Aronofsky Shows Psychoticness in his Finest Film

Rating: 9/10 (12 December 2010)

The dark psychological thriller Black Swan is directed by Darren Aronofsky and stars Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder. The film takes place in modern day New York City.
Nina Sayers (Portman) is a ballerina who performs in a New York City ballet company and her life centers around dance. Her mother, Erica (Hershey), was a ballerina and the two live together in an apartment and she has much control over Nina's life making sure that dance is her number one priority. When the production of Swan Lake begins at the opening of the season the director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) chooses Nina to be the lead of the Swan Queen instead of the veteran ballerina Beth (Ryder). Also Nina believes that a new dancer at the company Lily (Kunis) is trying to steal the lead role away from her so she has to stop her. But I didn't even talk about all the crazy hallucinations and rashes and stuff...
The screenplay was written by Mark Heyman, and Andres Heinz, and John J. McLaughlin and it was absolutely brilliant. All the five leads were as developed as they needed to be so the viewer could live in Nina's insane world. The hallucinations were great and the parts that weren't hallucinations were great. From the very start of the film it was enthralling and and it absorbed you into its complex plot. The only problem I had with the screenplay was the ending, it was just not as great as the rest of the film. If it was more crazily dramatic and there are some things specifically I could say about the ending but I will not because it is a spoiler.
Darren Aronofsky's direction was brilliant, and I have to say this is my favorite film of his so far. I am a big fan of Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler but the two did not contain the beauty that this film contained. Speaking of The Wrestler I felt a lot of that film in this one, both are sports films but really not about sports, and both have the same sort of tracking shot which I really loved where the camera follows around either Rourke or Portman as they're just walking someplace. There is not one shot in this film that didn't feel appropriate, and the ballet scenes were absolutely beautiful. I loved a specific scene with Portman and Ryder in the hospital but I can't go into any details because it is a spoiler, but just know it was fantastic. People who think Inception is a mind bender haven't seen Black Swan.
Natalie Portman gives an Oscar worthy performance in this film and if she doesn't win the trophy on February 27 I'm going to be very angry. Because Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right can't even compete with her and if they just give it to Bening because she is older and never won before that is just a cheap shot. Portman is brilliant as a very shy, fragile, childish woman who just wants to live her dream as being the Swan Queen. In the final scene she confirmed to me that she gave the best performance of the year and also whenever she is interacting with another of the female leads in the film she is magnificent. She is fine with Cassel also, but there is no crazy parts with Cassel.
Mila Kunis is known for her comedic roles in the TV shows "Family Guy" and "That 70's Show" or in the comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and in this film she turned her back on comedy and decided to go to crazy psychological thriller. She was absolutely electric in this film and was perfect for the role. When she and Portman were on the screen together so many emotions were portrayed and it was just magnificent. I really hope that Kunis will stay in serious films like this one because she can truly be a star.
Vincent Cassel is the director of Swan Lake and he is the only character that doesn't get involved in Nina's craziness really. He plays the part of a stage director brilliantly and it is exactly how I imagine that stressful world to be. He is attracted to Nina's character and tries to seduce her. Cassel is a very interesting actor and the only other movie I've seen him in was Ocean's 13 and I can't really judge his abilities by that. But in this film he shows much promise and I hope that he too stays around in American films because I know earlier this year he was in a couple of foreign ones.
The classical score for this film by Clint Mansell was perfect. It added another layer of drama, and psychological horror to the film and I was in love with it the whole time. It worked great with the stage work and even better when Nina was going crazy.
Overall I give this film a 9/10, it was fantastic and my only problem with it was the ending. If you are preparing for Oscar season this is a must see and it is the second best film of the year, the first being The Social Network. The whole entire cast delivers wonderful performances in this thrilling film. I recommend this to anyone who likes dark psychological thrillers or really the films of David Lynch. Aronofsky has his best film with this one and he will finally get an Oscar nomination. This film is absolutely crazy and I love it.