Stunningly shot, but other than this there's little to keep you interested

Rating: 4/10 (6 February 2011)

Although this film has followed the Inception route of receiving amazing reviews for the first forty pages on this site, followed by scores of negative reviews which are actually more on track, there are some elements to this production which do make it stand out over others.
Lovers of ballet would have been left breathless by the exquisitely shot dance sequences and the development of Portman's character as she attempts to discard her porcelain doll beauty and let her Black Swan truly take over. Add to this a psychological struggle with reality, clearly brought on by the stress of such a hugely emotional production, and you've got the recipe for a critically acclaimed commercial success. To some.
To others, we see another example of style over substance as the narrative plods along slowly, intentionally attempting to throw its audience off the scent that the storyline is actually a lot less confusing than the director is trying to make out. Although it provided me with no titillation in the slightest, Nina's exploration of her sexuality could have been utilised as a much more effective tool to keep the audience interested in order to create some empathy with the lead. As it stands however, although beautifully played, for those who are not fans of ballet there was very little connection between Nina and the audience. At times I wanted to shake her and scream "get over yourself woman and just do the bloody dance." Target audience for this film? Educated women in their forties and the upper middle classes. A surefire Oscar winner then.