Review: Planetarium

There's a sequence in Rebecca Zlotowski's Planetarium that reminds audiences why Natalie Portman is one of the most beautiful and enigmatic presences the movies have ever seen. Portman is seen in a series of striking close-ups, her face so close yet out of reach, the camera rightfully enraptured. What's particularly remarkable about these brief moments is how darkly rapturous the actress is. Portman is a talent, but one whose skills are best showcased when accessing the more haunted and troubled corners of her glamorous composure. This is what made her debut as the testy 12-year-old in The Professional so striking, her turn as the bruised stripper in Closer, her Oscar-winning portrayal as the possessed ballerina in Black Swan, and her accomplished performance in last year's Jackie both magnetic and magnificent. Jaggedness suits Portman, who is merely a pretty face in most of her other roles.

Portman is wonderful in Planetarium, perhaps too much so since the film often fails to meet her level. As Laura Barlow, she's introduced in a tuxedo, alluring audiences who have come to witness Laura and her sister Kate (Lily-Rose Depp) connect to the spirit world. Too broke to go home, the American Barlow Sisters have been touring their seance act in pre-war Europe, doing the best they can to survive. Some good fortune comes their way in the form of André Korben (Emmanuel Salinger), a Jewish movie producer who determines to capture the dead on film after having an unsettling private seance with them.

From here, Planetarium follows two narrative strands: are the Barlow Sisters true mediums or mere grifters, and the power of cinema which, by its nature, is already about capturing ghosts and immortalising them. For both Laura and Korben, cinema becomes a literal escape from their realities. For the latter, it's a means of fulfilling his obsession with the spiritual world as well as remaining (willfully?) oblivious to the not-so-distant atrocities that World War II is about to bring. For the former, it's an opportunity to live her own life and form an identity other than that of her sister's keeper. All the thematic elements don't quite coalesce under Zlotowski's direction - at a certain point, Planetarium loses the little momentum it had and limps to its unsatisfying conclusion.

That said, Planetarium looks and feels lustrous. The first French film shot on digital supercamera Alexa 65, every scene is richly textured and immaculately composed. Katia Wyszkop's production design and Anais Romand's costumes are gorgeous and opulent. Whilst Zlotowski doesn't quite explore the tale's potential to its fullest, she does imbue her work with a poetic sensibility, though it never quite reaches its intended lyrical heights.

Planetarium

Directed by: Rebecca Zlotowski

Written by: Rebecca Zlotowski, Robin Campillo

Starring: Natalie Portman, Lily-Rose Depp, Emmanuel Salinger, Amira Casar, Pierre Salvadori, Louis Garrel, David Bennent, Damien Chapelle