It’s been almost 15 years since Natalie Portman, playing the character Sam in “Garden State,” uttered the words, “You gotta hear this one song — it’ll change your life. I swear.” That line has been repeated by film fans for a decade-and-a-half as an example of Portman portraying one of the idealistic female companions that populated cinema at the time. The type of woman that would be called the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Now, in retrospect, Portman wishes she wasn’t part of that wave of characters.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the Academy Award-winning actress looks back at her various roles, which in more recent years is filled with incredible films like “Annihilation,” “Black Swan,” “Jackie,” and the upcoming, highly-anticipated “Vox Lux.” But it wasn’t always awards contender films for Portman, as she also filled her career with superhero films (“Thor 1 & 2”), rom-coms (“No Strings Attached”), stoner comedies (“Your Highness”), and of course, the “Star Wars” Prequel Trilogy.
But it’s that Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and more what it represents, that really upsets the actress.
Portman says, “I was very lucky that what I was cast in wasn’t anything deliberate—serious adult fare and not child-appropriate things. But I feel like I totally ended up in female tropes, like Lolita. And clearly I was part of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl coining. I find it very upsetting to be part of that.”
In recent months, Portman has made herself one of the most vocal women in the Time’s Up movement and been very supportive of #MeToo. So it’s obvious why she sees the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope as a bit problematic.
That being said, the actress has devoted her most recent films to occupying roles that are challenging and unique, and it looks like she’s hitting all cylinders as she does it.
“Vox Lux” hits theaters on December 7.
Here’s the aforementioned “change your life” scene from “Garden State:”