Everything you need to know about the Rachel Cusk/Natalie Portman drama.
Here's what's trending across the USA right now:
Some good old-fashioned literary drama is just the thing for late summer. Pairs well with mint juleps and malaise, I think. This week, those of this opinion were darkly pleased to learn that Rachel Cusk’s new novel ( Life of M ) is apparently based on the life of real human star Natalie Portman. And if our deep reads are correct, the Black Swan doesn’t love this.
Adding to this, To start from the top, with the tea. Cusk and Portman have been friendly for several years, and are apparently mutual followers. Portman selected Cusk’s novel Parade for her book club back in 2024, and there has been at least one warm public discussion between the star and the novelist.
Meanwhile, Life of M picks up on recent Cusk preoccupations, such as the instability of the self. But the new novel leans on some highly specific receipts.
Notably, As Valerie Strivers observed in a spelunk for UnHerd , the book is about a “famous star, M, and a nameless writer-friend’s project to chronicle her.” And M and Portman share enough similarities to raise eyebrows.
As per the latest buzz, How did sleuths connect the dots? Cusk’s fictional heroine is, “in addition to being a movie star, the model for a major brand.” She lives in an unnamed European city. And she got her start as a child—specifically in a Lolita-like role in a European movie that “immediately brought her childhood to an end,” in the narrator’s opinion.
In further updates, Portman is a famous star and Dior model living in Paris. Her first project was this .
On top of that, There are other, less savory breadcrumbs. M—who also played a ballerina in one of her better-known movie roles—apparently struggles to connect with the common folk outside the realm of fame. She comes across in the novel as tense, myopic, alienated. Not so great in a crisis.
Which could explain how, per Strivers, “the star’s dissatisfaction and betrayal at the finished product, as recorded in the final pages of [ Life of M ], is also shared to be true to life.”
Source: Literary Hub