The Mystery of Natalie Wood
=== Part 1 ===
The film begins on November 28, 1981 on Catalina Island, California, where 43-year-old Natalie Wood (Justine Waddell) falls off her yacht, Splendour, and drowns. Flashing back to 1943, five-year-old, then named Natasha (Grace Fulton), grows up in a violent household in Santa Rosa, California. Her overbearing mother, Maria Gurdin (Alice Krige), is obsessed with making her daughter a film star. When a film is shooting in town, Maria arranges a role for Natasha. She kills a butterfly in order to get Natasha to cry on cue. Her performance impresses the director, Irving Pichel (John Noble), and a year later she reluctantly moves to Hollywood to start her career. Her mother dictates every career move, and gives her a new name: Natalie Wood. In 1946, Natalie is working on three films at a time, and is not allowed to enjoy spare time with her friends. Three years later, teenaged Natalie (Elizabeth Rice) is unable to prevent her neglected older sister, Olga (Leanne Simic), from leaving home. While working on the set of The Green Promise, Natalie breaks her wrist. Fearing that her daughter will lose roles if she has it treated, Maria rejects medical help. Natalie's wrist does not heal properly as a result.
While in high school, 15-year-old Natalie falls in love with classmate Jimmy Williams (Jason Smith), and starts to rebel against her mother. Afraid that Natalie will get pregnant, Maria manipulates Natalie into breaking up with Jimmy. Jimmy shoots himself in an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Heartbroken, Natalie severs all ties with her mother. By the mid-1950s, she (Waddell) and her friend Margaret O'Brien (Sophie Mentis) decide that Natalie should play the female lead in Rebel Without a Cause opposite James Dean (Nick Carpenter). In order to get the role, she allows herself to be seduced by director Nicholas Ray (Robert Taylor). Ray does not cast her initially, but her involvement in a car accident caused by Dennis Hopper (Jarrod Dean), changes his mind. Simultaneously, she auditions for director Roy Tremaine (Andy Rodoreda) to please her mother; he rapes her. Fearful for her career, she does not report the crime. She focuses on Rebel, which is a great success. Natalie achieves stardom and becomes romantically involved with many Hollywood men. Worried about her many boyfriends, Maria arranges a date with Robert Wagner (Michael Weatherly), an actor whom Natalie has adored since she was a child.
Shortly before they are married, Natalie promises her mother that she will not have children with Robert, even though she wants to do so. By 1959, she distances herself from Robert and regularly meets with a therapist to discuss her troubled childhood and her frustrated desire for motherhood. Meanwhile, she works on Splendor in the Grass in New York City with Elia Kazan (Christopher Pate). The film requires nudity, and she becomes upset when her malformed wrist is exposed for the first time. Another scene requires her to swim, forcing her to confront a traumatizing fear of drowning instilled in her by her mother. She eventually overcomes her fear and celebrates with her co-star Warren Beatty (Matthew Settle). Wagner becomes jealous of her interaction with other men. While filming West Side Story, Robert announces that he wants a divorce because he never sees Natalie anymore; he is also jealous of her rise to stardom.
=== Part 2 ===
The film continues to reflect on her marriage with Robert Wagner, as well as her relationship with Warren Beatty. Natalie's nightmare of drowning comes true, when in 1981 she falls off a boat and drowns in the freezing water.
flashback