A trip down the rabbit hole.

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2014)

Black Swan is the biggest case of life imitating art in the history of cinema. Natalie Portman gives a haunting performance as a ballerina that is literally uncomfortable in her own body to the point where she claws and scratches at her own skin.
Portman plays Nina Sayers, a ballerina going out for the pivotal role in the play Swan Lake. The director, played by Vincent Cassel, is convinced that she can play White Swan perfectly. He's just not convinced she can play White Swan's evil twin, Black Swan.
In order to find the Black Swan in herself, she must become a different person. She must let go of her safe life and unlock a darker, more uninhibited side of her personality. This seems like an impossible task considering Nina lives with her mother (Barbara Hershey) in a small New York apartment. Her child-like demeanor and naiveté is evidenced by her bedroom, with the butterfly wallpaper and polka-dot bed sheets. In order to get even a second of privacy, Nina barricades herself in the bathroom and her bedroom.
When the films starts, Nina is already a very fragile person. What makes things worse is that everybody in her life helps push her to the edge of madness. Her ballet-obsessed mother, who gives new meaning to the overbearing stage mom; her director, who seems to be attracted to her, but whether it's genuine or some sick game to get her to unleash her inner Black Swan is unclear; and hen there's Lilly, played by Mila Kunis in a career-defining performance.
Kunis plays Lilly, a fellow member of the dance company, who may or may not be out to sabotage Nina and her dream of being the perfect White and Black Swan. Nina's quest for perfection sends her into a tailspin of paranoid delusions and psychotic hallucinations. Lilly is the main reason for Nina's paranoia. She is almost the spitting image of Nina, except she is everything Nina needs to be in order to nail the part of Black Swan. She's laid back, free spirited and, most of all, she exudes sexuality.
Black Swan boasts one of the better musical scores you will find in a film all year. The heart pounding orchestral numbers will have you on the edge of your seat - especially in the last 30 minutes of the film.
With Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky has woven a taut, psychological thriller like nothing I've ever seen. It deals with the physical and emotional tolls that being a professional dancer can have on a person. It also shows how a person can literally destroy themselves in the quest for perfection.