‘No Strings,’ But A Tangle Of A Situation Nonetheless

Snack Time: Adam (Ashton Kutcher) and his longtime friend Emma (Natalie Portman) look to each other for their recommended daily allowance of physical affection – but only one of them consciously hopes for more. Dale Robinette/Paramount Pictures hide caption

‘Are We Going To Do This?’

• Director: Ivan Reitman
• Genre: Romantic Comedy
• Running Time: 108 minutes

Somewhere off-screen in No Strings Attached, Vincent Cassel is shaking his head. As the ballet director in Black Swan, Cassel spends much of his time exasperated with his star dancer, played by Natalie Portman, as she struggles to transform herself from zee White Swan – innocent, elegant, precise – to zee Black Swan, a creature of spontaneity and lust. And on one unmistakable level, that film is about Portman’s limitations as an actress (or her perceived limitations, anyway), and her attempts to expand her range and transform her image.