The Black Swan-Bravo!

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2011)

Did you ever wonder what Marilyn Monroe was thinking while she climbed nude out of the swimming pool for photographers, or Kurt Cobain when he wrote Smells Like Teen Spirit? What about when someone who goes off the rails, over the top and round the bend? What goes through people's minds when they beat out everyone for a coveted role and see the faces of the people they beat? How do you feel when you are experiencing something for the first time when you are afraid to feel it, when people around you are feeling things about you and for you and for themselves because of what is happening––and it's not all that balanced? The Black Swan is about things like that: the thoughts inside the head of the one facing the crowd, facing a world of expectations and need, and making art, desiring it and repulsed by it all at the same time. Nina Sayers is a young, ambitious and talented ballet dancer surrounded by people with needs. She is beautiful and delicate but can she play the sensuous and strong Black Swan? Thomas, the artistic director, needs a star to bring his company success. Erica, Nina's mother, needs someone to nurse and project her fantasies onto. The other dancers project their envy and dreams onto her. It's a lot to take for one so young, and maybe not so balanced. The genius of Aronofsky and the screenwriters is that they reveal these pressures and fantasies from inside the mind of Nina. Nina, the exquisite and amazing Natalie Portman, is our surrogate on this journey of darkness and light, and Aronofsky uses his camera to tell us so. Our emotions are her emotions. We open first with anxiety. A jittery camera follows closely behind Nina, wearing a ballet perfect bun and powder pink coat, as she hurries to the theater. On the way, she recognizes a new dancer, Lily, on the subway—a possible threat. She sweats as Thomas chooses who shall be considered for the new role of Swan Queen and who will not. The fine script builds the pressure on Nina. She unwittingly offers congratulations to a girl who won nothing. Nina, herself, is chosen. We feel the rush of cortisol and adrenaline when she realizes her mistake, and separation from her peers. She rejects her mother's sugary sweet celebration cake, the wrong thing for a nervous ballerina, and suffers guilt. Lily is wild and free and she is envious. Nina sees a dark female figure approach from the shadows, and is shocked to see or imagine that it is herself dressed in black with long, loose hair. Thomas comes on to her, or does he? Lily comes on to her, or does she? Her mother is a lunatic, or is she? Every shock, or fantasy, we experience is also Nina's. The Black Swan is about fantasies of power, lust and fame and the fears and nightmares that go with them. Change is never easy, especially great change. When Nina masturbates, she realizes to her great shock that there is no barrier between herself and her mother. Her mother is in the room! When we realize it, we are shocked by it, too. Waking up, she sees she is surrounded by teddy bears and music boxes when what is needed is black lace and red lipstick. These psychic and physical changes are messing with her head, our head, where there is no one else to talk to, only mirrors and fantasies and fears. The film climaxes on opening night. Nerves and fear lead her to a disastrous fall in the second act. In her dressing room, where she must change into the costume of The Black Swan, she has a final confrontation with her fears. She breaks her mirror and with a shard of it kills Lily, her understudy and competition. Then she dances and finally, magnificently transforms into the fierce and dangerous Black Swan. The camera tells us so as it glides smoothly, gracefully, capturing her strength and confidence. But, Nina didn't actually grow black swan wings and she didn't actually kill Lily. So, did she actually kill or injure herself? Maybe. Or is this Nina's unique mix of fear and fantasy pushing her to the heights to accomplish a great performance-and our realization of what it can take to make a work of art? We all have fantasies, but not everyone is an artist. Jared Loughner, Mark David Chapman and Squeaky Fromme had fantasies. Not everyone will go from ballet pink to The Black Swan, but for those who do, or want to, this is a movie for you. Aronofsky, Natalie, et al, take a bow. My final thought: Have you ever wondered what someone was thinking who went over the top and around the bend–and back again; what kind of movie they will make, what kind of book they will write, what dance they will dance? Once you've become The Black Swan and the Swan Queen, then what?!