Beautiful to listen to, and to watch, but I wouldn't waste too much time thinking about it

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2017)

This film definitely kept my attention. The score of course, was lush and beautiful. The visuals did the audibles justice. Beyond that ... (SPOILERS coming. ... I guess) ... I am not sure what happened during this film. There were rivals for the coveted starring role in one of the classical ballet's most renowned works. Our hero, catches a once in a lifetime break and is in the position to take that role. She competes with the remaining rivals, performs the role, and either kills her rival or commits suicide. Or maybe she never got the chance because the woman ahead of her... It's all quite fuzzy.
Of course her Mom (really her only support system, near as we can tell, at the beginning of the film) is living vicariously thru her, having sacrificed everything so Nina (the protagonist) could get this role. None of this sounded too ground-breaking to me either, right?
I think the attempt was to make this a film about artists living out the story line of the very story they are trying to tell artistically, like Carlos Saura's "Carmen" for example. Unfortunately for the makers of this film, the plot for a ballet need not be as descriptive as that for an Opera, and this film reflects that.
Also, I've seen Natalie Portman & Barbara Hershey do much better work in other films, while Mila Kunis, IMHO, should definitely keep this one (deservedly) on her highlights real.
Maybe it's just me (I love dance: from classical to hip-hop but am not very educated about it) but ... Nina (Natalie Portman)'s movement seemed ... ungraceful & amateurish to me. That surprised me, but maybe that's what good ballet looks like shot so intimately and up-close.