Interestng psycho-sexual vignette

Rating: 7/10 (19 February 2011)

Natalie Portman is a beautiful actress playing her diva ballerina part sufficiently enough to keep me interested in her role. The film revolves around her character and she is more than adequate to carry this dark portrait of a striving artist who seems to finally achieve the the perfect orgasm.
Because I am about the 626 person to write a "review" of the movie on IMDb, and because this film has a plot that exists as a contrivance to study a character, there is no point in describing the plot. In fact, the plot itself is the ballet Swan Lake.
Swan Lake is a young woman's fantasy and fear of passing from innocence to womanhood. Black Swan applies these themes to stardom, whether that stardom is the New York ballet or Hollywood, that results in to the Black Swan of diva-hood. So this could be seen as a coming of age movie in the limelight. Natalie Portman must know what that is like. This movie could be about her.
The character is raised by a mother who is a failed Ballerina and is the typical parent who is attempting to relieve her life through her daughter and is slightly resentful about it. There is no father to be seen or heard from, so the character is alone and stressed and sexually repressed. There are questions as to whether she is a virgin or not. The lesbian scene suggests that she is because she demonstrates sexual confusion. Basically, she has not had many dates. She is now turning towards mild forms of masochism because she is sexually frustrated. Most notable are the scratches on the back of her right shoulder, that may be the result of her clawing at herself as she masturbates to heighten her orgasm. So the movie, to be simplistic, is about the difference between a white swan and a black swan; the black swan knows where to find her g-spot.
Overall, the film moved along through quick surrealistic scenes that barely grazed deeper themes that could be explored more in future films. I would by no means call it a masterpiece. There was simply no exploration of broader themes. I like Degas and Natalie Portman, so the film carried me through to its logical conclusion. I did not think it suspenseful or horrifying or all that dark.