Metamophosis to Dark Perfection

Rating: 10/10 (11 January 2011)

Disturbing story of a ballerina who wins the role of Queen of the Swans in the New York production of Swan Lake scored by Tchaikovsky. The role requires the prima ballerina to embody polar opposite personalities. The white is pure and virginal; the black swan is dark and a seductress.
Natalie Portman plays the dancer who must undergo the theatrical metamorphosis. The dancer so assimilates the character that she undergoes a personal metamorphosis with tragic consequences.
I have been smitten by her work ever since she played the child who lived with the hit man in The Professionals. I have thought that that performance was so perfect that she might not ever reach a similar level of excellence again in her career. She was stunning in Closer where she was on the same stage with Julia Roberts, Clive Owen and Jude Law. She stole that film from some of our finest actors. The film itself was not as fine as Black Swan.
The Black Swan is great because Ms. Portman was great in it. The film is quite disturbing and dark. Ms. Portman is entirely convincing as a ballerina; her features and physique are flawless. Her classic beauty, her youth and innocent demeanor are a natural for the white swan. The difficult transition, for the dancer, is to become the dark twin. This transition is painful for her, and it is the subject of the film. The film has a Kafkaesque quality as she begins to literally grow black feathers.
The Black Swan is one of the great performances by an actress ever in film. Natalie Portman never disappoints but, in the Black Swan, she achieves perfection.