A disturbing paranoid thriller

Rating: 9/10 (30 December 2012)

Nina is one of the best ballerinas in the company so it is understandable that she hopes to be selected to dance the part of the Swan Queen in an upcoming performance of Swan Lake. Director Thomas Leroy has told her that she is perfect for the role of the innocent White Swan; the problem is it is a duel role that also involves playing the seductive Black Swan and he believes she just can't let herself go in the way that part demands. She is further stressed because rival dancer Lily seems perfect for the Black Swan. As the pressure builds Nina starts to lose her grip on reality in a way that could ultimately lead to her self-destruction.
If you sit down to watch this expecting a delightful film about the world of ballet you are in for the shock of a life time there may be plenty of dancing but this is very much a paranoid thriller about somebody losing their grip on reality in a way that is sometimes highly sexual and at others quite gruesome certainly it is one of the more disturbing films that I've seen. We see the world as Nina sees it so like her we frequently see things that aren't really happening and it isn't until later that we learn whether what we saw was real. This sense of paranoia is further enhanced by the way the camera almost constantly follows Nina around. Natalie Portman is brilliant as Nina; I'm not surprised that she won an Academy Award for her performance here. Mila Kunis also puts in an excellent performance as Lily and Vincent Cassel is good as the somewhat domineering director. The film's director, Darren Aronofsky does a great job keeping the sense of paranoia high until it peaks during the finale.