It is entirely appropriate that trailers for director Darren Aronofsky’s latest film Black Swan mention his previous films Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler. That’s because Black Swan blends together themes from both of those pre mentioned films, combining the obsessiveness and need to perform from The Wrestler with the lose of one’s grip on reality from Requiem for a Dream. The result is a perfectly sublime experience worthy of a standing ovation. While it’s a movie that will have you thinking about what you just saw long after it’s over, while actually viewing it it’s best to simply sit there and allow what you’re seeing to wash over you.
Natalie Portman stars as Nina, an overly dedicated ballet dancer who’s been performing at a NYC company for several years. The director of the company Thomas (Vincent Cassel) decides that this season he will put on a completely different take of the classic ballet Swan Lake, with a single performer playing both the role of the white swan and the role of black swan. While he casts Nina in the coveted role he has doubts she can pull it off, for while she perfectly embodies the perfect form and innocence for the white swan, she is severely lacking the sensuality needed to also play the role of the black swan. Her nerves are further shaken when a new dancer named Lily (Mila Kunis) joins the company. Unlike Nina Lily has the ability to let herself go when she dances and she begins to become a rival for Nina’s part. Paranoia sets in as Nina begins to think everyone is out to get her, from Lily and Thomas to her overbearing mother Erica (Barbara Hershly). As she throws herself more and more into the role Nina’s grip on reality starts to slip and she starts to notice strange markings and textures on her skin, to where it seems she is physically transforming into an actual black swan.
Darren Aronofsky directs with a frenzied yet restrained dreamlike style, to where the audience doesn’t know at times if what they are seeing is real or not. While at first the audience can easily figure out when Nina’s mind is altering reality it becomes harder to distinguish as time goes on. This works wonders for the film, for it becomes both a film about one’s state of mind in addition to a film about ballet.
Natalie Portman is amazing in her role, and is sure to be a contender come Oscar time. Her portrayal of desperation and paranoia is as beautiful as it is disturbing. Mila Kunis flawlessly plays the role of rival and frenemy, at times even stealing focus away from Ms. Portman. Barbara Hershly is extremely effective in having viewers wonder if her character tries to control Nina’s life out of motherly love or resentment over her own lost dreams. And Vincent Cassel does a great job in having his character be hated in nearly every scene he’s in.
While Black Swan is not in wide release yet, it’s worth it to make the extra effort to go see this movie. It’s as beautiful as it is disturbing and will keep your eyes glued to the screen until the credits roll. This is one production that is not to be missed.
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