The Brilliance of Black Swan

Rating: 9/10 (26 April 2011)

Many films, like the Oscar-nominee "The King's Speech," portray its main character (in this case King George) as he goes about his daily routine, fly-on-the-wall-style. The director steps away and lets the story and the actors speak for themselves. But sometimes the best films are the ones where we are thrust inside the protagonist's mind by having the director use the art of cinema to depict the world in a new and different way.
One of the best examples of this type of film is "Black Swan," the magnum opus of director Darren Aronofsky. The film is a musing on art, perfection and beauty as told through the unstable eyes of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), a young, talented ballet dancer. From the opening shot of a dreamlike Sayers dancing the lead in "Swan Lake," to the last few minutes, every shot is through Nina's perception. This isn't a portrait- it's a headfirst dive into her psyche. We all know someone like Sayers' character—too much of a perfectionist for her own good. She spends her days practicing, obsessing over her every move and eating next to nothing. After rehearsals, she returns home to her sparse and windowless apartment also inhabited by her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey) who had to give up her own dreams of stardom when she became pregnant. She cares for her daughter deeply, but has coddled and stifled her so much that Nina is still emotionally a child, as evidenced by the huge stuffed animals crowding her all-pink-and-white room. Nina dances in a company run by egotistical and smarmy director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) who is casting the lead for a reinvented version of "Swan Lake." Nina is the obvious choice for the Swan Queen: beautiful, fragile and utterly virginal. But the problem, he explains, is that the lead must also play the Black Swan, the Queen's evil twin. Seemingly perfect for that role is Lily (Mila Kunis), a San Francisco transplant who is seductive, sensual and dances with almost unrestrained fluidity. But the part ends up in Nina's hands and she struggles to shed her good-girl image in order to inhabit the sexy black swan. Thomas keeps telling her to "lose herself" in the role. And she does, but maybe a bit too much. First it's mysterious scratches, then disturbing visions, and soon Nina starts to descend into a very dark place. Adding to her stress is Lily, who appears to try to sabotage Nina in order to take her role. The more that's revealed here the less fun you'll have watching it, but the whole third act is a beautiful and nail-biting climax that is nothing short of pure theatrical brilliance. While Portman's fearless performance has been critically praised, and she is a shoe-in for the "Best Actress" Oscar, all the performances are uniformly top-notch. Kunis walks the fine line between sweet and naughty, radiating the screen every time she comes on. Hershey, whose snub by the Oscars is truly criminal, gives a wonderfully complex performance in a role that could have easily been one-note. The real star of the film is its direction by Darren Aronofsky. He pulls together the formalistic style of "Requiem for a Dream," the warped-reality of "Pi" and the stark realism of "The Wrestler" into one coherent and masterful film. He fills every moment with meaningful art direction and symbolism. Notice the mysterious and skin-crawling sound effects and the ever-present swan and mirror motif. A brief mention must also be given to Clint Mansell, whose largely orchestral score gives the film a lush, theatrical and unsettling atmosphere. Aronofsky's biggest achievement is using the camera to get inside Nina's head. The puzzle that this film becomes has no answers because the film is told by an unreliable narrator. It is truly a key component to this film and makes it dangerous and exhilarating. While a thriller about ballet doesn't even seem logical, Aronofsky has turned it into a stylish, psycho-sexual suspense film that is far and away one of the most ambitious and mesmerizing films of the year.