All 42 Natalie Portman Movies Ranked From Worst to Best | Purgatory Film Rankings

MediaPurgatory.com makes money by partnering with advertising networks and displaying ads on its articles. If you purchase anything by clicking on the ads featured in this article, the site’s owner may receive compensation for that purchase.

Natalie Portman is one of the most accomplished American actresses of her generation. Starting to act from an early age, she has already over three decades of experience under her belt and has won numerous awards throughout the years including an Academy Award and two Golden Globes.

In this article, we will take a look at Portman’s filmography, and rank her most important films beginning with the stinkers and finishing with the Classics. By the way, only feature films where Portman has a significant presence will be included. That means movies like Zoolander and The Darjeeling Limited, where Portman only has a cameo, will not be on the list. So without further ado, let’s dive in!

If you are looking for a film that’ll put you to sleep, look no further. Knight of Cups is not the longest Portman movie, but it certainly feels like it’s the longest. If you manage not to die out of boredom after two hours of Christian Bale whispering his philosophical thoughts on the screen you deserve a medal. Even professional critics who liked the movie – most notably Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com – acknowledged that the film would be “intolerable for most audiences” and damn, were they right on the money.

Portman has a supporting role as Rick’s (Bale) mistress, who gets pregnant during the affair and doesn’t know who the father is. There are good and bad Portman movies, but Knight of Cups is by far the most boring one of them all.

The Heyday… is an anthology film consisting of seven short stories, and is based on the book of the same name by author Robert Boswell. It’s unclear what connects the stories, or what point the filmmaker is trying to make, but at least the film only lasts for 1 hour and 37 minutes and doesn’t go on forever like many of the films in this genre often do.

Even if you are a hardcore Portman fan and you make it your mission to watch everything she’s ever been in, you can skip this one because she only appears in one scene and her screen time is only 4-5 minutes.

Mr. Magorium is Portman’s first children’s movie, and it’s a perfect film if you want to put your kids to sleep. Despite some good performances from Portman, Dustin Hoffman, and Jason Bateman, the film fails to deliver any memorable characters or funny moments and it even managed to land on some “worst movies of the year” lists. And if that wasn’t enough, director Zach Helm would disown the movie a few years after its release. Ouch.

When the Death & Life of John F. Donovan was released in 2018, it immediately earned the scorn of critics who all agreed that it was director Xavier Dolan’s worst film. 2018 was a busy year for Portman as she released 3 movies that year, but this one is by far the worst of the bunch.

Now, the idea had some potential, and, with some improvements, it could have turned out to be a decent script. But the movie crashes and burns pretty quickly and doesn’t even bother to recover. A wasted potential, especially considering the acting talent the filmmakers had to work with.

Have you ever watched one of those “artsy”, self-important movies where it’s clear that the idea looked much better on paper than on the screen? Well, Planetarium is one of those films. If, after watching it for the first time, you’re left wondering “Ok, what was the point?”, “Who was I supposed to care about?”, and “What was the director trying to achieve here?”, you’re not alone. So does almost everyone else who’s seen it.

Just like Paris, Je T’aime, which was released two years prior, New York, I Love You is an anthology film consisting of several short films (eleven, to be exact) – each filmed by a different director, and with each story happening in one of New York’s five boroughs. This is similar to Paris Je T’aime where each segment was supposed to represent one of Paris’s 20 arrondissements.

Portman stars in both movies, but “New York,” is generally seen as inferior when compared to its spiritual predecessor, with the stories not being as memorable and the lack of consistency resulting in the movie failing to be something more than the sum of its parts.

No Strings Attached is a romantic comedy starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, and, for the most part, it’s like every other romantic comedy also starring Kutcher. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

Usually, actors should be applauded for trying new things, but this is the first film where it seems that Portman doesn’t belong. It’s not that Portman is incapable of doing comedy, but this is a role that would typically be reserved for someone like Jennifer Aniston or Cameron Diaz.

As for the movie itself, it relies a bit too much on unfunny sex jokes and it has perhaps the most predictable ending of all of Portman’s films.

Taking its title from the famous Beatles song, Lucy in the Sky is a psychological drama based on the life of female astronaut Lisa Marie Novak and the events leading up to the 2007 incident she caused. It received negative reviews, and it bombed at the box office – grossing only $326.00 against a $21 million budget, making it Portman’s biggest financial failure – but her acting received high praise from critics. Frankly, Portman’s acting is the only good thing about the film.

