Natalie Portman speaks . . . Hebrew

October 10, 2006 - 3:24 PM by Sarah

As anyone who is a fan knows, Natalie Portman lived in Jerusalem last year for a semester, studying at Hebrew University and acting in “Free Zone,” a film by Amos Gitai. She’s a native of the city; her family moved to the US when she was three.

Here is a video of Natalie doing an interview in Hebrew in her hotel room in Tel Aviv (with French subtitles for some reason – I suppose the video was taken from French tv?). Sure, it’s old news. But hey, I’m a tremendous fan, and membership in Israelity has its privileges.

Translation, to the best of my ability:
“I’m happy you came — to my home”
“I always wanted to come here to live to see how it is, because I left at a young age. It’s wonderful. Very fun.”
“I studied a little Arabic, and some Israeli history, and Hebrew of course.”
“I thought about studying in Tel Aviv, but I’m very happy I chose Jerusalem because I really had no problems with photographers.”
Then she shows the interviewers around her suite, and the view of Tel Aviv outside the window, and she says “What I like most about the room is that they clean it every day.”
They discuss something about Jerusalem vs. Tel Aviv, but it was rather unintelligible.
They ask her if she’s had a chance to see the city (not sure whether they mean Tel Aviv or Jerusalem) and she says “I went out with friends to their apartments, to restaurants, to movies.”
They offer a bottle of spirits, and she demurs, saying “If I’m going to influence people, I don’t want to influence them in the direction of alcohol.”
Then they talk about Israeli television shows — doesn’t sound like she watches much, but she’s heard of The Ambassador and Wonderful Country.
They talk about the Oscars, which were coming up at the time. Natalie had been nominated for an award, and was also presenting one – she says that she’s presenting the award for Best Short Documentary, and is looking forward to the ceremony, and she’s bringing her parents. They ask her if she has something to wear and she says “not yet. I didn’t have time to look. I’m arriving in America on Saturday and the awards are on Sunday, so they are bringing me all sorts of dresses to try.”
Then they talk about Free Zone, and she says “I like doing different things. It’s good to change how you act and to try new things. I really wanted to do an Israeli film.”
She lists various Israeli films that she saw and enjoyed.
They ask: Do you consider yourself Israeli?
She answers:
“Of course. In America I feel Israeli, and here I feel American. They say it’s good for an artist to always feel a little bit like a stranger, because it gives you a different perspective from everyone else.”
Toward the end she talks about how hard she’s working — I think maybe they invited her to go out, but she says “At work I have to be able to concentrate.”

We love Natalie!

Tags: • Category: Art, General, Israeliness, Pop Culture 

Comments

2 Comments on Natalie Portman speaks . . . Hebrew

  1. David on Wed, Oct 11th 2006 2:41 AM

    2. I understand what she means when she says in Israel she feels American and in Israel she feels Israeli.

    I have lived in different countries for the past 25 years, since I was 23 for periods not less than 5 years at a time and I feel like a bit of stranger everywhere now including Israel and the United States.

    My accent is a bit of everything according to others and I am not a total of anything!

  2. L on Thu, Oct 12th 2006 12:16 AM

    3. i totally understand that too – having pretty much split my time between the two countries. though i guess i do have linguistic advantage – when i speak in either language, no one detects an accent.

    btw – towards the end they don’t invite her out with them – they ask her what she’s going to do in her last few days in israel – whether she’s going to go out partying a lot, tear up the city…

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