It's like Swan Lake on acid

Rating: 8/10 (26 December 2010)

It's safe to say by now Natalie Portman is well on her way to receiving an Oscar nomination for her performance here in Black Swan. And the nomination would be deserved. Portman is a very competent actress, and this time is no exception. She plays a professional dancer, Nina Sayers, whose entire life is consumed by her desire to get ahead within her ballet company; to ultimately play the title role of swan queen in Swan Lake. Her mind can focus on nothing else. She eats, sleeps, breaths it. Her mother, once a dancer herself, is equally consumed by her daughter's ambition, living vicariously through Nina. Nina is told by the company director that she must have not only a purity but also a dark side to her in order to actually BE both the White and the Black Swan of Swan Lake. Always in control, always striving to be perfect, Nina doesn't know how to let go and give herself over to this so-called "dark side". She struggles with feelings of inadequacy and desperation, and in the midst of this sort of manic frenzy Nina begins (continues ?) to suffer from hallucinations.These hallucinations serve as the focal point for the plot, showing Nina spiraling down into a state of altered reality where she can no longer differentiate between what is real and what is not.
Darren Aronofsky definitely knows how to make a film. Not just in the direction but in the cinematography as well. The look of the film is just beautiful. The use of lighting, music, color, and camera work in the Swan Lake sequences is absolutely phenomenal. Top notch. Aronofsky has brought forth some passionate performances from not only Portman, but also Barbara Hershey, Mila Kunis, and that slippery Vincent Cassel who I've grown to like more and more ever since I saw him in Ocean's Twelve. I always marvel at his perfect hair.
There's not much to find fault with in Black Swan. It's grade A in almost all respects. I just wish Aronofsky had given more of a basis for the story. There are some facets of Portman's life that the viewer is thrown into and not given an explanation for. Has she always had a mental illness? If so why? Her mother certainly acts as if this is a long-standing condition. It's also revealed to the viewer that her mother has some sort of manic mood swings, which Portman is frightened of. The scene is included in the film, as are several others showing Portman barricading herself in her room at night. But then that avenue is abruptly ditched and never develops into anything. It left me wondering why Aronofsky would go to the trouble of including these scenes if he didn't intend on developing them. And towards the end of the film, the hallucinations begin to become just a bit redundant. After a handful or so, we can surmise that she's not well. Anything more than that weakens the impact of the film in my opinion. I'd also like to mention that while this was a very brave and risky performance from Portman, I felt that the lesbian scenes cheapened the film just a bit. Black Swan is nothing if not a sophisticated film, and it seemed like a girl-on-girl scene was just a little tawdry here and a slight cop out. Not because it was shown at all, but the way in which the scene was orchestrated could have been altered. With films like Basic Instinct and Body Heat, over the top sexuality is the gimmick all by itself and the scenes I'm referring to in Black Swan would have fit smoothly in either one of those films. However in Aronofsky's they just seem out of place and awkward.
All in all though, these are relatively minor things when viewing the movie as a whole. It's a well-made film with brilliant acting and an interesting take on the "life mirrors art" story. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who's a fan of thrillers, or for that matter anyone who simply wants to see a good movie.
My rating: 7.5/10