The movie begins with an uninterrupted shot of Natalie Portman crying while staring out of a car window for 10 minutes straight before any word is spoken. She plays an American woman of Jewish descent who has just left her husband and is now accompanying an Israeli woman on her way to the so-called “Free Zone.”

Usually, the golden rule for political movies is that: entertainment always comes first; politics comes second. But it looks like director Amos Gitai has completely neglected this rule, and as a result, it seems that Free Zone only exists to educate us on the problems that Jews and Palestinians face in today’s day and age, without bothering to give us a good story or memorable characters.

The Other Woman is an adaptation of the 2006 novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by author Ayelet Waldman, and it’s easily one of Portman’s most forgettable movies. It’s one of those films that, while watching it, you can guess with a fair amount of certainty that the story is much better told on a page without even reading the novel. Unlike the movie, Portman’s performance was well-received, but, unfortunately, it was not enough to “save” the film.

Portman teams up with her Cold Mountain (2003) and Closer (2004) partner, Jude Law, for the third time, but they don’t share any scenes here. It’s a love story that centers around Jeremy (Jude Law) and Elizabeth (played by singer Norah Jones), who realize their true feelings for each other only when one of them leaves town.

Portman has a supporting role as Leslie, a professional gambler with daddy issues, but her character doesn’t appear for the first hour of the movie. Although the performances are solid, the script is riddled with cliches and the memorable moments are few and far between, resulting in one of Portman’s not-so-impressive movies.

This is Portman’s second collaboration with director Terrence Malick after Knight of Cups in 2015, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the two movies are stylistically very similar. But this time we have an actual story we can follow, although it turns out to be somewhat of an experimental soap opera where everybody falls in love, then everybody is disappointed with love, then everybody has an affair, and with all the clichés found in any other romantic dramas of this kind. Not for everyone.

If Beavis and Butthead were filmmakers, they would likely have made something very similar to Hesher. You could imagine them going “Huh-huh-huh… That was cool… huh-huh-huh” every time Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) breaks something or makes a fart joke.

The sad part is the movie relies a bit too much on these cheap gags and fails to provide anything of substance. The characters lack depth and the character interaction doesn’t make much sense for most of the film. It’s supposed to be a comedy-drama, except it’s not very funny nor does it touch the heart as a true drama should.

Finally, Portman makes her debut as a film director! A Tale of Love and Darkness is an Israeli film, written and directed by Portman, and based on the memoir of the same name by Amos Oz – one of the most acclaimed Israeli authors of all time. It is also a story about the formation and early days of Israel.

Portman plays Fania, Oz’s mother who committed suicide in 1952 and, for the first time, she speaks entirely in Hebrew throughout the movie. It received mixed reviews, and, as of this writing, it’s the only movie directed by Portman.

2015 was a year of new things for Portman. She starred in Knight of Cups – an experimental drama, unlike anything else she’s done before; A Tale of Love and Darkness – where she speaks Hebrew throughout the entire film; and she also appeared in Jane Got a Gun – her first western.

But although Portman should be applauded for trying new things, all of the films she released in 2015 received either mixed or negative reception and they also underperformed at the box office. Jane Got a Gun is no exception. It’s not a bad movie, but it’s not a particularly memorable one either. Unlike the film, Portman’s performance received positive reviews.

When The Phantom Menace was released in 1999, Star Wars fans quickly realized that the new trilogy would not be nearly as epic as the original one, and Attack of the Clones didn’t do much to get their hopes up. Just like the Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones was a box office success and received praise for the action scenes and visuals, but also received criticism for the dialogue, the story, and the acting. It’s probably the weakest film in the prequel series. Portman’s performance was also not her best as it got her a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress.

Hands down one of Portman’s greatest performances and a well-deserved third nomination at the 89th Academy Awards in 2017!

But if you’re looking for a comprehensive biography about Jackie Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, you’ll be disappointed to know that Jackie only covers the aftermath of the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and doesn’t tell us anything about her childhood, her problematic relationships with JFK and later Aristotle Onassis, as well as her trauma dealing with a miscarriage of one son and the infant death of another (Patrick Bouvier Kennedy).

There is indeed a lot of material to work with when it comes to the most famous first lady in US history, but, for the most part, it seems that Jackie is more a movie about JFK’s funeral, than Jackie’s life story.

This intentionally silly sci-fi movie directed by Tim Burton features an impressive ensemble cast: Jack Nicholson, Annette Bening, Glenn Close, Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, Michael J. Fox, Jack Nicholson again, Danny DeVito, Tom Jones, Pam Grier, Jack Black, Christina Applegate, and seemingly 90% of all Hollywood “bigshots” at the time.

