Black Swan Bleak on More Than One level

Rating: 6/10 (30 January 2011)

Black Swan has garnered more than a few glowing reviews and has collected a list of awards nominations to match (among others, the Golden Globes will consider Natalie Portman as Best Actress, Mila Kunis as Best Supporting Actress, Darren Aronofsky as Best Director, and the film itself as Best Drama). I made it my mission in life to see it before the awards ceremonies started. It could be that my expectations were too high, but I was frankly not as impressed by Black Swan as many critics seem to be.
Black Swan is a reference to the white Swan Queen's opposite in the famous ballet, Swan Lake. Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a technically brilliant dancer in a New York ballet company who desperately wants to snag the dual role. The problem? The dance company's director, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) tells her she's the perfect Swan Queen, but that she lacks the passion and emotional abandon of her Black Swan twin.
The pressure on Nina to prove the director wrong is considerable. Her mother (Barbara Hershey)—a retired ballerina herself—exerts considerable control over her daughter in the guise of kindness and support. The company's aging prima ballerina (Winona Ryder) is volatile and dramatic, particularly when she learns she's soon to be giving her final performance before a retirement that isn't her idea. And a new dancer from San Francisco (Lily, played by Mila Kunis), quickly becomes both Nina's friend and bitter rival.
Lily, very much a free spirit, spreads her attitude wherever she goes and Nina needs it more than most. Thomas, meanwhile, is inclined to use any means necessary to inspire the performance he wants out of her. As Nina's life spins beyond her ability to control, her emotions and her sanity both begin to wear thin. But her focus on dance becomes ever more laser-like as she determines that nothing will stop her from being the perfect ballerina.
Natalie Portman reportedly lost some 20 pounds from her already tiny frame to more authentically portray a dedicated dancer. She and Kunis alike spent months studying ballet as well. Their efforts show. While a few more complicated maneuvers were performed by doubles, much of what you see on screen is really done by the actors themselves. Their acting, too, is superlative. Vincent Cassel is also good, but Barbara Hershey is brilliant as the overbearing mother whose demands for perfection set Nina on her course from childhood. Kudos, too, to Winona Ryder. Her role is small, but it's memorable.
Director Darren Aronofsky, perhaps best known for his previous award-winning film The Wrestler, does a credible job here. There are interesting edits and camera effects everywhere, and he does seem to know well how to elicit a stellar performance from his cast. I'm not a ballet fan, so I can't vouch for the authenticity of the dancing here, but it certainly looked lovely on screen and was a nice counterpoint to some of the seamier visions interspersed.
BOTTOM LINE Despite the obvious quality of the crafting of Black Swan, I didn't really like it all that much. That may be because there were so many moments where the sheer brilliance of the acting or some technical aspect in the making of the scene actually overshadowed the story itself. I found myself all too conscious of those things rather than paying attention to what was really going on. In many ways, Black Swan was the proverbial "too much of a good thing." I can't fault those who claim Black Swan is a well-made movie. I just can't pretend that I personally enjoyed it very much. The quality of filmmaking alone gave Black Swan its six stars. Whether or not my interest held up throughout garnered considerably less.
POLITICAL NOTES None.
FAMILY SUITABILITY Black Swan is rated R for "strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use." All of those cautions are entirely too real. Black Swan is not a movie for children, or even for young teens. An R rating is entirely appropriate, and movie-goers should take note. I'd add that, while I wasn't particularly happy with my movie-going experience, I can't deny that there are reasons to see Black Swan, not least among them some very strong performances indeed.