An intoxicating masterpiece... Natalie Portman is positively breathtaking

Rating: 9/10 (26 January 2011)

Black Swan
Darren Aronofsky has a certain ability to drill down to the deepest chasms of the human psyche - we have seen it in his heartbreaking masterpiece, Requiem for A Dream, and his last powerhouse, The Wrestler. With Black Swan he goes about investigating obsession, compulsion, fascination, psychosis and jealousy under the cover of the world of ballet. More specifically, during a production of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.
The story revolves around Nina, and her quest to master the poetic contrasts of both the White Swan and the Black Swan. Surrounding Nina are her controlling and envious former ballerina mother, her ballet instructor, and Lily who is essentially a dark reflection of Nina's personality, or so she projects.
Black Swan is high art cinema, combining operatic age old themes of competition, and destruction in the quest for perfection for the arts. The film is a psychosexual thriller, I guess, and is claustrophobic and intense enough to delve into horror territory at times.
No review of Black Swan, however will provide a fair assessment if it omits to mention Natalie Portman... Her performance is breathtaking and intensely visualised. This was such a draining role to play - a ballerina, suffering the rigours of the process and the mental strains she undergoes. This is a masterful performance. If she does not win the Academy Award for Best Actress, it will surely be a tragedy.
If you want a truly different, engaging and fulfilling time at the cinema, which does not involve CGI Monsters or 3D superheroes, Black Swan is well worth your time.
Breathtaking, mesmerising cinema.
10/10