Portman plays the President’s daughter while the United States and the rest of the world are under attack by the Martians. It’s the kind of movie that only Tim Burton could have made. It’s also the kind of movie you shouldn’t watch while you’re sober.

Natalie Portman is a pop star! Playing troubled singer Celeste (a character inspired by Madonna and Lady Gaga), and delivering one of her best performances of the decade, Portman takes us into the chaotic world of alcohol and drug-abusing celebrities.

Vox Lux sometimes lacks focus and leaves some questions unanswered, but it’s also a prime example of how Portman can save a movie with her sheer brilliance! The film itself gets three stars with the extra half-star being added just for Portman’s performance!

Hands down, Portman’s most bizarre movie. If you are looking for a decent sci-fi horror that’ll give you nightmares or keep you up at night, you’ll find Annihilation satisfactory. But if you want a movie that will give you all the answers and won’t leave you scratching your head, stay away from this one.

Annihilation got positive reviews upon release with praise for the concept and visuals, but it’s also unlike any other movie Portman has ever been in. Not for everyone!

Portman’s first collaboration with legendary director Woody Allen and her first musical. In many ways, Everyone Says I Love You is just a typical Allen film. This doesn’t mean it’s not good, but that it doesn’t break any new ground. It’s the same Woody Allen formula that you’ll get in 90% of his movies. We get a few laughs, and some of the dance numbers are quite impressive, but it’s also not the kind of movie that you can’t shut up about for months after seeing it for the first time.

Anywhere but Here is an adaptation of the 1986 novel of the same name by author Moana Simpson. The movie doesn’t have an unforgettable story or a mind-blowing script, but its strength lies in the phenomenal performances by Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon, who play a mother and daughter with a troubled relationship. Although Portman always did a great job as a child actress in the 90s, this is probably her best performance of the decade and it got her her first Golden Globe nomination.

An anthology film, Paris, Je T’aime is a collection of eighteen loosely connected stories, each taking place in contemporary Paris. Twenty-two directors participated in making the film, with each of the segments originally intended to represent one of Paris’s 20 arrondissements, but, ultimately, two of the segments were cut from the final version, because the filmmakers didn’t know how to integrate them into the story. Portman plays an aspiring actress who enters into a relationship with a blind man in the part directed by German filmmaker Tom Tykwer.

The film was a critical and commercial success, influencing filmmakers to make more similar movies in the following years: New York, I Love You (2008), Rio, I Love You (2014), and Berlin, I Love You (2019).

Beautiful Girls is a romantic comedy-drama about a New York City piano player (Timothy Hutton) who returns to his hometown in Massachusetts for a high school reunion. Portman has a supporting role as his neighbor, Marty, who, although only 13, is very mature for her young age. The film was well-received with Portman’s performance being singled out for praise. It also got her another Young Artist Award nomination. A great movie to watch with your significant other.

For the first time in her career, Portman plays an actual historical figure – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England and the second wife of King Henry VIII. Now, if you know anything about Henry VIII and his six marriages, you know that he was not the most romantic type (and that’s putting it mildly).

It’s an adaptation of the 2001 novel of the same name, and just like the book, it takes some liberties and doesn’t bother too much with historical accuracy. This is not the first time the novel was adapted into a film, as there is a 2003 television movie starring actress Jodhi May as Anne Boleyn.

The film received mixed reviews, but Portman’s performance received praise from professional critics with many considering this to be one of her most complex characters.

Goya’s Ghosts didn’t receive glowing reviews upon its release and got a lot of criticism for its slow pace, flawed plot, and confusing ending. But the film’s strength lies in the excellent performances of Natalie Portman, Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, and Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who, was a master at playing villains even before his 2007 Academy Award-winning performance in No Country for Old Men.

Portman has a dual role as Inés, a model for one of Francisco Goya’s paintings, and her daughter, Alicia, both struggling for survival during the Spanish Inquisition and the Napoleonic Wars. While the critics were right to point out some of the film’s flaws, if you’re a fan of historical fiction, you may find Goya’s Ghosts quite enjoyable.

Portman’s first Marvel movie, Thor, offers decent action, well-developed characters, and enough humor to keep you engaged till the end. It’s also one of Portman’s biggest money-makers, grossing $450 million against a 150 million budget.

