Review 310: Black Swan
The plot is about a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet by a prestigious New York City company. The production requires a ballerina to play the innocent and fragile White Swan, for which the committed dancer Nina (Natalie Portman) seems to be the perfect fit, as well as the dark and sensual Black Swan, which are qualities embodied by the new arrival Lily (Mila Kunis). Nina is overwhelmed by a feeling of immense pressure when she finds herself competing for the part, causing her to lose her tenuous grip on reality and descend into a living nightmare.
The plot is a masterpiece, it's intricate, so complex-and it gets you thinking-which is rare in a film in a film that's visually stunning and have to psychological impact
Not only is it a complex, daring and increasingly scary film, it's primarily a story about how we will go to achieve success, the transition from girlhood to womanhood, how society sees and accepts older women, female self-hatred and Mother/Daughter relationships. As well as dark subjects such as Sexual Harassment and Lesbian Relationships.
The film also asks some pretty deep questions such as: Can we be good people and still be successful? Will we be hated and despised if we go for what we want?
How we will go to achieve success: Nina really wants the role of Black Swan as well as the White Swan more than anything and will stop at nothing to get both parts. She wants to be perfect she wants to be the best at what she is. The same goes to the rest of the dancers in the troupe, they feel the need to be perfect otherwise they consider themselves as failures.
Ageing and women: Nina sympathies with with the original Black Swan Beth (Winona Ryder) who has recently been forced into retirement due to her being to old to play the Black Swan, because she knows one day the same thing will happen to her.
The old makes way for the new: Nina replaces Beth as the Black Swan and it makes her jealous with rage, she takes out her anger out on Nina and Thomas, the theatre director (Vincent Cassel) and she just won't accept she is being replaced.
The transition from girlhood to womanhood: The majority of Nina's journey in this film comes from her becoming more grown up and taking control of her life and relying less on her mother Erica (Barbara Hershey). Throughout the movie we see Nina's bedroom coloured in a soft girlish, pink colour, full of stuffed animals and volumes of Arrested Development. Her wardrobe is coloured white, cream and pink as well as other pale shades. These colours emphasize her still passive, unsuspecting personality. She still calls her mom "mommy" and shares every dull detail of her life with her, including their sparse meals, toe shoe preparations as well as rehearsals. It's every girls inner conflict that they want to stay with their mom yet break away from them and become independent.
As the movie goes on, her clothes become darker and her make up more severe showing how far she has progressed from a girl to a woman.
Female Friendship and Competition: The film also forces you to think about Nina and Lilly's relationship, as you never know whether they really like each other or not. They smoke together, they go out to clubs together yet at the same time they have a rivalry about who will play the Black Swan. You don't even know if it's a lesbian relationship which adds to the uncertainty of the whole picture.
Female Self Hatred: One of the things, Black Swan does so well is show the self hatred that comes is a result of striving for perfection. This film shows that a strive for perfection is generally unattainable: Nina strives to be the best she can be playing both the White Swan and the Black Swan, but it doesn't go well.
Darren Aronofsky's direction is amazing, the cinematography is gorgeous, the score by Clint Mansell (well it's music based off of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, which fits the movie) is engrossing, the imagery is gorgeous, the costumes are wonderful, the production design is splendid, the make up is rich and beautifully detailed, the graphics are superb, the dance sequences are staggering, the way Aronofsky directs the scenes are moves the camera around really immerse you and make you feel as if you are actually in the dance watching them. They are also superbly choreographed and the ending was captivating.
The acting is fabulous, Natalie Portman is captivating as Nina, she beautifully and elegantly conveys the ambition, innocence and fragility of the character and it's just so fascinating to watch her character loose her grip on reality.
Another actor who I thought was very good in the film was Vincent Cassel as Thomas, the director of the Ballet company Nina works at. He is a strong mentor, an utterly ruthless director, a sexual predator as well as a manipulative boss. All of these elements make Thomas a really controlling character and Cassel portrays that really well, both verbally and physically.
Mila Kunis is seductive and alluring as Lilly, she is almost a polar opposite to Nina. Whereas Nina is The Swan Queen, Lilly is the Black Swan, she is almost like a grown up woman, she is ambitious, competitive and downright cheeky. As a result it's so intriguing to watch her and Nina compete for the coveted role of the Black Swan. And it's so intriguing to see her's and Nina's relationship develop as it's not clear weather they truly like or hate each other.
Barbara Hershey is fabulous as Erica, Nina's mother. Like many mother/daughter relationships it's filled with contradictions. Part of her wants to keep Nina dependant on her and the other part of her is jealous of her professional success. She goes back and forth like any other mother would. She's not a bad mom, she's merely a human being who has lots of internal conflict but it's conflict you can well understand.
Also very good in the movie is Winona Ryder as Beth, The Dying Swan, she is infuriated and jealous she is being replaced by Nina and takes it out on both her and Thomas and she just won't accept that she's been replaced and Ryder portrays that expertly.
Also the rest of the cast is great.
Black Swan is a scary and beautiful psychological thriller that dares to deal with difficult themes, which make it Darren Aronofsky's best movie to date, 5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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