I hated it!

Rating: Null/10 (31 March 2011)

I am so disappointed in this movie!! I was so looking forward to seeing it having heard that it was a great dance movie. I have loved some dance movies that have had terrible plots (Dancers, Center Stage) just because of the great dancing, but this moving doesn't even have great dancing! There are dizzying shots of Natalie Portman filmed from the waist up. Then a few shots of her brilliant feet (obviousl not NP's feet), and on a very few full body shots where it is obvious that NP's head has been CG'd onto a real dancer's body. Would any director allow her deer in the headlights, constipated expression on her face during the practice sessions? They say she was supposedly 'perfect' for the white swan, but during all of those shots, she has that same expression of panic on her face. Yuck! Anyone who knows anything about dance would know that so much of this film is inaccurate.
There are so many ballet cliché's here, too. She vomits, she has ugly feet and a wacko stage mom...This movie is so obviously a horror show based on the world of dance with the directors having no idea what that world is really like and relying on all the cliché stuff they have heard.
As for the 'lesbian' love scene. How typical of male producers and directors throwing in a scene like that, presumably to entertain any men that were forced to come and see this movie by their girlfriend's or wive's who thought they were going to see a good dance film.
The end? Is she or isn't she dead? Even Natalie Portman has said that she doesn't believe that Nina died, but that she killed her old self. Well, la de da for her.
One thing that i haven't seen anyone else mention...I don't believe that there is a company in the world that would allow a dancer to have a full back tattoo visible while the dancer is in costume. A mark like that would more than likely make any company hesitant to hire Mila Kunis's character. Yuck! I came away from this movie feeling cheated and disappointed and most of all sorry that I'd wasted $4.99 to watch it 'On Demand.' The only saving grace for me was that I didn't pay to see it in the theater.
That part aside, the rest of the movie is offensive and cliché. Why can't any film director give us enough credit to allow a descent into madness that doesn't involve cheap hallucinations.