Visually attractive but surprisingly underwhelming

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2015)

This movie, for me, failed to live up to the hype it has received. While visually very attractive, with nicely done camera-work and very powerful use of the white and black contrasts, the story was boring and failed to engage. Very early in the movie it becomes evident that Nina is an unreliable narrator cracking under the pressure of ballet. As the movie progresses it focuses on the steady deterioration of Nina's mental state, which is all to predictable as it tries to spook with a combination of paranoia, stalkers and moving reflections. The more unreliable she becomes the less the I feel like watching her hallucinations play out in a seemingly pointless direction culminating in a shock value suicide. This movie could have really explored a lot further into the high level of pressure in professional ballet but instead achieves little as we watch Nina fall to pieces. If not for its very well done visuals I would have given a significantly lower rating.