{"id":605234,"date":"2026-08-26T14:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/605234\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T14:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:26:15","slug":"is-natalie-portman-really-the-subject-of-rachel-cusks-new-novel-nine-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-literary-hoo-haa-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/605234\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Natalie Portman really the subject of Rachel Cusk\u2019s new novel? Nine things you need to know about the literary hoo-haa | Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life of M, the latest book by the critically acclaimed author Rachel Cusk, is being billed by its publisher, Faber, as a \u201cblazing interrogation of fame, power, beauty and truth\u201d \u2013 and openly alleged as a thinly veiled portrait of Natalie Portman<\/a>. For weeks before publication, speculation has swirled that its movie-star main character is based on Portman \u2013 to her reported displeasure.<\/p>\n

With the book out this week, readers and critics alike are judging it as literature and gossip. Don\u2019t want to read it yourself, but want to have an opinion? Here\u2019s your crib sheet.<\/p>\n

1. Yes, it\u2019s (probably) about Natalie Portman<\/p>\n

There\u2019s little reading between the lines with Cusk\u2019s movie-star main character M, \u201cone of the most recognisable faces of our time\u201d, who is frequently identifiable as Portman in all but name. On page three, M describes her experiences as a child star, acting in a film that \u201cimmediately brought her childhood to an end\u201d. Several details tally with L\u00e9on: The Professional, Portman\u2019s first film role (she was cast at 11 and filmed until she was 13), most obviously its sexualised relationship between an adult man and a young girl. M also says her parents requested some scenes be cut from the script, and that she was bullied at school after the film came out \u2013 both details Portman has shared publicly. Later come references to M\u2019s \u201cstarring role in a film about a young girl chosen for the starring role in a ballet\u201d (describing Black Swan down to specific scenes).<\/p>\n

2. It\u2019s also not about Portman at all<\/p>\n

If you pick up Life of M expecting explosive revelations about one of Hollywood\u2019s most private and put-together stars, you\u2019ll be disappointed. More than recognisably Portman, the novel is essentially Cusk, with her trademark roaming, disembodied narration and clinical gaze \u2013 which, despite the title, only intermittently turns to M. Scenes from the fictional actor\u2019s rarefied existence are interspersed with the narrator\u2019s observations of modern urban life and dense descriptions of rooms, and the chairs within those rooms. A tell-all, it ain\u2019t.<\/p>\n

3. Portman was at least once \u2018really in awe\u2019 of Cusk<\/p>\n

Both Cusk and Portman reside in Paris, seemingly the setting of Life of M, and have crossed paths. In a 2023 GQ interview, Portman said she was \u201cstarstruck\u201d at meeting Cusk: \u201cI get really in awe\u2026 writing beautifully is just, like, the greatest gift.\u201d Portman has also selected Cusk\u2019s novels for her book club twice, praising \u201cthe way she disrupts form and the conventions of storytelling<\/a>\u201d, and once declared her \u201cof course, a genius<\/a>\u201d. But, in the lead-up to Life of M, sources have downplayed reports of a friendship, with a report in the Daily Mail stating that Cusk and Portman had only \u201cseen each other a few times<\/a>\u201d around Paris, while sources told Vanity Fair they never had \u201cmuch of a relationship<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

4. Portman may now support more conventional storytelling<\/p>\n

M is frequently described as beautiful and charming, but her inner world is chilly; she is untouched by depression and love alike, incapable of \u201ctotal sincerity\u201d and impeded by celebrity. Indeed, M\u2019s efforts to be \u201cnormal\u201d seem contrived; at a dinner party thrown by non-famous friends, she wonders \u201chow they survive in this minuscule space\u201d. Journalist Leaf Arbuthnot wrote in the Telegraph<\/a> that: \u201cThe impression is of an author pulling the limbs off a person one by one, as a child might do to an insect.\u201d Sources claiming to be close to Portman have expressed outrage on her behalf, saying she bears no resemblance to the out-of-touch, dispassionate M. From the Mail<\/a>: \u201cShe is far from a diva, she is a quiet bookworm \u2026 This is a gross violation of her code. She believes women\u2019s bonds should be nurtured, and not manipulated for commerce.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Portman is a reluctant museTouchy subject \u2026 Portman in 2025. Photograph: Gilbert Flores\/Variety\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

