With such a long career in film, it’s surprising that Natalie Portman has never starred in a television show, except, of course, the occasional voice over and guest appearances. The story that got her to television is Lady in the Lake, the 2019 bestselling crime noir thriller that weaves classic 60s noir with intersectional feminism all through a whodunit plot. Of course, it's no surprise that Portman performs well, and her and co-star Moses Ingram are excellent as mothers seeking change in their respective lives. The comparison between their lives drives home the tragedy of how unfair the odds were stacked against Ingram’s Cleo Johnson. However, the way director Alma Har'el alternates between lives is clunky and sometimes even confusing, even if it's in hopes to bring the original novel’s POV shifts onto the screen. The source material is ambitious, daring, and a worthy vehicle for both Portman and Ingram, so it's disappointing to see Lady in the Lake already sputtering at the start.
Synopsis
When the disappearance of a young girl grips the city of Baltimore in 1966, the lives of two women converge on a fatal collision course.
Storyline
Baltimore, 1960s. While the disappearance of young Tessie Durst grips the city, Jewish housewife Maddie Schwartz leaves her husband to become an investigative journalist. She discovers another disappearance, that of Black activist Cleo Johnson, that isn’t widely reported in the newspapers.
TLDR
Can we just slow things down before shifting to the other plot line, please?
What stands out
Adapting a multi-POV plot can be difficult– the internal insights a character has in the book isn't easy to translate directly on screen. It's because of this hurdle the first two episodes are focused on establishing the two women’s respective lives, but in doing so, the immediate events of the book are delayed, giving a slow start to the series.
