political state of the country, tries to teach his son life lessons every day. His mother, Fania (Portman), puts on a brave face as the matriarch of the household amongst the turmoil, but battles internal forces that eventually become too overwhelming.
In tackling the vast historical context of Middle East politics, “A Tale of Love and Darkness” is slower and much denser than any of Portman’s other work. Its appeal is that it is non-commercial, but that doesn’t mean it lacks cinematic inspiration. Some of the most vivid scenes come from the nightly bedtime stories Fania tells Amos. Just as the character Sara in “A Little Princess” created fantasy worlds for her friends while in boarding school, the stories Fania tells are acted out in a similar fashion.
This film is not just Natalie Portman’s directorial debut, it has also been her passion project that she worked on for over 10 years. It is an interesting choice for a filmmaker’s debut, as it definitely goes against the grain of formulaic Hollywood films. However, after watching, it seems like no one else could have pulled off this striking balance between romance and melancholy as well as the triple-threat Portman.
“A Tale of Love and Darkness” is rated PG-13 for thematic content and some disturbing violent images. 95 minutes. Now playing at the Landmark Theater.