Body Thrilling, Emotionally Engaging and Spiritually Elevating ...

Rating: 10/10 (16 February 2011)

I don't often use the word 'perfect' but this movie is perfect, Aronofsky is a genius and Portman the greatest actress born in my decade It's been an eternity since I haven't lived such a unique experience proving that cinema still means something, as it can inject such emotions in your skin you feel like living inside the character, which was the message: you don't play someone, this is a myth, a lie, you have to embody the character, to live him, to feel it deeply in your skin, your soul. Even the simple use of 'watcher' to describe my position is an absurd understatement.
Whoever 'watched' this film, missed it, or was probably so disturbed by the images of skin scratching, bleeding, self-destruction to understand that these were NOT the expression of Aronofsky's sadistic tendency to betray our visions with indelicate pictures, not expected from a gracious dance-themed movie, but were meant to enlighten our minds that perfection is self-destruction, annihilation of a destructive duality for a total soul dedication to the purpose to our inner 'Black Swan', this something that no one, not our friends, not our parents, can extract from us, and only we have the power to achieve the dream or destroy it. We are our own ally or worse, our own enemy; to get rid of this psychic duality is the key for salvation. And if self-destruction is salvation, it's still better than insignificant normality.
The intelligence of "Fight Club", the upsetting graphicness of "The Wrestler" with a kind of Bergmanian grace inhabiting the philosophy of the film, were carried by one of the greatest female performances I've ever watched. No, I didn't even watch Portman, I was Portman, I was this fragile little woman struggling to beat her inner demons and become the "Black Swan", I was her when she was losing her balance while carried by that bastard who didn't realize he was holding the purest incarnation of the most famous ballet character ever. I was her, when she fell, I felt the pain, I couldn't even watch the audience, her face while crying behind the curtain was like a mirror. Never had a movie made me feel like a character in such an empathic way, forget gangsters, forget tormented anti-heroes, Nina Sayers is the greatest cinematic creation of the last 10 or 15 years.
How to put it? I have no music, no sound to emit, I have no grace, no movements, words seem so futile to describe a movie showing how the best medium of human soul is movements, transported by played or inner music think about it, even the greatest instrument player owes his virtuosity to repetition, a total time dedication, but the real gift is the one of the composer like Tchaikovski who did the immortal and haunting "Swan Lake" music. Artistic talent is virtually nothing when you think about it, inspiration, technicality and repetitions, but creating through written notes or body movements, is another matter, you can repeat the same movements one million times, you won't embody the soul and the spirit of your character until you get your character, and to get is to become him, and to become him is to live him
Nina lives the story of the "Black Swan", everybody got the parallel, no need to write a thesis about it But why did she live like the character? Because she was BORN to play the swan and this privilege was her doom. She lived and perished by the swan, and she became the Black Swan when she got rid of that ounce of fragility that controlled her, that made her so white and made this dark side communicating aggressively through self-destruction, which was nothing than a destruction from a part of her eager to explode and let the whole passion burst out. Thomas Leroy, magnificently played by Vincent Cassel, looked through the glass and tried to help Nina but only Nina could have made the black swan finally fly.
The images are nightmarishly disturbing, but they are an eloquent illustration of the violence we apply to ourselves, that's how we act, when our quiet part tries to put out the flame of our most burning impulsions, these hidden imperfections that actually best define us Nina's soul was fragile because it was trying to keep balance between work and talent, when the point was to loosen up, trying to play, to enjoy the dance, to be more like Lily, Mila Kunis in a performance that totally blew me away Lily catalyzes all the fear that govern Nina's actions, being dethroned, being the white swan, hence, half a swan, half of Nina, which is nothing, since the perfect is made of everything Lily was a danger because she was whitening Nina's darkest soul, like the overprotective mother, Beth, the ex-star, all these characters that made her repeat that pathetic whitening catchphrase : "I'm so sorry!", the whiter she was, the more desperate was her situation and I felt it, the fall was her downfall, and the solution a constructive destruction through a spiritual union with that black swan, killing her by becoming her ... but what a rewarding self-destruction, what an intense scene of metaphorical resurrection when Nina became the Swan.
This self-absorption was magnificently illustrated in the most sensual sex scene I've ever seen, the film already had strong sexual connotations but Lily and Nina's scene was the climactic expression of our fascination by the dark side, god why are all the sensuality and pleasures in the devil's side. After all, we're both angels and devils, we're black swan and white swan, we're Nina and Lily and perfection, is total embodiment, which implies destructive but creative fusion Sara Goldfarb's constructed an image to ultimately destroy herself, Nina Sayers destructed herself to reach perfection, she's dead but immortal, and my haunted cinematic soul will mourn her forever