All in all, Thor is a good, well-written superhero debut, but it’s also not one of the classics. It’s the movie you’ll enjoy once with your friends or significant other, but you won’t be coming back to revisit it. This is the first time Portman plays Jane Foster – a role she’s going to return to in most of the sequels.

Brothers is a remake of the 2004 Danish film of the same name, but unlike the original which received positive reviews, the American version got more of a mixed reception.

The true strength of the movie lies in the excellent performances of its three leading actors: Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, and especially Tobey Maguire who got a Golden Globe nomination for portraying a soldier suffering from a severe case of PTSD. Portman got herself another Saturn Award nomination for “Best Actress.”

The same things that were said about the first Thor movie, can also be said about the second one. It maintains the quality of the series, but it doesn’t go beyond that. Portman reprises her role as Jane Foster and for the first time, she gets to have superpowers!

Dark World has excellent acting from the leads, great visual effects, and kick-ass action scenes, making it a slight improvement compared with the first movie, although director Alan Taylor expressed dissatisfaction with the final product a few years after its release.

Portman released two comedies in 2011: No Strings Attached and Your Highness. Upon release, Your Highness received poor reviews and bombed at the box office, but, nevertheless, it’s a huge improvement when compared with the aforementioned No Strings Attached.

Although not a masterpiece, there are many laugh-out-loud moments and quotable one-liners, and if you would like to see Portman kicking ass, Zena Warrior Princess-style, you may consider giving it a watch. It also might be the perfect movie for those of you who would enjoy a stoner Game of Thrones parody. It even stars Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) as the king.

The Phantom Menace is the fourth movie in the Star Wars saga and the first in the so-called “prequel trilogy” of the franchise. Portman plays Queen Padmé Amidala, one of the leading characters in the series.

The movie received a mixed reception from critics, with praise for the acting, music, and visuals, but also an acknowledgment that it’s nowhere near as good as the movies that preceded it (and considering that the films in the original trilogy are some of the best in cinema history, it was inevitable that The Phantom Menace would fail to live up to the ridiculously high expectations). Nevertheless, it was a huge box-office success, grossing over $1 billion at the box office (Portman’s first movie to do so) and it turned Portman into a global superstar.

Fun fact: For the role of Sabé, one of Queen Amidala’s assistants, the filmmakers wanted an actress with a strong physical resemblance to Natalie Portman (because this character sometimes poses as the Queen’s double in the movie) and they cast then-unknown Keira Knightley. The two actresses were so similar in appearance, that, when in makeup, even their mothers couldn’t tell them apart.

When the fourth Thor movie hit the theaters in 2022, it immediately polarised the critics: Some thought that the humor was a bit too much and that it was inconsistent with the previous installments in the series, while others welcomed the lightheartedness thinking that it was just what the franchise needed.

But, love it or hate it, Love and Thunder is a perfect movie to watch with your friends on a Friday or Saturday night, and although generally considered inferior when compared with its predecessor (Ragnarok, 2017), it is a worthy addition to the series. A classic Thor adventure!

Inspired by the true story of Mary Kay Letourneau – a 34-year-old teacher who was caught having an affair with her 12-year-old student – May December stars Academy Award-winning actress Julianne Moore as a woman who has spent years in prison for having an adult relationship with a minor and Natalie Portman as a famed actress who is supposed to play her in an upcoming indie movie.

This is also not the first time that Mary Kay Letourneau’s story has been an inspiration for a film, as there is also a 2000 TV movie about the same incident. Upon release, May December received critical acclaim with many publications naming it one of the best films of the year!

If there ever was a movie in Portman’s filmography that polarised critics and fans, it would be Where the Heart Is. Like Portman’s previous film, Anywhere but Here, Where the Heart Is is another coming-of-age drama and an adaptation of a best-selling novel of the same name.

Unlike the book it’s based on, the film received mostly negative reviews from industry professionals, with many criticizing the plot and script, while also praising Portman’s and Ashley Judd’s performances.

But although professional critics were a bit harsh, audiences responded a lot more positively by giving it a decent 6.7 rating on IMDb, and an excellent 76% fresh score on rottentomatoes.com.

Garden State is not a perfect movie, but it is the perfect movie for hipsters. Quirky humor, unconventional dialogue, and lots of strange characters make this the ideal film to watch with your college-educated friends on a Friday night, while under the influence of some questionable substances.

Portman gives one of her most well-known performances as the eccentric Samantha, but her character (alongside Kirsten Dunst’s character in Elizabethtown) will later be used as a prime example of what is now known as “the Manic Pixie Dream Girl” character type; a female character who “exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures” as defined by film critic Nathan Rabin.

