Well, Natalie Portman won. Big ole’ honkin’ slice o’ surprise, right?
Of course, predictability reigned again supreme at the 83rd Academy Awards. Once Hollywood has decided a star must win, a star usually wins. We saw this tireless trend last year, when comedy queen Sandra Bullock won for portraying a go-get-em soccer mom. When you consider who she was pitted against—Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren to name a few—this is a tremendous and perhaps questionable feat.
This is not to draw parallels between Sandra and Natalie. But each year, it seems such an unsurprising race for best leading actress that I am suspicious every time the big announcement brings tears of surprise to the winner’s eyes.
Natalie Portman trained intensively for a year to play Nina, a troubled, delusional, sexually frustrated, self-mutilating ballet dancer with mom issues, to capture this year’s prize. Taking a look at that laundry list, it comes off as an understandable and deserved win. And it was! Her performance was brilliant, and I was blown away by every powerful minute of her disturbed portrayal.
However, it causes one to wonder whether it was a part ready-made for Oscar fame. Were the more subtly nuanced performances ignored this year, such as veteran Annette Bening’s brilliant turn as a slightly troubled lesbian?
Oh, no doubt. But at least we can rest assured that the prize was given to someone as deserving and hard-working as Portman.