The Sexual Evolution of Ms. Portman

by Douglas Williams

…Or her characters rather. Although separated by thirteen years, Natalie Portman’s Mathilda in Leon (94) and her anonymous character in Wes Anderson’s short film Hotel Chevlier (04) have very separate sexual experiences and desires yet it is sex and love (or its absence) that seem to surround the two roles.
Mathilda’s allure is in her innocence and her longing for companionship. Her love for the film’s hero, Leon, stems directly for her longing for love in any form and transforms into her falling in love and eminent sexual yearning despite their gap in years. Leon’s own sexual and emotional immaturity adds to their loving relationship, and the viewers own love for both. Although he is a hit man their relationship is completely void of any danger, romantically speaking. Neither party is taking advantage of the other; their feelings are mutual to a degree.
The film exists in another world where a girl shooting a gun out an apartment window elicits no concern from the viewer, only amusement. Bresson creates an environment where it is believable that a hit man would take a ten-year-old girl under his wing and teach her the ways of “cleaning”. It is only in this world where a viewer can understand and accept the sexual tension between a young woman, only on the verge of puberty, and a mentally slow man about to reach his middle age.
It is in this world where a subject of forbidden love of this magnitude can exist, the most forbidden in fact, that of a child and a man. Yet the audience looks past this, the love between both characters is so potent and powerful. Both character’s need for that love and connection, for another human to care for them surpasses any immoral preconceptions the audience may be harboring. They are both genuine people, meant to find each other. It is here that the most innocent and enduring love occurs. The love between Leon and Mathilda is in one word: pure.
In Hotel Cheviler Portman has aged thirteen years yet her character’s own sexual experience is light years away from that of the innocent and dear Mathilda. The relationship in Hotel Cheviler is a throw away relationship, driven by sex, not by love. It is a complete 180 from Leon. This swap of values is apparent in the way Anderson chooses to shoot the film. In Leon Mathilda’s innocence is upheld and persevered at all times, she is a young virgin in the throws of her first love. In Hotel Cheviler Portman’s character uses sex as a tool, brought forth by the filmmaker by the intelligent and well timed use of nudity.
Jason Schwartzman undresses Portman in front of the camera’s unwavering presence. The most intimate part of sex is displayed in a very intimate setting, yet even the viewer can feel the uncomfortable tension between the two characters and the absence of love.
It is also apparent that Portman has been with other men during the character’s time apart from each other. She lies and deceives. This woman believes she is in search
of love yet she is, in the end, not as mature as the young Mathilda.
Mathilda understands the weight of love and the magnitude of adding sexual relations into that relationship. The character in Hotel Cheviler can been seen as even more sympathetic in some instances because she has no grasp of what love is, only sex and what is one without the other? Just empty and temporary pleasure.
Although sex is a facet of Leon the core of the film is love, which is abundantly clear at the conclusion when Leon and Mathilda exchange “I love yous” during the last moment they are together. This is love that can’t be defined by marriage or family or friendship, it is the love that all strive for. Hotel Cheviler revolves around the use of love, or what the characters believe love is, for selfish reasons. “If we fuck I’m going to feel like shit in the morning,” yet this doesn’t seem to deter either party.
The sex that these two characters share is completely void of love. Even the use of the word “fuck” demonstrates how Portman’s character feels about the act. She uses one of the most derogatory terms to label what they are perhaps about to do.
Mathilda on the other hand uses terms such as “first time” or “being with a man”, compassionate phrases stated by a woman who has never experienced the act, conversely Portman’s character in Hotel Cheviler has perhaps grown tired and even bored of the experience although it is sadly the only outlet she is aware of to express what she feels is love.
The two characters, both performed with profound confidence by Ms. Portman, represent the maturity of love as sex. She composes both performances completely believably; that a 10-year-old girl can be fully aware sexually and of her feelings of love and that a woman almost fifteen years older, who is much more experienced in one sense, can still be searching in vain for what love means beyond simply the sexual connection.