Ever since she debuted as a child actress in 1994, Natalie Portman has proven herself to be a serious artist, pushing her boundaries and perfecting her craft with every new role she was getting. So, it was only a matter of time before she got an Academy Award nomination. A decade after her debut, that moment finally came.

Closer is a romantic drama, based on the Award-Winning 1997 play of the same name, and here Portman plays Alice Ayres, a girl who likes to play games with men by lying to them. It was arguably her finest performance up until that point and her best performance of the 2000s. Veteran actor, Clive Owen, was also nominated for an Academy Award. Highly recommended!

It’s no secret that the Star Wars prequel trilogy didn’t come close to the quality of the original one and, after two mediocre movies, fans were losing hope that anything of high quality would come out of the new series.

But when Episode III – Revenge of the Sith was released in 2005, people were pleasantly surprised by how much better it was compared to its two predecessors. Many consider it the greatest installment in the franchise outside of the original trilogy.

Portman plays Padmé Amidala for the third and final time, and her acting has improved considerably since the last time she played the same character. Finally, a worthy addition to the Star Wars saga!

When Cold Mountain was released in 2003 it received praise, not only from film critics but also from scholars for its historical accuracy in portraying everyday life in North Carolina during the American Civil War.

Everything from the battle scenes to the costumes, to the acting – especially Renée Zellweger’s Academy Award-winning performance – make this a must-watch for historical movie fans. It’s considered one of the finest 21st-century movies about the Civil War era.

Natalie Portman has a supporting role as Sara, a woman who lost her husband in the war and is now left to take care of her baby on her own, but her character doesn’t appear for the movie’s first hour-and-a-half.

Originally, director Daren Aronofsky wanted to make a movie about a romance between a wrestler and a ballerina, but later he decided that it would be “too much for a single film,” and therefore he “split” the idea into two movies. So, in 2008 we got The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke, and two years later, the ballerina also got her movie.

Portman trained ballet for six months before filming so she could achieve the body and technique of a professional ballerina, and, in the end, it was worth it. She finally got her well-deserved Oscar, with many critics considering her performance to be her most remarkable, as well as one of the best performances of the 21st Century!

Only one year after her debut Portman has already put her name on another 90s classic. Heat is a crime film with an impressive ensemble cast and it gave Portman a chance to act alongside all-time greats like Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, and John Voight among others.

Heat is considered by many to be one of the quintessential crime movies of the decade, and it also has the most realistic shootout scene in cinema history. But there’s one major flaw: it’s way too long. There’s way too much family drama, and this is supposed to be a heist film. It’s a 3-hour movie that should have been just a 2-hour one.

Portman has a supporting role as Al Pacino’s stepdaughter, Lauren, and her screen time is limited to only a few lines and a couple of minutes. Nevertheless, this is one of her most significant movies as it allowed her to work with so many Hollywood “big-shots” and it got her another nomination for a Young Artist Award.

George Orwell’s 1984 remains one of the most renowned works of fiction of the 20th century and arguably the most important novel about totalitarianism. However, its scary, depressing, and hope-killing ending can leave some readers in a very negative mood after reading it for the first time. If only there was a hero who could save the people from their dystopian hell. Well, this is where V for Vendetta comes along!

Introducing the iconic well-spoken, mask-and-cape-wearing rebel, V for Vendetta gives us excellent characters, magnificent dialogue, top-notch acting, and a plot that keeps you glued to your seat till the very end.

Somehow, the movie didn’t get a single Academy Award nomination, (proving once again that the Oscars are not the most credible source on which films are the year’s finest), but Portman did win a Saturn Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Evey Hammond. This is the first time she uses her English accent.

Usually, actors and actresses have to struggle at the beginning before they can finally put their names on a classic. But, it seems Portman has skipped all those beginner steps and went for the gold at the very start. Working with French director Luc Besson and teaming up with legendary actors Jean Reno and Gary Oldman was an excellent starting point for the young actress.

Léon immediately catapulted Portman into superstardom and showed everyone her incredible acting potential. Mathilda Lando remains one of Portman’s most iconic characters and it turned her into one of the most recognizable faces of the 90s.

So, there you have it! Hope you’ve enjoyed the article! Natalie Portman has already left her mark on the world of cinema and she has given us three decades of excellent acting, but she’s only just warming up. We expect many great projects from her in the future, so I’ll do my best to keep this article updated. Meanwhile, stay awesome, and keep watching great movies!