We’ve been talking about Natalie Portman’s Oscar dress for four days now, and not necessarily in the way she intended it to be talked about. Duana wrote about it onMonday after the Oscarsand appreciated the effort. Maria mentioned the controversy yesterday inCelebrity Social Media就像罗斯·麦克高恩（Rose McGowan）在内的许多人质疑娜塔莉对女董事的实际支持. Natalie has now commented on the criticism in a statement released yesterday.Per Variety:

波特曼说：“我同意麦克高恩女士的观点，因为穿上女性名字的衣服是不准确的。”“勇敢的术语是我与像在令人难以置信的压力下在过去几周对哈维·温斯坦作证的女性之类的行动更加紧密联系的。”

Portman went on to state that she hoped that the industry would begin to offer more opportunities for women to direct movies.

“The past few years have seen a blossoming of directing opportunities for women due to the collective efforts of many people who have been calling out the system,” Portman said. “The gift has been these incredible films. I hope that what was intended as a simple nod to them does not distract from their great achievements. It is true I’ve only made a few films with women. In my long career, I’ve only gotten the chance to work with female directors a few times – I’ve made shorts, commercials, music videos and features with Marya Cohen, Mira Nair, Rebecca Zlotowski, Anna Rose Holmer, Sofia Coppola, Shirin Neshat and myself. Unfortunately, the unmade films I have tried to make are a ghost history.”

Portman went on to cite studies from Stacy Smith of USC, who has chronicled the lack of studio movies made by women, to claim that films from female filmmakers have a harder time getting greenlit or financed.

“如果这些费尔ms do get made, women face enormous challenges during the making of them. I have had the experience a few times of helping get female directors hired on projects which they were then forced out of because of the conditions they faced at work,” Portman said. “After they are made, female-directed films face difficulty getting into festivals, getting distribution and getting accolades because of the gatekeepers at every level. So I want to say, I have tried, and I will keep trying. While I have not yet been successful, I am hopeful that we are stepping into a new day.”

What she’s saying is on the record – she has tried to make films that ended up falling through. Marielle Heller, who directedA Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood,one of the films overlooked this past award season, has weighed in on this too:

同样，她的“幽灵历史”还有其他一些例子，这些例子在该推文下面引用。所以，是的，她尝试过。

BUT HOW HARD HAS SHE TRIED!?!

Are we going to do accounting on this? Like an Olympics of Effort? Because if that’s the game, I don’t know that she should be the leadoff batter. The more helpful conversation might be the one that presents itself in the “ghost history”. Yes, she’s been in a lot of movies with male directors – and the fact that she’s had several with female directors not happen IS actually the problem she’s trying to illuminate. Why is it harder? What can be done to make it not so hard? If even Natalie Portman, with all her success, can’t get films made when she wants to work with female directors, how much more challenging must it be for others who don’t have her power and profile?

And also, doesn’t it count that she’s actually out there consistently making it her message? Two years ago, she was the one who,while presenting at the Golden Globes, standing next to a male director, facing the male directors who were nominated, some of whom might be in a position to put her in their sure-to-have-a-better-chance-at-getting-made projects, called out the lack of female representation. No, that’s not “brave” either, but she is speaking, using her voice. My point is that I’m not sure what this accomplishes, getting mad at Natalie Portman, when she’s actually talking about it, and opening herself up to this kind of forensics, when sitting in the same f-cking room is Leonardo DiCaprio whohasn’t worked with a female director since 1995so, like, beforeTitanic, and before he accumulated the capital he has in the industry. But mentioning Leo is “what-aboutism”, and that’s not helpful either. So where does that leave us?

Well, in this case, I just don’t want to dump on someone who’s actually saying she didn’t always get it but that she wants to do better.