Filmmakers love putting Natalie Portman’s face in the mirror. It’s easy to understand — if I were a director who had access to a face like Natalie Portman’s, I’d put it everywhere I could. But like Perseus defeating Medusa by her reflection in his shield, there are some faces simply too powerful to gaze at directly for too long.
Studying such a striking person from that reflective remove can be more revealing than looking at them directly. It certainly is in Episode 3 of Lady in the Lake . Adapted from the novel by Laura Lipmman , Alma Har’el’s Apple TV+ series stages this sex scene involving Portman’s character, fed-up ex-housewife turned cub reporter Maddie Morgenstern Schwartz, and her lover, Baltimore police officer Ferdie Black (Y’lan Noel), in front of a mirror.
And there’s a lot to see. Portman’s most memorable performances often feature her as a performer: a stripper in Closer , an actor in May December , a ballet dancer in Black Swan , a rock star in Vox Lux , a queen pretending to be her own servant in The Phantom Menace . The mirror is the place where the performer considers her own performance.
In May December , it’s where she tries on Julianne Moore’s hairstyle and facial expressions for size. In Black Swan , it’s where her shadow-self doppelgänger emerges. It’s the dividing line between who you are and who you act like you are.
Maddie Morgenstern Schwartz — one of Lady in the Lake ’s twinned protagonists with Moses Ingram’s .