When deciding which movie to see on a weekend, it can often be useful to read critics' reviews of what's playing. Depending on the critic's experience and biases, there is often valuable information that can be gleaned from reviews that can make or break a potential audience member's decision to attend a film.
Normally, film reviews focus on the plot, characters, themes and messages in a film, and they provide an assessment of the quality of execution of general filmmaking principles. Starred or otherwise qualitatively-rated reviews also provide a convenient snapshot of the movie's merit as a whole.
Why, then, does everything I've read concerning "V for Vendetta" focus on Natalie Portman's hairstyle - or lack of one?
To be fair, I have found a few reviews that apply more to the rest of the film. But many I read spent numerous paragraphs regaling or bemoaning Portman's shaved head and the single scene in the movie in which her hair is removed. Even the Life section of USA Today last week had an article concerning Portman's now-famous lack of locks and her astonishing-for-no-apparent-reason ability to still be attractive.
Obsession with celebrity minutiae is certainly nothing new, but the reason Portman's head is shaved isn't to get tongues wagging. It is a feature of a character she plays in the film. Actors are employees of the film industry, and just as accountants wear ties to work, actors have to make appearance-related accommodations depending on the type of film on which they're working. It's one thing to gawk and laugh at paparazzi shots of stars' poor sartorial choices, but it's another to make an actress's hairstyle the main marketing feature of a multifaceted movie.
Portman's film is controversial, action-packed, violent and exciting. It features other excellent players like the nearly unmentioned Hugo Weaving, who was the nefarious Agent Smith of "The Matrix" as well as the benevolent Elrond from the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. It also deals with the touchy topic of the distinction between terrorism and freedom fighting, so one would think the movie would garner notice for its daring subject matter and affecting emotionality.
Instead of the talk being focused on these important aspects of "V for Vendetta," however, all the attention has been turned to an erstwhile fashion statement of one actress in the film. Charlize Theron received the same movie-obscuring treatment when she gained weight and lost the makeup for "Monster," even though her transformation and fine performance eventually helped her win an Oscar for the role. Often it seems an actor's work is the least noticed thing he does when it's swept aside by rumors about his love life, weight, appearance, clothing designer of choice or other meaningless personal details. Apparently, our own lives are so dull that it's necessary to cause commotion over a distant stranger shaving her head.
Don't get me wrong, I completely adore Portman. She's smart, kind and humble - not to mention talented and unafraid of challenging roles. I also considered that the entire hair hubbub might be a way to distract audiences from the glum mood of the film or to attract fans of Portman's lighter fare to a film they might otherwise not see. But it does a disservice both to Portman's talent and to moviegoers' intelligence to divert attention away from the film's important social statements and onto the hairstyle of one of its stars.
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