Could've been much better - ultimately disappointing.

Rating: 2/10 (23 December 2010)

I was very disappointed with this film. As a trained ballet dancer, I was not fond of the majority of dancing shots that featured only the upper body rather than the entire body. As "artistic" as these shots may be to a non-dancing audience, they only irritated me. In addition, the audience only witnesses either arms or feet in the same positions throughout the entire film. If a film about the ballet world is going to be made, it should convey non- stereotypical aspects rather than what we see in Black Swan: the bulimic protagonist, the overly-aggressive artistic director, and the fanatical ballet mother. Many ballet films (with the exception of "The Turning Point" and "The Red Shoes") fail to represent the ballet world in a deep manner. Black Swan is no exception.
Portman's performance lacked any sort of depth. She only gave one expression throughout the entire film. We knew very little about her character's background. Although we must forgive that she isn't a professional dancer, it may have been better to have a professional dancer as the lead character in this film. The dancing would've been much more believable. Portman's dancing was not at all equal with that of her character - a soloist at a New York City ballet company. Kunis, in addition, performed equally as poor. When the extras can dance better than the leads, then that signals that the lead "dancing" characters were wrongfully cast.
This film was static, disappointing, and ultimately a letdown. I believe it would've succeeded if a better cast was built, a deeper exploration of the plot and subplot occurred, and if the dancing scenes were re-shot to show the entire body versus just the upper body or just the feet. We need less stereotypical ballet films, and Black Swan is just another failure to add to the stack of stereotypical, dry ballet films.