Beautiful Girls (1996)
Moving chronologically, we’ll start with her performance in Beautiful Girls, an agreeable but forgettable film providing an unforgettable star vehicle for Natalie Portman. Her ostentatious turn from charismatic child actor to indisputable talent is complimented by the young actress’ aching maturity and a less-aware, but equally effective naivety. Here she plays a self-conceived “old soul” who falls for an older gentleman (played by a shy, but emotionally liberated, Timothy Hutton). The relationship they share is spiritual one (made more discomforting by the fact that she is “in-love” with him); it is the oddest among the film’s many little stories, but it’s easily the most interesting. Portman is probably twice as young as any of the film’s actors but she carries Beautiful Girls with her bravura charm alone.
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