Well made and acted, but unsympathetic

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2011)

I try to avoid preconceptions when I go into movies, but this was difficult with Black Swan as it started with three strikes against it. One, it is set in the world of ballet which is, conspicuously, not one of my areas of interest (and not from a position of ignorance either: perhaps I would like it better if there were more explosions or spaceships). Two, notwithstanding her undoubted talent, Natalie Portman's presence in a film doesn't particularly attract me to that film. And three, my experience of Darren Arnofsky comprises The Wrestler (good acting but squalid and dispiriting) and The Fountain (pretentious and incomprehensible drivel).
On the other hand, reviews appear to be universally strongly positive and, if I must see a ballet-based movie, Swan Lake has to be favourites because ole Pete came up with some top notch tunes for it (less frivolously, it has one of the most intensely emotional scores ever written for anything).
To be frank, Black Swan wasn't really my sort of movie. There is an awful lot of ballet in it, even though it isn't actually about ballet. It is just set in the world of ballet, but it is actually about the obsession, repression and eventual breakdown of central character Nina (Portman). As well as the lengthy dance sequences (beautifully photographed, throughout the film, and clear evidence that Portman is a talented dancer), there is also a bullying choreographer / director (Vincent Cassel), an ambiguous and sexy would-be friend (Mila Kunis), and a showbiz Mom (played in a kind of fluffy grand guignol way by Barbara Hershey).
On the plus side, the dancing is well presented, the film is always gripping, and Portman's performance (including the dancing) is extremely good.
Less positively, it isn't aways easy to understand what has (or hasn't) happened, especially towards the end (which may be deliberate, and it may not matter), and I found Nina such an unsympathetic character that I didn't really care what happened to her. So, although the film is undoubtedly well crafted and extremely well acted, I didn't actually enjoy it that much, and I shan't be rushing out to join the queue for Aronofsky's next movie.