Dire and Despairing, Aronofsky's Swan is Characteristically Black

Rating: 8/10 (20 February 2020)

A timid, devoted ballerina experiences both sides of the hunt, having finally usurped the long-standing lead for her company's next major performance and then immediately spotted a crosshair upon her own back. Along the road to opening night, prodded by competition from a new dancer and a taxing, handsy show director, she reluctantly confronts the various psychoses and anxieties that have been brewing, unimpeded, in her psyche for years. Will she finally learn to cut loose and embrace her id, or fall apart en route?
Natalie Portman is a nervous wreck in that leading role, finding comfort in the rigorous pursuit of perfection on-stage, but tumult and uncertainty everywhere else in her life. She's perfectly cast, petite and toned in a physical sense but versatile enough to dig deep and project the agonizing struggles that writhe within. Director Darren Aronofsky, no stranger to plumbing such depths, brings his usual grim, unflinching perspective to the scene. It's a good thematic marriage. Aronofsky's work is almost always oppressive and exhausting, which is why it took me ten years to get around to watching this one. In a very real way, I dread his films and what they'll put me through.
Portman's performance (not to mention that of Mila Kunis, in an indispensable supporting role) and the gorgeous dance choreography saves it from being a total plod, but Black Swan is anything but a pleasant experience. Profound at times, pervasively uncomfortable at others, it digs until it hits the bone and then it digs some more.