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Natalie Portman Garners Oscar Buzz for "Black Swan"The actress' performance in Darren Aronofsky's psychological thriller "Black Swan," which opened the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday night, has critics already discussing her chances of earning an Academy Award nomination for the role.

In Contention's Guy Lodge called the film "boldly deranged and beautifully despairing," while Peter Debruge at Variety said it was "a wicked, sexy and ultimately devastating study of a young dancer's all-consuming ambition."Portman trained for 10 months to prepare for the role of Nina, an intensely focused ballerina whose passion for dancing takes a toll on her body and her sanity.
The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt said the Portman "bravely ventured out of her comfort zone to play a character slowly losing sight of herself. It's a bravura performance."

"If the film is ultimately too unsettling to snag main prizes, it has at least one nomination in the bag for lead actress Natalie Portman who gives one of "those" performances, transforming herself after 10 months of training into an accomplished ballerina, almost uncomfortable to watch as she consumes her difficult role," Screen International's Mike Goodridge said. "Portman is captivating...Like Catherine Deneuve in "Repulsion" or Mia Farrow in "Rosemary's Baby," she captures the confusion of a repressed young woman thrown into a world of danger and temptation with frightening veracity.

The Telegraph's David Gritten wrote that Portman plays her character with "considerable expertise" and that the role "elevates her from a substantial leading actress to major star likely to be lifting awards in the near future."


Other performances by leading ladies that are being talked about as possible Best Actress contenders are Julianne Moore and Annette Bening ("The Kids are All Right"), Lesley Manville ("Another Year"), Tilda Swinton ("I Am Love"), Michelle Williams ("Blue Valentine"") and Naomi Watts ("Fair Game").

They'll likely have competition, according to New York magazine's Vulture blog, from upcoming roles from Anne Hathaway ("Love and Other Drugs"), Hilary Swank ("Conviction"), Carey Mulligan ("Never Let Me Go"), Helena Bonham Carter ("The King's Speech"), Nicole Kidman ("Rabbit Hole"), Robin Wright ("The Conspirator"), Reese Witherspoon ("How Do You Know") and Helen Mirren ("The Tempest").