so many talented people...such a bad movie

Rating: 2/10 (21 January 2011)

A little something for everybody. Girl-on-girl sex, the biopic cliché of the tortured female star (Edith Piaf, Janis Joplin, Fannie Brice etc. etc.) who may or may not make it through the performance, the preposterous thesis that a controlling parent will make you insane ("Shine"), grotesque blood and guts ("Friday the 13th", "The Exorcist, etc.), ah, but you see...it is so ARTISTIC. Natalie Portman acts the part beautifully, yet she is a cipher. You don't feel that you know her and so you don't care about her; all her perils just come off as more transparent manipulations from the director. Actually, none of the wonderful actors in this movie can overcome the preposterous plot to convince you that they are recognizable human beings. Tchaikovsky's music is wonderful.