Vox Lux
Directed by: Brady Corbet
Written by: Brady Corbet
Starring: Natalie Portman, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Jude Law, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Abbott, Jennifer Ehle
Drama/Music - 110 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 13 Dec 2018
Written by: Brady Corbet
Starring: Natalie Portman, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Jude Law, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Abbott, Jennifer Ehle
Drama/Music - 110 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 13 Dec 2018
Brady Corbet experiments with juxtaposition with ideas, feelings, and atmospheres which do not go together. He created a film which feels like two separate films screwed together - one follows a dreadful school shooting and its aftermath while the other showcases the hysteria following pop megalomania. There are two separate tones as the film undergoes a hyperventilating evolution from viscerally shocking to adoring extravaganza, darkness to neon, a soothing ballad to over-produced sci-fi/pop singles - from minimalism to maximalism. I understand some will walk out feeling Vox Lux is a mess of conflicting ideas and moods, but Corbet offers an exciting metamorphosis from low to high; a boundary-pushing shift in time and character directors rarely attempt.
Vox Lux is Latin for voice of light. After surviving a horrific high school shooting, young Celeste (Raffey Cassidy, Allied) pens a song with the help of her sister, Eleanor (Stacy Martin, Godard Mon Amour), from her hospital bed, and Celeste’s voice commands attention. It unites the globe in sympathy and healing. It propels Celeste to a level of superstardom witnessed once a generation. It also shoves the film into its second phase 17 years later where we find adult Celeste (Natalie Portman, Annihilation) as both global behemoth and prisoner. Celeste commands concert crowds in the tens of thousands, yet she cannot each lunch with her daughter without being pestered for autographs and thrown out for for being “an alcoholic bitch” for opting not to sign one.
Vox Lux is Latin for voice of light. After surviving a horrific high school shooting, young Celeste (Raffey Cassidy, Allied) pens a song with the help of her sister, Eleanor (Stacy Martin, Godard Mon Amour), from her hospital bed, and Celeste’s voice commands attention. It unites the globe in sympathy and healing. It propels Celeste to a level of superstardom witnessed once a generation. It also shoves the film into its second phase 17 years later where we find adult Celeste (Natalie Portman, Annihilation) as both global behemoth and prisoner. Celeste commands concert crowds in the tens of thousands, yet she cannot each lunch with her daughter without being pestered for autographs and thrown out for for being “an alcoholic bitch” for opting not to sign one.
Brady Corbet has a message. Everything in 2018 is a commodity - school shootings, terrorism, and the concept of privacy in public life. If people pay attention to you, if you own a place on the stage be you a pop star or terrorist, you have power. On the first day of Celeste’s new concert tour, terrorists storm a tourist beach in Croatia murdering multiple sun-soaking vacationers. What does this have to do with Celeste? The attackers wore masks Celeste wore in her first music video. This will require a statement from Celeste, an explanation, and of course her inner-most thoughts on terrorism, the socio-political culture which catalyzes its, and how it must connect to her as a capitalist musician, and above all, as a woman.
But Celeste is in on the secret of celebrity superpowers. “It doesn’t matter what you do, doesn’t matter what you say, no one cares!” Celeste has had enormous public meltdowns and scandals over the years and she remains as popular as ever. Nobody cares about the pedestrian she ran over with her car while on drugs. Nobody cares that Eleanor writes her song lyrics and raises her daughter, Albertine (Raffey Cassidy once again). Naturally, nobody responsible for making or starring in the film will dare mention any real life personality Celeste could possibly be based on. Between you and me, however, Celeste is an amalgamation clearly influenced by Madonna, Britney Spears, and Lady Gaga.
Corbet says Vox Lux is an opera. It has a prelude, two acts, and a finale. At times, it feels more documentary, especially when the narrator (Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project) kicks in to explain Celeste’s place in the world, points of view, and inner thoughts. Vox Lux is certainly as melodramatic as a fully-staged opera. Celeste lives out her substance abuse, divorce, and all of her problems in front of the camera. She melts down a few times a day, sometimes under the command of heavy narcotics and sometimes under her own power. She has no personal space. Her family is mixed up in her business with Eleanor operating both on the creative and personal side with Albertine. Her entire family accompanies her on tour. Her longtime manager (Jude Law, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) crosses the line between business relationship and sometimes drug supplier, psychiatrist, and perhaps manager with benefits?
Celeste has no idea who she can trust, who loves her, and who uses her. Her public persona is her only persona. When a human being is defined this way over so many years, can the audience really be shocked when Celeste acts so outrageous every now and again? Perhaps the world should be surprised she keeps it together for as many hours a day as she does. But remember, it doesn’t matter - nobody cares. Corbet, mostly known as an actor from international art house cinema (Force Majeure, Clouds of Sils Maria), tackles a subject worth exploring and excels because his vision is so unique - we have not seen pop culture examined this way before. Vox Lux ends as an in-your-face extravaganza, the furthest point Corbet could take the story from its bare bones, chilling beginning. It’s more than worth the trip through this Mad Hatter’s Wonderland.
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