Black Swan (2010)

Rating: 8/10 (13 November 2019)

Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, Benjamin Millepied, Ksenia Solo, Kristina Anapau, Toby Hemingway, Sebastian Stan. (R)
NYC ballet company impresario Cassel is opening the season with his "reimage" of "Swan Lake" and needs to cast the dual-faceted Swan Queen; dedicated ballerina Portman is perfect for the technical, precise White Swan, but lacks the bold, seductive qualities needed for the Black Swan. Part cutthroat backstage melodrama, part paranoid psychological horror film, elevated by Portman's obsessive, transformative performance as a cloistered ingenue willing to go as far as needed to achieve artistic perfection. Some of the plot developments and symbolism can be obvious, only finding striking notes of astonishment when it retreats into Portman's psyche and lets her growing madness obfuscate reality. Aronofsky's feverish, gripping vision blurs the docudrama-style grittiness of his "The Wrestler" with the bracing, messy nightmares of his "Pi" and "Requiem for a Dream"; it's the sort of movie that he seemed destined to make, and only he could deliver quite like this. Strong supporting performances and Matthew Libatique's sensational camera work are worthy of praise as well, though a movie like this is bound to polarize no matter its actorly and technical qualities.
84/100