Painful. Visually raw an entertaining psychological thrilling drama. It's very wicked and sexy it proves a profession sacrifices the body and soul.

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2011)

I must say "Black Swan" is visually stunning in a crazy and raw kind of way, and in the meantime it leaves your heart bleeding with sorrow and pain. One thing is for sure and it's true that many of us can relate to and that is in a profession or line of work it's tough and most of all as this film proves it's a sacrifice to one's body and soul especially if one's going for perfection and clearly the lead character here Nina is trying her best. Director Darren Aronofsky("The Wrestler") is one who's known to go over the top as many of his films show the pain and dark side of life and clearly with this mind guessing thriller drama "Black Swan" Darren clearly pushed the envelopes to the edges as after viewing you will feel exhausted with satisfaction. Yet despite the accomplishment your heart will feel the pain and sorrow that came from the dark transformations and mind changes that little Nina went thru to obtain grace and face her demons.
Set in New York city young Nina Sayers(done brilliant and emotionally raw by the beautiful Natlie Portman)is a hard working and up and coming ballet dancer. Nina is working her butt off to impress as she has to stay busy training when she receives constant stress and high expectation thoughts of success from her lonely ex ballet dancing mother Erica(Barbara Hershey). Then a window of opportunity opens up as in the cutthroat business of dance a former lead dancer Beth(Winona Ryder)is let go. Now it's Nina's turn for the lead role in the production of "Swan Lake". Nina is ideal for the role of the white swan, yet from the get go she feels dogged and stressed by the great deal of pressure that's put upon her by her coach and instructor Thomas Leroy(Vincent Cassel). It's almost like Nina feels like a black swan already.
To complicate matters in what is really the most wicked and psychologically engaging and highly entertaining parts of the film is the work of Lily(Mila Kunis in such a raw erotic wicked performance) who is Nina's rival dance performer and Lily's the ideal part for the Black Swan. Only a tricky and cruel plan is in the works Lily will take Nina on a mind numbing wind journey of total transformation in my opinion and this will put Nina more in the form of an actual Black Swan! The performance from Mila was so great as her character Lily who's such a free spirit really rocks the boat as having Nina to come out of her shell and engage in hot lesbian love making just makes for some sweet eye candy especially seeing Kunis in a sexy black bra. Aside from that Nina feels overthrown with pressures from all three as the expectations of Thomas, Erica, and Lily's wicked cutthroat cat and mouse games have Nina on the edge of a mental and nervous breakdown. Interesting seeing how she's even resorted to masturbation to prepare for her lead role as the Swan. As many scenes are visually explicit not just the peeled skin, bumps, bruises, and blood scars but clearly you see in Nina's eyes she's like a possessed woman both mentally and physically as she's grown into the Black Swan literally.
Overall "Black Swan" is a film that proves to aim for perfection it's a sacrifice with many struggles both mentally and physically. And even though Aronofsky showed that the goal can be obtained in the end as Nina did, still it comes with great sacrifice and sorrow as really Darren went over the top as his outcome and message will disturb many as clearly Aronofsky proves life can be dark even in the world of dance. Still aside from the sorrow and pain the film brings it's well blended with determination and will power that obtains satisfaction and highly enjoyable seeing one explore some of their wicked ways like Nina did as it's a little fun being wicked and sexy. The performances were top notch from both Portman and Kunis you could really see these two actresses were really inside their roles in fact it was reported that Portman said she felt she was even gonna die in real life on set while doing this role. "Black Swan" is well done even though hard to enjoy it shows that life is tough, and that sacrificing in a profession can be wicked, raw, and emotionally disturbing especially when perfection is obtained while the body and mind goes thru a psychological transformation.