Brilliant screen-play, costume choices, acting, and themes. A very bold film. Extremely powerful.

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2011)

It's the type of film that is extremely big and loud. Not in the literal sense, but it's mind-blowing and it could easily steal the spotlight from subtler films, which isn't necessarily good all the time... The screenplay was AWESOME right from the start, and the opening was so strong! It got you hooked instantly. It wasn't a ballet film, and it wasn't poncey or pretentious, but it was about ballet and it had a theme of ballet that was completely consistent throughout. The casting was great, and they introduced the character of the mother perfectly. You could instantly tell so much about her simply from the costume choice, the dialogue and the way she interacted with Nina (daughter). All of the characters' basic personalities were established amazingly within a single scene.
The costume choice was exquisite, right from the beginning you could pick out people's characters from their costume choice, and I think that really helped to develop the exploration of contrasts that are a running theme throughout the film. (For example contrast between the good Nina and the bad aspects that she is channelling out in a psychotic way.)
Most people would of approached a film like this by saying 'This is gonna be a beast to make.' (meaning very difficult) but I think the producers or Black Swan used all of those difficulties to their advantage. And the continuous metaphor was brilliant. It put you in Nina's shoes very effectively because of the confusion, but not ambiguity. Most films that try to do that end up being ambiguous and annoying. This wasn't.
I thought their mix of modern themes and very traditional ballet worked like a duet; each style complimenting the other. There was a night- club/drugs scene that was done very well with strobe lighting and confusing elements, and it contrasted incredibly with the more balletic/traditional styles.
The ending was kinda ironic and that really added a subtlety to it. And it wasn't dragged out, the ending reflected Nina's ending, which was 'Perfect.' and it also ended similarly to the story of Swan Lake being performed in the film.
All in all it was a very bold and very powerful film, full of raw emotion and deep metaphors with strong senses of theme. It was beautiful and you could really tell that the creators of Black Swan were really passionate about film making.