This movie is a complete lesson of Art in its highest level

Rating: 10/10 (23 May 2012)

We should not watch this movie with the regular references of almost every movie we see. There isn't such a thing like a normal or regular movie, actually they are often made to be distinctive and original, but in this case I'd suggest you to watch or watch it again as a pure project of art, object of art, work of art, as the most strong expression of it. Then Black Swan will show you very different things, unusual ones, a whole new movie that must now be read as a complex language, as a very strong piece of aesthetics. Pure Art!
If we don't do this, if our eyes are nude and unprepared, our instinct probably will drive us to elect a story and some protagonist that will compose an expectation for outcomes, even if it is just a wish for twist and surprise. This movie would give you a good response also in this case, but then you'd loose a wonderful opportunity to get really engaged with the experience of art making, and that the movie hides from a vision too quick and shows it to those who are willing to see something more elaborated. There are other movies like that: Mephisto, All That Jazz, Camille Claudel, La Belle Noiseuse, connect the audience with this parallel universe, the language and the secrets of artistic creation. We shouldn't miss it. That means the plot offers now another drama, and that would be no longer the priority of space and time, or of a square, round or fuzzy story, or a game to play about the destiny of every character and the facts told. You'd see now a story with meaningful elements of human finest creation, Art, the fire itself. You'd be merged in the world of aesthetics and a new hero would lie underneath: Prometheus. He is writing this level of the story.
Nina (Natalie Portman) is a character that goes all the way across this complete transformation. Black Swan is a tragedy of creation. We should not cheer for our favorite character or outcome anymore, but we should just appreciate the conflicts and challenges of art making. And it's so hard, it asks for everything in us, it tears us apart so we can become the nicest artists. Art in its ultimate impulse and inspiration is a heroic search for beauty as perfection. Nothing less makes any sense. That's what starts tho happen with Nina, in the moment she decides to do the perfect show, to be the perfect dancer in artistic standards, no less. The movie turns into language, it's not verisimilitude what matters the most in this approach, but the limit between fantasy and reality. Nina wants to be just art in her show but to do that she has to call so many delicate or deep conflicts she cannot stand. But it doesn't matter, because she is in search for perfection. It isn't just her. The director, the public, the world, the company, all of them want Nina to completely give herself to her performance, except for her mother, that struggles to keep her daughter within some known limits.
The intense battle between the White and the Black Swan is incorporated in the production of the show, and the leading dancer is the one that holds the key for success in the expression of Art at its highest level. All the time she has to make decisions, if she is going to keep the ways she has been so far or if she is braking all grounds that are necessary to give the show an impressive result, which would be Nina seducing everyone by her performance. But she can be also destroyed in this search. This environment is formed and takes complete control of the movie. It becomes even weird for those who would prefer a conventional story, let's say that. The black swan (character) would be the antagonist but in Art it's not, it is the key for beauty of the show. We could think that the new dancer Lily (Mila Kunis) would personify the Black Swan, but it also isn't true, in part, it's ambiguous, she kind of holds the Black Swan qualities, but in reality, as Lily herself, not as the character of the show. Here we understand that there is a mix between the characters of the show and the characters of the movie, and this distinction also falls in some moments.
The director and the mother work in the story to make it even more tense. Unforgettable acting of Vincent Cassel and excellent acting of Barbara Hershey and Mila Kunis. Natalie Portman's acting is perfect! She is able to bring to the audience all this complexity of the movie, being a regular one or a project of pure Art in highest level. She traduces to us intensely all the conflicts, limitations and changes Nina operates, she brings beauty to us in the form described above, as a very serious work about aesthetics. The final result is Art and a wonderful movie about Art. She will probably will get the Oscar for that.