Plays like Tchaikovsky by way of David Lynch and Douglas Sirk

Rating: 10/10 (14 December 2010)

Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan is reckless, glorious fever-dream of a movie. It is striking, intoxicating, blackly humorous, melodramatic, and beautiful. In short, it is unlike anything else the movies have to offer.
It is set in the cutthroat, isolated world of professional ballet. It chronicles the struggles of young ballerina Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman). She is in her mid-twenties, young by any sane standards, but, ballet standards are far from sane. She is vying for the lead role in a new production of the classic Swan Lake. The role requires her to play the virginal, innocent White Swan and the seductive Black Swan. Nina obsessively perfects her form, but her director (Vincent Cassel) doubts that Nina can convey the alluring nature of the Black Swan. The film details Nina's obsessive drive to achieve total perfection, in the face of mental and emotional breakdown, and physical metamorphosis.
Aesthetically, this film is a stunner. Aronofsky employs hand-held cameras that place us in Nina's shoes throughout the film. We are there for the incessant drilling and rehearsal that ballet requires. The camera swoops and pirouettes to dizzying effect. Aronofsky also succeeds in portraying the intensely competitive world of professional ballet. We hear bones crunch, toes break, and feet crack. He uses fractured editing rhythms and a soundtrack cobbled together from classical and experimental music to create Nina's intense and horrifying world.
However, for all its success, Black Swan is not without its failings. At times, the film risks coherence for the sake of messing with the heads of the audience members. The film also introduces the frame story of Swan Lake in a very clumsy way: a monologue recited by Vincent Cassel. Aronofsky also relies too heavily on the visual contrast of white and black as a visual motif.
Yet, audiences won't leave the theater considering these flaws. Black Swan is a wholly visceral cinematic experience that will spellbind those who are willing to seek it out. It is an uneasy, but fascinating watch that doesn't completely make sense until the end credits. Yet, the film has an impact well past the end credits. It is a movie to provoke discussion, a dark, seductive fairy tale to haunt your dreams. In a year of pale retreads and creative bankruptcy, it is a breath of fresh air.