Black Swan- Movie Review

BLACK SWAN (2010)

Director:

Darren Aronofsky

Stars:

Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel

 Darren Aronofsky follows his overrated film The Wrestler with the dark and melodramatic ballet feature, Black Swan.  It is the story of Nina Sayers played gracefully and stunningly by Natalie Portman who deservedly won the Best Actress award at this year’s Oscar’s ceremony.  The story is simple, Nina is a ballet dancer who desperately wants the feature role of the Swan Queen in Swan Lake, but the role necessitates a dancer who can portray the White Swan and Black Swan.  Nina has all the makings of the White Swan but lacks the passion and sensuality needed to do justice to the role of the Black Swan.  She is given the part anyway and we follow her slow and sometimes confusing descent into madness.

The story really is simple, but told with such originality and fear, as we follow Nina’s descent into madness.  The subtexts and symbolism are what makes this movie great.  When I was in high school I dated a dancer who spent all her free time dancing.  She didn’t have to attend half of her classes so she could be in the studio dancing.  Ultimately our relationship failed because she had no time for me, or better said, a life outside of dancing.  When she wasn’t dancing, she was sleeping, and when she wasn’t doing either of those things she was thinking about dancing. 

Nina spends the movie living completely in a world inhabited by dancing.  This has led to a great ability to dance, but has robbed her of passion, because she hasn’t lived life.  Her dedication to her art has cheated her out of experiencing many things the rest of us experience every day.  This is a part of the film I liked best.  Artists spend so much time practicing their art that they forget or just simply don’t have time or make time to experience life.  That experience is crucial in the success of whatever art medium one has chosen.  So when other girls are out having fun, having sex, and living, Nina is dancing or being kept under lock and key by her overbearing and creepy mom, played by Barbara Hershsey.  Nina doesn’t even have a lock on her bedroom door.  Her mom is her shadow making sure Nina doesn’t miss out or lose the chance at greatness that she herself seems to have lost or sacrificed.  Nina’s determination and passion coupled with her mom’s overbearing ways drives Nina out of control.  She starts hallucinating, and soon we realize that Nina’s White Swan is starting to be overcome by the birth of her Black Swan.  The Black Swan within her is fighting desperately to be released.   Nina just wants to be the best performer she can, and soon it seems as it’s at any cost. 

Nina becomes friends with Lily, played by Mila Kunis, who herself seems just like the Black Swan, and soon Nina becomes delusional as to what Lily’s intentions are.  She becomes convinced that Lily is there to steal the title role and she won’t let that happen.  Lily actually represents the Black Swan growing within Nina in real life.  Reality and fantasy becomes blurred in regards to Lily and what she is and what she does.  We, the viewer, are kept off guard because truthfully, Nina is off guard, not realizing what is happening to her.  She is finally confronted by her mother who now thinks she is out of control and she keeps Nina locked in the bedroom, but Nina will not be stopped from performing and actually assaults her mother in an effort to escape.  At this point the Black Swan has completely taken over Nina’s persona and all traces of the White Swan seem to have vanished.

The film ends with the performance of Swan Lake, and in between moments show the final descent of Nina and what extreme’s she went to achieve perfection and success.  Nina’s story is extreme, but not uncommon in the real world where people dream of and strive for stardom, success and perfection.   The story also reveals that artists need to live a life outside their art in order to better serve their art.  And sometimes we just have to accept who or what we are.

GRADE: A