Best....ballet movie....ever made (with some scary ass sh#t!

Rating: 10/10 (20 October 2013)

Director Darren Aronofsky that already had presented us: the disturbing and broken world of drug users in "Requiem for a Dream"; the connection of different lives at different times; made us cry and laugh with the life of a retired wrestler. And now with "Black Swan" not only he wanted to show the world the actress that Natalie Portman is, but also wanted to scare us mentally from start to finish in this fabulous film.
"Black Swan" tells the story of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) a dear and innocent New Yorker ballerina that, like all in this business, dreams to shine on stage and perhaps achieve perfection in dance. One day Nina's life changes when her art teacher Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) gives her the leading role in his remastering of the play "The Swan Lake" which is the Swan Queen (that actually consists in two roles, the White Swan and the Black Swan). But Thomas thinks that Nina as the White Swan is perfect, capturing the grace and innocence of the character. But not as the Black Swan that requires malice and sensuality. Qualities that another dancer Lily (Mila Kunis) manages to convey in the dance, impressing Thomas. So now the two girls begin a contradictory friendship expanding their rivalry. But with this Nina gets to know her malicious and cruel side, which can destroy her terribly inside and as a person, or perhaps help her incorporate the role of the Black Swan.
If you know the story of the "Swan Lake" then maybe it can be a spoiler for the story...... if you have the mentality strength to see it. Darren Aronofsky didn't participate this time the script giving the job to Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz and John J. McLaughlin, but nothing is lost, but personified. The writing from start to finish creates a great metaphor in the film involving the story of "Swan Lake" and the life of Nina.
Nina is the innocent White Swan trapped in her world wanting to somehow break free. And when she meets the gentleman Thomas he gives her a chance to shine, replacing the dying swan Beth (Winona Ryder) in the role. But it becomes impossible when the malicious Black Swan Lily steals everyone's attention with his guile and sexuality. Now Nina has only her friend and mother the swan queen Erica (Barbara Hershey) to aid her.
But not only is the metaphor of the story in the narrative shines in the film, but suddenly the script takes the film to a dark and terrifying side. That happened when Nina meets Lily which is clearly Nina's opposite: she lies, makes fun of people, and of course uses her sensuality to her advantage. Things that Nina had never been able to be or do, and strikes up a friendship with her rival to might try to find her malicious and sexy side, but it starts to bring great dangers with disturbing visions and changes of attitudes. That's where the terrifying dialogs shown concepts that we all have a dark and evil side in each one of us. Not only in dialogs that this is shown, but also in the magnificent direction.
The direction of Aronofsky has never been so great as it is here. Yes I know, "Requiem" had that depressing and disturbing tone. And in "Wrestler" he put us in the place of Randy both walking the streets as faking a fight in the ring. But here is a little bit of both, not only putting us in places that Nina goes in her home or on stage during the show, but also dark and disturbing moments where Aronofsky uses the perfect use of a beautiful cinematography and (surprisingly) visual effects (which helps in the most beautiful, creepy and metaphorical scene in the movie).
The entire cast is fantastic: Winona Ryder as always superb; Vincent Cassel as always with that British air challenger and cocky; Mila Kunis with a good level of performance. But as I said earlier, who stands out is and Natalie Portman, from start to finish simply phenomenal.
Many may disagree, but I believe that this movies is so far Darren Aronofsky's masterpiece. "Black Swan" with its metaphors about the fight between our good and evil side within the play of "Swan Lake", along with an engaging script and brilliant-terrifying direction with the phenomenal performance of Natalie Portman manages to stand out as a masterpiece of this generation.
10/10