"In order to exist, beauty needs an evil possession" and Aronofsky offered us plenty of both.

Rating: 9/10 (22 December 2010)

This is not just a drama but also a horror. This is not just a horror but also a film noir. This is also an erotic monument to perfection. It's a clash of desire and obsession. This is easily one of the best movies in the last couple of years.
Living inside her own beautiful but terrifying world, this young ballerina named Nina (Natalie Portman), tries to find perfection by portraying the duplicitous swan queen in the play "Swan Lake". Perfection though, cannot be achieved only by sacrificing your body so she takes it one step further by letting herself go and choosing to sacrifice her mind also. Guided through her evolution as a professional dancer by her artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), she finds herself pushed over the limits and she jumps from her fragile and innocent look to a lusty and provocative shadow of herself. Problems occur when both her faces have to face Lily (Mila Kunis), another ballerina who finds herself in a violent competition for Nina's role in "Swan Lake". The powerful display of these two sides of the same coin is taking proportions when other factors like the authoritarian methods of Nina's mother to support her daughter through her career are revealed. "Black Swan", however, it's not just about some ballerina trying to find perfection by sacrifice but it's about the innocence and the lust, the confusion and the clarity, the strange and the usual, the chaos and the order, the manifest and the acceptance. Darren Aronofsky chose to explicitly explore an intriguing, erotic and passionate story that might both shock and please you at the same time. You will find yourself lost at one moment but all the answers given close to the end will reveal the harsh truth about the artistic behavior and sacrifice.
Few days ago I stated that Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole" is a strong contender for the leading role at the Academy Awards but I must admit I might have rushed a little bit. Natalie Portman's dazzling and haunting performance as Nina is one of the best "back-to-back" portrayals I've seen in a long time. Her technique and bold approach of her characters is really inspiring. Every tear and every smile, every moment of relax and panic, each line she delivers makes you encourage her but also doubt her. Her mesmerizing portrayal is the result of not only high acting skills but also of a visionary direction. Mila Kunis as Lily delivers more than I expected. She's natural, honest and brutal, exactly what her character needed to look like. To complete this amazing cast you add some bohemian charm by taking Vincent Cassel to be the artsy director, Thomas Leroy.
The execution of this art-film is hauntingly perfect. Each scene, each close-take and each moment means or reveals something important for the denouement of this movie. The sound was terrifying. The "horroresque" show put on film by Darren is really scary at times and might change your perception of the surroundings in this movie. One little sound might change your mind about what's really happening or what the character is going through. Speaking of the sound, you must recognize the beautiful music added. The play is beautifully revealed at the end of the movie, backed by a gorgeous cinematography and you will not understand what hit you.
"Black Swan" is possibly Aronofsky's new masterpiece. I said new because I think "Requiem for a Dream" is one of the rare things in cinema also. "In order to exist, beauty needs an evil possession" and Aronofsky offered us plenty of both. We should thank such directors for being so passionate about their projects, we should thanks such actors like Natalie Portman that devote themselves entirely to the characters, we should take the whole team put together by Aronofsky in order to create such a tremendous work. This is definitely not a movie for everyone, like any another film crafted by the hands of Darren, but this is what we, cinephiles call, a uniquely cinematic experience. If it's not perfect than it's close to perfection.