Beyond her comfort zone

Rating: 8/10 (29 May 2018)

I will admit up front that I am no fan of ballet and failed to appreciate the pains that Natalie Portman endured to become a convincing dancer for this role. But it didn't matter. She absolutely earned her best actress award through conveying three metaphors behind the wrapper of a ballerina's quest for perfection:
1. Perfection requires balance. You cannot appreciate the beauty in light without darkness. There is no sunrise without sunset, no day without night, no good without evil. Nina's struggle to understand this was the focus of her conflict with Thomas.
2. Personal growth happens when you expand beyond your comfort zone. Nina had mastered the white swan because the role was so consistent with her daily life; continuing to practice it was a waste of time. Only when Lily inspires her to pursue the black swan does she unlock the path to perfection.
3. Once you've stretched outside your comfort zone you can never go back. Personal growth changes you forever. Nina, in her quest for perfection, loses her innocence forever.
Yes, perhaps the story could remain powerful without the gratuitous gore that hurled a dark drama into the horror genre. But this film is worth watching just to see Natalie Portman shatter all the boundaries of her acting career up to that point. A powerful performance, particularly memorable in the final scenes in which she successfully transforms into the black swan.