Dancing doesn't make you happy

Rating: 7/10 (7 September 2019)

A rather intense, manic, over the top look at life inside an elite ballet's production of Swan Lake.
With all the bullying, jealousy, pressure to be perfect and no room to have 'a life', it's not that surprising that lead dancer Nina (Natalie Portman) is going insane.
She's certainly not happy, living with her crazy, suffocating mother (Barbara Hershey) who takes the hysterical Stage Mom role up several notches.
Mom still keeps her jewellery box and cuts her fingernails!
The piece is shot in dark, muted, claustrophobic corridors, studios and apartments and even though ballet as an art is supposed to be beautiful, there ain't much joy in Nina's life.
She's a nervous, flighty but technically perfect dancer, whose main problem is in convincingly trying to portray the coarser black swan twin in Swan Lake as well as she plays the role of the graceful white swan twin.
It's a crisply directed and written movie. The pace moves ahead at a rapid pace but there's not much respite from the doom and gloom.
Thankfully Mila Kunis, as boisterous new dancer Lily, who befriends Nina, provides some light relief.
Not really a movie for sweet ballet fans!
More of a dark indie drama.
I don't know exactly what it's trying to say - maybe that being an artist isn't all it's cracked up to be.