As Flawed As It Is Beautiful

Rating: 7/10 (25 December 2010)

Darren Aronofsky's latest film is either a masterpiece or an awful mess. Or maybe both. Black Swan tells the story of a ballerina dancer named Nina, played by Natalie Portman, who is cast as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake. She believes her role is threatened by another dancer named Lily, played by Mila Kunis. Nina's perfectionism starts getting the better of her as she slowly loses grip on reality. Her situation is made even more complicated by her overbearing mother who was once a ballerina but gave it up to raise Nina. Aronofsky's take-no-prisoners film-making style is at the forefront of the picture. He leaves very little to the imagination which is what has caused such polarizing view of his film. His shaky camera is always right behind Portman's head and it does get a little annoying after a while but it also builds tension nicely. That being said Aronofsky's no Hitchcock. The way he builds tension is always ruined by his heavy-handed symbolism. In almost every scene there's a mirror of some sort. I suppose this is to help unintelligent people figure out that Nina's losing it or maybe Natalie Portman just likes to look at herself. Also, Aronofsky tries to have the story mirror the plot of the ballet, similar to The Red Shoes. After learning the ballet's plot at the beginning of the film, the entire audience will know how the movie ends. Therefore, the Black Swan's "twist ending" is rendered useless. There is a twist ending but unfortunately it's not quite worth what it puts us through. Despite its flaws, the film is technically beautiful. The makeup and costume design perfectly complements the film's dark tone. Portman's performance is nothing special, but I may be biased since I'm not a fan of her work. It may also be that I'm tired of Portman being portrayed as an innocent damsel in distress. No,the best performance in the film is that of Mila Kunis. She has to act both what she is in reality and as the threat she represents to Nina. Surprisingly, she pulls off both rather well. Also in the cast is Winona Ryder playing a former prima-ballerina that has fallen from grace. It's a good film that's definitely worth seeing but don't get your hopes too high.