A Slow Dive Into Insanity

Rating: 10/10 (12 January 2011)

I know many people probably saw the previews for this movie and dismissed it on the basis that ballet is the main focus. I mean, if someone doesn't like ballet, why would they want to see this movie? At the risk of sounding cliché, this movie is much more than skinny girls dancing. It is a slow, tense and thrilling ride along with a young woman whose mind gradually slips into darkness.
Nina is a meek, polite and fragile ballet dancer, living with her mom and mainly dancing in the background of her dance company. When she finally gets the opportunity to step into the spotlight as the lead in Swan Lake, she must learn to embrace the duality of the character. The sweet, innocent White Swan flows easily from her but it is her evil twin, the seductive Black Swan, that Nina struggles to find. Pushed to the brink mentally by her sexualizing director, overbearing and controlling mother and a new dancer that in many ways represents her Black Swan twin, Nina begins to delve into the darker aspects of the character in her actual life, slowly losing grips on reality as she goes deeper. By the time the final performance arrives, her director tells her to lose herself but it appears that she already has.
This is a film best described as a psychological horror/thriller. Much of the horror is derived from Nina's slowly worsening hallucinations, which is some of the best usage of body horror since David Cronenberg's films in the 80s. Ballet itself tears up the human body and that is the initial cause for those scenes. But as the film gets darker things become even more unsettling. Adding to this is the wonderfully filmed hand camera scenes, especially during the dance sequences. The shots are tight and almost always moving, creating unease and adding tension.
As far as acting goes, if Natalie Portman doesn't take home and Oscar for this movie there is no justice in the world. Aside from her physical transformation and training just to play the part, her performance is nothing short of incredible. She is a fragile, weak human being throughout the entire movie that seamlessly moves to graphic for the short scenes. This doesn't change throughout the movie. The character doesn't have some magical snapping point where she's suddenly evil. In fact, when we think we got this snapping point, it turns out to be a hallucination. Nina is basically a victim of her own mental foundation crumbling out from under her and Portman plays this to perfection. Mila Kunis does a great job as Lily, the counterpart to Nina who becomes her main competition. The character is very important to Nina's spiral and Kunis infuses her with the right attitude. Vincent Cassel is perfect as the slimy director and Barbara Hershey does a good job as Nina's controlling mother. Both characters do a good job at earning your disgust, as they should.
The only pitfall I can see with this movie is that it might be hard for some to stomach. It will mess with your mind and make you uneasy numerous times and some people can't handle that. And yes, those who loathe ballet should probably look elsewhere. But for those who can handle it, this movie is an excellent look at how a person can slowly fragment into insanity.