This would not be the first time Portman has been made a non-consenting muse. Back in 2014, the author Jonathan Safran Foer was widely speculated to have ended his marriage (to fellow author Nicole Krauss) over his crush on Portman, who allegedly rebuffed him. Two years later, the New York Times\u2019 T magazine<\/a> published Portman and Safran Foer\u2019s excruciatingly self-conscious<\/a> emails. Their correspondence became so legendary in the New York literary scene that it ended up inspiring a 2023 Off-Broadway play<\/a>, about a Pulitzer-winning novelist who develops a crush on a glamorous actress (played by Katie Holmes). As Vanity Fair concluded, Portman has form in being \u201cthrust into other people\u2019s narratives<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

6. Cusk remains tight-lipped<\/p>\n

Over weeks of gossip about Life of M, Cusk and her team have remained quiet, leading to accusations that they were \u201ccertainly leaning in\u201d<\/a> to the speculation to help drive sales. But when Cusk was interviewed by the New York Times last week, she said she was finding it \u201cvery stressful\u201d. She refused to comment on whether she had discussed the novel with Portman, and said that whether she was the inspiration for M was \u201cnot really the point\u201d. \u201cOnce you start to pull on that thread, it would unravel the whole thing \u2026 The book explains itself and defends itself pretty comprehensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

7. Cusk also has form hereDrama queen \u2026 Cusk. Photograph: GL Portrait\/Alamy<\/p>\n

This is far from Cusk\u2019s first brush with controversy over drawing inspiration for her books from real life. The first print run of her 2009 novel The Last Supper: A Summer in Italy had to be withdrawn and pulped by its publisher after individuals recognised themselves in Cusk\u2019s portrayal and threatened legal action. In 2017, artist Damian Barr claimed he was the basis for Julian, a character in Cusk\u2019s novel Transit, writing on Facebook<\/a>: \u201cCusk\u2019s veil of fiction is thin. Thinner than a thin thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

8. The reviews are in \u2026<\/p>\n

The reviews are, as they say, \u201cmixed\u201d. The Guardian declared Life of M \u201ca book to admire enormously, but not one to love<\/a>\u201d. The New York Times despaired at Cusk\u2019s \u201cponderous pronouncements<\/a>\u201d, where the reader \u201cmight want to fling Life of M aside and instead fire up Life of Brian\u201d. The New Yorker damned the \u201ctedious\u201d gossipy interest in the book<\/a>, but also wasn\u2019t a big fan of Cusk\u2019s \u201cunsubtle vehemence\u201d and \u201cdogged refusal of specificity\u201d. On GoodReads, at the time of writing, it has a 3.72 rating from 80 reviews. One describes it as \u201cthe literary equivalent of vagueposting\u201d.<\/p>\n

9. Was it all a dream?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still not known whether Portman ever collaborated with Cusk on Life of M, but the final pages describe a standoff between M and the narrator over their \u201cautobiography\u201d project. \u201cI don\u2019t like the way you portray me,\u201d M says. \u201cYou\u2019ve made it seem like I lack humanity.\u201d Cusk told the New York Times that her intent was to disorient the reader and seed doubt: \u201cIt\u2019s almost like the book that you\u2019ve just read completely explodes and self-destructs at the end.\u201d It may be, as has been speculated, that the drama is nothing but a marketing ploy, or even cooked up by Cusk and Portman together. Whatever the truth, it\u2019s worked. Literary fiction hasn\u2019t been of such mainstream interest since Cat Person<\/a>, prompting the question: could more gossip solve the reading crisis?<\/p>\n