More dead parrot than dying swan

Rating: 3/10 (8 June 2013)

This film consists of a number of stock characters going through their usual motions until an ending which is semaphored well in advance. Now this is true of many movies, but a well-executed film can still capture your interest even with these handicaps.
In this case, though, the characters are lifeless, not particularly well-acted and completely under-written. The script almost comes off like first draft, and is devoid of humour, wit or originality. So no one says anything interesting or memorable at any point, and none of the characters even begins to elicit your sympathy, or goes off-piste in an interesting way. The ostensible bad girl dresses in black and even has a tattoo of black wings on her back, ferchrissakes. She likes a drink, too, as well as some other naughty stuff. Or does she? Poor Vincent Cassel probably wins the photo-finish just ahead of Barbara Hershey in the most-clichéd character stakes.
The central conceit needed to be handled with a good deal of subtlety to make it work. It's actually dealt with in such an appallingly ham-fisted way that it made me laugh out loud several times. Hokey, I think, is the mot juste. Clearly, Aronofsky didn't have sufficient trust in his own abilities to make the point without B-horror movie special effects and truckloads of symbolism that smack you in the face like a wet kipper. Either that or he didn't trust his audience to understand the movie without battering them into submission.
Utter tripe.