A Unique but Flawed Masterpiece

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2012)

Black Swan is definitely an interesting film, telling the story of Nina (Natalie Portman) a Ballerina who's dedicated to landing the double part of the black and white swans in the real world ballet "Swan Lake". The story is both a deep emotional drama focusing on the pitfalls of talent and fame, and also a Psychological thriller about the growing madness of it's lead character as she tries to push herself to the limit to get the best performance. I do admit that both of these sides to the film are well done but put together the overall quality is questionable.
In terms of the main story Black Swan is a hugely unpredictable tale that leaves you guessing about what will happen next all the way through, but this at times becomes annoying when things that happened turn out just be dreams or illusions that bring the story down a lot. The story as a whole is strong and is filled with double meanings and huge amounts of symbolism that really forces you to take part in the film, but without ruining anything I will say that the ending is quite disappoint as it leaves too much open and is the one major flaw of this film that drags it down a little. But in a way it testament to the great quality of the rest of the film that even with the lousy ending I can rate the film so highly.
The technical aspects of the film are great, with the camera work being spot on and the ballet's performed beautifully. Acting here is also very strong, Natalie Portman truly shows why she deserved the Oscar she won hear with a performance that shows both a like-able and innocent character, yet one that is slowly going insane and pushing herself too far. The supporting cast is strong too: Mila Kunis gives a career best performance as the other ballet dancer gunning for the role of Nina is after, Vincent Cassel plays the dance instructor well while his character becomes a bit more interesting and like-able as the film progresses, and Winona Ryder plays a small but memorable role as the old dancer of the part who has recently been fired.
I really have to give praise to director Darren Aronofsky, he creates a brilliant feeling of urgency throughout the film, and while dealing with big issues and a film that could have been boring he actually makes everything exciting and keeps you guessing. Yet Black Swan is not flawless, it's clearly a film that is not for everyone and its less a film about the story itself and more about what it is saying, after my first viewing I felt very annoyed at the ending and how it didn't seem to resolve anything but looking back now I see it's a film that really needs time to dwell over and think about.
As a whole Black Swan is a interestingly unique and well crafted film that goes well with Aronofsky's other film The Wrestler, and while I find the wrestler a much more fun and easy to watch movie, I find Black Swan a much more thoughtful and surprising movie. A flawed masterpiece.