Black Swan (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Swan Song For A Ballerina
Darren Aronofsky does not make ordinary movies. He makes complex and controversial ones such as The Wrestler, Requiem For A Dream and The Fountains. His movies are aimed at adults and are usually chillingly intense. His latest film Black Swan meets all of those standards.
Natalie Portman plays ballerina Nina Sayers. She has hopes of becoming a prima ballerina with her New York Company. The current lead dancer is Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) and she is getting too old for the parts. The ballet master Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) obviously is of that mind set too as he forces Beth to retire.
Nina wants to dance the dual role of the white swan and the black swan in the companys production of Swan Lake. Her main rival is a new dancer named Lily (Mil Kunis) who unexpectedly arrives on the scene. Her very presence heightens Ninas fears, but then Nina has a lot of fears. She fears not being perfect, of disappointing her mother (Barbara Hershey), and of reverting back to some of her physical abuse of her body.
As the film progresses Ninas paranoia engulfs her. She borders on hysteria and physical collapse. She begins to see people and events that may or may not be real, and these fantasies confuse and almost immobilize her.
Portman is amazing as Nina. This is the first really grown up role she has had or at least one with these types of complexities. You can almost feel the fear Nina has in just getting through the day, and when she begins to fall apart you believe it totally. Aronofsky has demanded much of Portman and she delivers in every scene.
Kunis is also effective as Lily, the woman who may be trying to get ahead of Nina or not. Regardless she is not your typical dancer. She appears talented but not driven in any sense of the word.
Both Ryder and Hershey are good in their roles. Neither has a key scene in which to show what she can do but the potential is there. Portman so dominates the film that there is very little room left for the other actors. Cassel manages to make his presence in the film felt with only a few key scenes, mostly involving Portman.
The film is rated R for violence, profanity and sexual sequences.
Black Swan is not a movie for all audiences. It is a thriller played out with much intensity. It is also an erotic film with some fairly graphic sexual sequences. It is confusing in that it incorporates fantasy with reality and doesnt always explain which is which. Still it is a film that will appeal to many due to Aronofskys skilled direction and Portmans award worthy performance.
I scored Black Swan a graceful 8 out of 10.
