Aronofsky hits it out of the park with "Black Swan"

Rating: 10/10 (5 December 2010)

Just saw "Black Swan" at a packed house in NYC. Ostensibly the story of a ballerina played by Natalie Portman preparing to dance the lead role in "Swan Lake", it was really about refusing to submit in the face of incredible demands and everyday paranoia morphing into legitimate terror.
The movie was threaded with fear-inducing images and palpable scenes of murder and graphic sexuality that may have happened only in the lead actor's mind. Aronofsky put us right there in the fevered brain of the perfect little ballerina grappling with yearning, jealousy and desire.
Intense and horrifying with incredibly hot adult sexuality. The acting was superb, with Vincent Cassel as the ballet director, Barbara Hershey as the mother from hell and Mila Kunis as Portman's rival, as bawdy as Portman is virginal.
But Natalie Portman as the Swan Queen was astonishing. She was in almost every scene growing from a momma's girl to a ferocious dancer. She became the Black Swan out of sheer will. Gotta see it to know what the Black Swan is. I'll give you a hint: it's the meaning of life. Ending gives a nod to "The Red Shoes" but Aronofsky's thriller is in a class by itself.