Enthralling, although oppressive psychodrama, superbly interpreted by Natalie Portman

Rating: 8/10 (10 January 2011)

Movies dealing with stories of highly talented people, hit by mental insanity (let's only think of "Shine") have always appealed to the public. This is probably due to the mysterious charm exerted by dramas concerning the human mind, mainly when the condition of mental insanity is intertwined with that of being a genius."Black Swan" is no exception, still more exacerbated by the environment, that of classical ballet, where the tension towards perfection and the hard demanded sacrifices may challenge whoever's mental balance.
Indeed, if on one hand I got to the end of the movie almost exhausted, as mentally and emotionally absorbed by the drama of Nina, on the other one I couldn't but feel like going to that very end. The story proceeds relentlessly, and as the sense of anguish increases inexorably, we feel more and more captured by its obscure and morbid development, until the highest moment of success coincides with the highest moment of folly.
Natalie Portman delivers a truly intense and strongly felt interpretation, probably the best of her career up to now. We really get to feel her being gradually consumed with dance, we feel her mental distress together with her physical pain. The morbidity inside and outside her, in her real life as well in her follies, may sound a little excessive, but in my opinion necessary to make the drama true. Also Winona Ryder as Beth, the older and cut off ballerina, leaves a noteworthy interpretation.