Swan Diva

Rating: 5/10 (17 December 2010)

Natalie Portman's performance in "Black Swan" reminded me a bit of Isabelle Huppert's magnificent job in Michael Haneke's "The Piano Teacher." The self-destructive parallel's between the two roles, coming from opposite directions (Black and White Swan?) are startling.
What's also startling is the effect of both overall movies.
I would never recommend the Haneke film. Why would you want to obsess over a woman who's sado-masochism ranges from breaking glass in a young girl's coat pocket to hysterical sex on a men's room floor.
With Portman, why would you want to watch, even in horrific fascination, this obsessive creature with such a masochistic core. She literally hurts herself repeatedly and succumbs to the fingering of the ballet director in seconds after rejecting him at first.
There's one scene where Portman is in a tub of water. She immerses herself. The Baptism reference is obvious. From underwater, she sees blood dripping into the tub, first from her rival whose face appears, then from a cut on her own hand.
She has lived her frigid, ultra-disciplined live as a slave to her craft for so long, when faced with success and the demands of a manipulative director, she begins to go mad.
I can think of only a couple of viewpoints from which one would appreciate this study. Either as someone who sadistically enjoys seeing her unravel or from the viewpoint of someone who identifies with her masochism.
As I can't come up with either viewpoint, my only question is 'Why would anyone want to watch this all-encompassing pain?' Huppert won best actress at Cannes, Portman will win at the Academy, but that still doesn't answer the question.