Rated R (Strong Sexual Content, Disturbing
Violent Images, Language and Some Drug Use)
Running Time: 1 Hour & 48 Minutes
Cast-
Natalie Portman-Nina Sayers
Mila Kunis-Lily
Vincent Cassel-Thomas Leroy
Barbara Hershey-Erica Sayers
Winona Ryder-Beth MacIntyre
Ksenia Solo-Veronica
Kristina Anapau-Galina
Janet Montgomery-Madeline
Benjamin Millepied-David
Sebastian Stan-Andrew
Toby Hemingway-Tom
Sergio Torrado-Sergio
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
 |
| Natalie Portman delivers a bravura performance in Darren Aronofsky's brilliant masterpiece "Black Swan." |
“Black Swan” is the best film of 2010.
Hell of a way to start off, considering what I’m stating is an opinion but
presented in a matter-of-fact manner. After you watch this film, preferably
multiple times, I believe you’ll be inclined to agree with me. Darren
Aronofsky, whose next project is the “Wolverine” sequel, is a director with few
missteps and although his films are small in scale and of the art-house
variety, there’s always that absorbing, almost intoxicating quality to them.
“Black Swan” is a freakishly beautiful nightmare that delivers a mesmerizing,
haunting, and tragic performance from Natalie Portman, taking us into a mind on
the verge of collapse as the lines between genius and madness become almost
inseparable.
Young Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a
ballerina at New York City’s Lincoln Center who discovers that prima ballerina
Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) is being put out to pasture by the company’s
director, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel). He announces that they will open the
season with a new take on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s famous Swan Lake, with one dancer playing the
dual role of the White and Black Swan. Nina covets the role and happens to be
one of the few chosen to audition for Thomas. During the audition, Thomas says
that she is perfect for the White Swan but lacks the raw sexuality of the Black
Swan despite her flawless technique. Even so, she is chosen for the role of
Swan Queen and Thomas begins to make advances and bullies her to unlock her
darker side and sensuality. As opening day draws near, Thomas starts to notice
that Lily (Mila Kunis), recently arrived from San Francisco, seems to embody
all the qualities of the Black Swan, although her technique is not as
disciplined. Nina begins to crack under the pressure as she begins to suffer
from paranoia that Lily wants to steal the role from her. Unable to discern
reality from fantasy, she begins a wild descent into the darker recesses of her
mind which threatens to consume and destroy her.
“Black Swan” is one of those films where
it’s best to go in knowing as little as possible. The story is a twisted
variant of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake
but it’s more a means to an end as the film’s priority is to explore an already
unstable psyche teetering on edge. Aronofsky presents ballet as a cutthroat
world where it’s survival of the fittest and every girl wants that highly
coveted role. They are physically and mentally pressured to attain the
unattainable, that of perfection. When we first see Nina, she is living in a
small apartment with her overbearing mother, Erica (Barbara Hershey) and
there’s a sense that their strained relationship is bubbling below the surface
in how they behave and speak to each other. Nina’s growth is stunted, as she is
demanded to physically maintain a lithe body shape and mentally as she is
sexually repressed and that her room is decorated in much the same of a young
adolescent. When Thomas reveals that he is looking for a new dancer to play the
Swan Queen, Nina wants the role so much that she’d do anything, almost as if
her entire life has no purpose without it. She wins the role but at what cost
to her well-bring? Nina is every psychologist’s dreams and as she begins to
slowly transform into a physical manifestation of the Black Swan, we begin to
question whether what she is seeing is real or not. Her transformation is
frightening yet smolders sexuality in a hypnotic manner as her eyes turn
crimson red. Lily is often presented as the concerned friend or the
manipulative, conniving bitch but there are rare instances where we do see the
‘real’ her and it throws another wrench into who the real enemy is. “Black
Swan” culls from a variety of different genres and while it feels like a
psychological thriller, it’s more of a character study that includes elements
of horror, melodrama, and eroticism. Due to the sexual contrasts between the
White and Black Swan, the film’s exploration of sexuality mirrors that of
Nina’s as she discovers herself through masturbation and has a lesbian tryst
that again, may or may not be imagined. It is impossible to totally explore or
even explain “Black Swan” because the film is so thematically rich that it
effectively requires multiple viewings and every scene can be interpreted in a
number of ways, especially its ending, which seems so final yet ambiguous. In
the end, is Nina just mad, a victim of outside pressures beyond her control or
was she an artistic genius that achieved, in every sense of the word,
perfection?
The acting is of the highest caliber.
Natalie Portman has essentially won the Academy Award for Best Actress; it’s
just a matter of making it official. With the exception of wide shots where she
had to be en pointe for an extended period of time, Portman performed all of
her own dance scenes and she is flawless. You cannot take your eyes off her.
Her transformation from a girl with no backbone and low self-esteem to someone
without inhibitions is exciting yet tragic, as she effectively had to kill a
part of herself to be perfect. Mila Kunis is underwritten but deftly switches
between conflicting personalities due to how Nina perceives her. Vincent Cassel
is the charming yet lecherous director of the ballet company whom we suspect to
be sleeping with the students but we also wonder whether his behavior is due to
his lofty expectations. Finally, there’s Barbara Hershey as Erica, Nina’s
mother from Hell. She gave up her career when her daughter was born and now
relives her lost dreams though Nina. The way she treats Nina often borders on
abusive as she controls every aspect of her life but there is no question that
she loves her. “Black Swan” looks and sounds amazing. The ballet scenes are
beautiful and frightening all at the same time. The score, from Clint Mansell,
takes many musical cues from “Swan Lake” itself but combines the epic romantic
feel with a hint of a disturbing madness to it. Aronofsky also performs some
sleight-of-hand in his scenes to further confuse us and question Nina’s sanity.
“Black Swan” was released into theaters on
December 3, 2010 in 18 theaters, racking up a spectacular $80,212 average for a
total of $2 million so far. The film will expand each week and play at over
1000 locations by December 22. Reviews have been highly positive with 86% on
Rotten Tomatoes as critics hailed it as ‘bracingly intense, passionate, and
wildly melodramatic’ and gave accolades to Portman’s ‘bravura performance.’
It’s hard to really sum up the film in one closing statement but Roger Ebert
says it best: ‘All of the themes of the music and life, all of the parallels of
story and ballet, all of the confusion of reality and dream come together in a
grand exhilaration of towering passion. There is really only one place this can
take us, and it does.’ “Black Swan” is a beautiful nightmare, an exhilarating,
absorbing experience. This is the best film of 2010.
Final Rating: 5 out of 5
"I had the craziest dream last night
about a girl who was turned into a swan, but her prince falls for the wrong
girl and...she kills herself."
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