A Flawed Premise Executed With Finesse

Rating: 6/10 (19 February 2012)

'The Black Swan' is a flawed piece of work, albeit executed with honesty, commitment and vision. It is like a great football match played on a basketball court; a ballet dancer's life becoming ballistic is believable but not when she has the top spot already.
Nina Sayers is a committed, technical ballet dancer who believes in perfecting all her moves to be perfect. She faces the harshest adversity in herself when she has to play something she is not, or rather something she believes she isn't. It is not the unthinkable to conceive of such a plot; usually actors do face this challenge in real life when they are given parts contradictory to their personalities. They opt for different routes to bring out the personality in them – some empathize with their characters by putting themselves in their situation, some do the lazy and easiest but less satisfying job of 'acting' it out externally while some begin to rediscover themselves. Nina Sayers, who has to tackle both the white swan and the black, for her role of Swan Queen, chooses the third route, which itself comes as a surprise since she believes so much in technique and prettiness, I thought she could've faked it with external expressions. But she is pushed to the limits by her tough artistic director, Thomas, who employs sexual methods to invoke some stimulus from the actors. Also she fears she may not live up to her role, and disappoint the audience and the previous swan queen Beth. Fear of being replaced by Lily, the alternate, haunts her while pressure from her embittered mother strains her. Nina's gradual discovery of the blackness within her threatens to obliterate the goodness and purity that she believes she has retained throughout her life. Her contrived existence becomes a narcissistic one which ultimately culminates in the 'grand performance of her career'.
The plot of Black Swan is a contrived one pretending to be convoluted, as it takes the overused approach of 'going' surreal and eerie in order to overlook the loopholes in the film. If I compare this with 'Mulholland Drive', a vastly better film, the first noticeable difference in both the films is the position of the characters – Naomi was a failed actress who had plotted to kill her bisexual lover who got the part, while Nina Sayers has already got the main part. Who seems more susceptible to madness – Naomi's Diane or Natalie's Nina? I pick the first, and would most, because failure drives you nuts. Success may send one to the rehab, but that usually involves overuse of drugs or heightened anxiety over a long period. Nina here does something that's generally not done by sane people by the end of the film, and it's just her first performance as the Swan Queen. Also, judging by her personality, who in the right state of mind would have picked her for such a sterling performance? It's almost exploitation of a disturbed woman, and we viewers are witnesses to the act. How did no one notice the abrasive change in her mental condition? Or are we to think that everyone in ballet is cruel and willing to sacrifice someone in the process of creating an act? Nina's mental decadence seemed implausible just because of a night out, high pressure and Dermatillomania; the only effects that I could see was some vomiting, headaches, tantrums and a reparable breakdown. Unfortunately, Darren goes for a 'showy Oscar-moment' ending instead and fools the audience – even I got fooled on my first viewing of The Black Swan. Not in the second, though. The movie progresses well till be have the untimely sex, bloodshed and looniness that just come out of nowhere like the alligator in 'Adaptation'. It then becomes maudlin, overwrought and reckless, like an orchestra being suddenly accompanied by DJs and strippers.
Natalie Portman won an Oscar for portraying a timid wreck in the film, and she worked hard for this role. My father must've surely seen her in some previous film, but couldn't recognize her here and indeed, it's hard to because she lost so much weight. I could make out from this performance that she worked well as long as the director used her well. In the hands of a mediocre director or a mediocre film, she may crumble – just watch her cringe-worthy performance in Your Highness. She however, and it's partly because the script itself is riddled with improbabilities and excesses, doesn't realize her Black Swan as well as the White one on screen. Surely she danced well and snogged well, but she made herself look more like a spoiled girl than a disturbed girl. I remember Jessica Lange's applaud-worthy portrayal in 'Frances' – Natalie is not so good an actress to transcend her character's complexities on the screen fully but she does try her at least. Mila Kunis, in a relatively simpler performance maintains her character well, and so does Vincent Cassell. Again I felt the film would've been more effective had Thomas himself been the Prince along with the director. Hershey and Ryder do their duties as mother and ex-Swan Queen respectively, especially Hershey as her scenes with Natalie are standouts.
Darren gives a claustrophobic film, not only by limiting the characters to a few, but also by having tight close-ups of Nina throughout. It is hard to believe that Nina only was involved with Thomas and the guy playing prince, since the rehearsals would've had to integrate all the other performers as well at the later stage. Again, this is common aspect among psychological-thrillers to sidetrack the event itself and focus on prime characters. The close shots though are praiseworthy; we are constantly updated on Nina's state of mind. The cinematography and production are bleak and brilliant and robbed of Oscars.
I wish the film had ended differently, or started differently or progressed differently instead of serving this.
My Rating: 6 out of 10