Cultural Cover-up

Rating: 6/10 (12 May 2011)

Black Swan engaged the culture of the ballet, the beauty of Swan Lake, to tell what is essentially a back stage drama. We have the slave driving mother, babying her daughter, pushing her to accomplish what she couldn't accomplish. We have the vulnerable and fractured offspring, following a path that can only lead to her destruction. Laid on top is the oft Hollywood thematic that a person is not whole unless she is sexually awakened. Technically, the film is excellent. Ms Portman gives a worthy performance. Vincent Cassel demonstrated again why he is once of the best and most versatile film actors in any language. But to my eyes and ears, all of this together with the high culture setting of the ballet, merely covers up a story line that is cliché at the very least.