Vox Lux

By: Jennifer Verzuh

The title Vox Lux means “voice of light” in Latin, but it’s the film’s subhead, A 21st Century Portrait, that holds the real significance and offers the greatest insight into what the movie is truly about. To describe this as a tale about the rise and struggles of a pop star, while perhaps technically accurate, would be doing it an injustice. The film is most concerned with capturing what it means to live in this era with the lingering effects of growing up in a generation shaped in equal parts by violence, consumerism and celebrity culture.

If one scrolls through their Twitter feed they’ll likely come across a link to a news story about a recent act of terrorism right underneath an article about the Grammys or the latest story of an actress’ break up. These take up equal space in our media and minds. And we move on from them to fast to actually process any of it. Director and writer Brady Corbet uses Celeste (a truly astounding Raffey Cassidy in the beginning) as a catalyst for his examination of our modern obsession with celebrity, violence and more. She’s a young girl from Staten Island who miraculously survived a tragedy, only to as a result be catapulted to stardom. At a vigil she sings a song she and her sister (an excellent Stacy Martin, who skillfully maintains the role for the entirety of the movie) wrote that catches the attention of the nation and a music agent (Jude Law). Through careful marketing and crafting her new persona as a pop star is created. It’s then that any remnants of her innocence and childhood, that hadn’t already been wiped away by bloodshed, disappear. Though her trauma never gets addressed, she just uses alcohol and drugs to cover it up. And, of course, there is her music. “I don’t want people to think too hard. I just want them to feel good,” she says of why she likes the pop genre.

The film jumps ahead for a separate and very different second half where Celeste (Natalie Portman), now a full-fledged star with a teen daughter of her own (also played by Cassidy in a tricky move, though the actress does her best to keep the roles distinct and is as successful as possible), is preparing for a major comeback-esque concert for her new album. This also comes the same day an act of violence has been committed connected to one of her music videos, which we watch her reckon with or at least try and fail to do so.

Celeste is almost unrecognizable at this point from her younger counterpart. She’s self-centered, vile, aggressive, annoying and artificial in just about every way. But she’s also so clearly hurting still, deeply unhappy and vulnerable. Many will criticize this portion, I’m sure, and while it’s less engaging and can be overly dramatic and showy (even in the costumes and hair) at times as can Portman’s performance, that’s the point. She’s become a product now and anything authentic about her, even her music, has gone. She doesn’t know how to turn the “show” off and is clearly incapable of having genuine relationships, unable to truly communicate at this point really with her sister or her daughter. She speaks as if in front of a crowd even in one-on-one conversations. It’s only when we see her in concert performing in front of thousands that she feels natural and at home, despite the grand scale and intense theatricality.

Corbet clearly has a distinct vision here, which he brings to life in the most spectacular fashion. It’s a lot at times and maybe even overly ambitious, but somehow that’s what makes it so great. And visually this just looks so impressive. The editing and filmmaking deployed here is so slick and stylish and the music, colors and costumes are absolutely fantastic. Featuring prophetic narration by Willem Dafoe throughout only adds to the operatic nature of this tale. By the end he’s completely given in to the spectacle here, like Celeste. We’re treated to a full blown extended musical sequence at the film’s end as we watch her in full pop star mode complete with a team of dancers and an outfit change in which she performs several of her songs, all written by Sia and feature her signature flare and catchy style.

Vox Lux: A 21st Century Portrait is likely the boldest film of the year to receive a wide release. In fact, it just might be the boldest and most provocative picture of the year period. And because of that, not everyone will appreciate what it has to say or how it goes about saying it, as evidenced by the film getting entirely shut out of the Golden Globe nominations. This isn’t an easy watch. In fact, it can be an extremely frustrating one at times and it absolutely goes over the top and feels excessive. But the way it takes a narrative that we as the public and the media would hail as an inspiring success story and reveals it instead as a modern day tragedy rattled me to the bone.