An Incredibly Beautiful and Epic Tale That Is Perfect in Every Sense of the Word

Rating: 10/10 (11 July 2012)

"Black Swan" was a film I had on my must see list for a long time. Natalie Portman was enough to draw me in, but I had heard nothing but good things about this. Add the fact that Natalie Portman finally got the recognition I always knew she deserved by getting an Oscar for this, and you have my interest. And after finally seeing it, I understand why everyone loves this movie. And I agree with them.
So the story of "Black Swan" is about Nina, a very fragile but lovable ballerina who is given the role of her life when she is cast as the Swan Queen in her ballet studio's production of Swan Lake. But the catch is that she has to play both the Swan Queen and the Black Swan, who is the evil and polar opposite twin sister of the Swan Queen. Everyone knows that Nina is perfect for the Swan Queen, but she has to really push herself to become the Black Swan which totally goes against her nature. Meanwhile she also is having a mental breakdown so there's a lot of freaky stuff going on in her mind. The cool thing that you realize at one point is that the story of the film is a real life parallel to the story of Swan Lake. All the characters, situations, and plot points reflect the ballet but it doesn't feel cheesy. It feels brilliant and beautiful.
Now the acting in this movie is terrific. Did Natalie Portman deserve her Oscar? Absolutely without a doubt. I'm gonna be honest, ever since I was six and saw her in "Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace", I knew Natalie Portman was destined to be an incredible actress. That and I have an insane celebrity crush on her, but that's beside the point. She is perfectly natural, believable, and lovable as Nina and you instantly fall in love with her character. While she's having her mental breakdown though you are really worried what's going to happen. Nina is so sweet and innocent you don't want to see a shred of harm come to this girl. That is true character connection and it was done amazingly in "Black Swan".
Mila Kunis plays Lily, who is basically the real life equivalent of the Black Swan. She's the exact opposite of Nina. She's fun, secure, she goes out and parties. She is basically every 20 something year old hot chick on "Jersey Shore". But she has this very evil sense about her and you're always thinking in the back of your mind "She could just flip and kill Nina at any time". There's this one scene where Nina and Lily go to a bar and you can really see how opposite they become. But you also see how Lily slowly corrupts Nina and it's just a genius character dynamic. That is good writing and equally strong acting right there.
There is only one more performance I think I need to mention and that's Barbara Hershey as Nina's mother. Nina's mom is just like Mrs. White from "Carrie". She is obsessive, controlling, psychotic, and just evil. You really hate her and it takes you a while to realize it but eventually you have an epiphany where you go "Oh my god, Nina is like a hostage in her own home". She's 27 but she still lives with her mother because her mom is so insane. Nina's mom puts off the same evil sense as Lily in that you feel she could snap and murder Nina in like a second if she was pushed even a little bit. It's a very scary character and Barbara Hershey portrayed it perfectly.
I do want to mention that anytime the "Swan Lake" music played, I could not help but think of "Dracula". I don't know if you know this, but the original 1931 'Dracula' movie with Bela Lugosi used the "Swan Lake" song for its opening credits. And so anytime I heard that music, I got tingles. The music in this movie, especially in the finally is tense and exciting and does exactly what a good soundtrack should do. It gets you really anxious and nervous and I'm not lying when I say I felt my heartbeat while the climax of this movie happened and it was racing. There is so much emotional weight at the end "Black Swan", I could not believe I was so invested in a film about ballet.
This movie is perfect, and I have zero complaints. The acting was terrific, the pacing was perfect. The emotional weight and the themes were handled with exquisite and expert care. I do not think I can stress how beautiful this film is. It's rare that I call a movie beautiful but it is the only word I can think of that describes this movie. It is perfect.