Carmilla meets "Repulsion"

Rating: 9/10 (12 December 2010)

I had been anticipating this film for over a year now, and was ecstatic to find out it was coming to my city this past Friday; "Black Swan" is frankly everything I'd hoped it would be, and genuinely lives up to its dazzling marketing campaign, critical accolades, and purported Oscar buzz. The film focuses on Nina (Natalie Portman), a twenty-something year old ballet dancer who has dedicated her life to the craft. She lives in a high-rise apartment in lower Manhattan with her overbearing mother, Erica (Barbara Hershey), a former ballerina as well, and works for a ballet company run by a man named Tomas (Vincent Cassel). When a revival production of the infamous "Swan Lake" is in the works, Tomas fires Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder), an aging dancer who had played the swan in several previous productions. In search of a new swan queen— one who can embody the white swan as well as the black swan— he eventually elects Nina, putting her life dreams into play. But things begin to get complicated when Lily (Mila Kunis), a dancer from San Francisco, comes to work for the company. She embodies the black swan in most every way- she is daring, vivacious, and unafraid of herself; whereas Nina embodies the white swan— graceful, innocent, and ultimately fated. This sparks wild insecurity and jealousy in Nina, who is already having problems letting herself go in her role as the black swan. As mounting pressure over the ballet gains momentum, Nina's grip on her role, as well as herself, begins to fall apart.
Having been blown away by Darren Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream" years back, the content of "Black Swan" piqued my interest from the get-go: crazy mothers, ballet, female competition, and insanity— what more could you want? Plot content aside, "Black Swan" is captivating enough through its aesthetics, which truly are breathtaking. I have to clap my hands for the amount of work that went into this film, from the art department to the cinematographers, and to the actors and ballerinas. The production quality of this film is "Swan Lake"-on-Broadway caliber.
In terms of the plot, this is ultimately a character study; a portrait of a person who spirals downward in a climb toward perfection. Though this crux is formulaic and familiar (think Polanski's "Repulsion"), the arena in which it takes place, as well as the circumstances of each of these characters is what makes the film stand on its own feet. Nina is the center of this movie, and her own frustrations, insecurities, and growing madness are lived and breathed by Natalie Portman. Her character ranges from timid to hysterical over the course of the film, and Portman executes each move with the precision of a professional ballerina. Her mother, played by Barbara Hershey, is key in all of the madness. She is forceful and caring toward her daughter, but the extent of their relationship is frankly disturbing. She tucks Nina into bed every night, helps dress her, calls her repeatedly, and domineers nearly every aspect of Nina's life. This may seem normal for a mother and a ten year old child— but not a daughter who is in her twenties. There's something definitely not right, and that uncomfortable dynamic between Hershey and Portman is illustrated wonderfully.
Lily, played by Mila Kunis, is the catalyst in the story— a seductress and Carmilla-like figure, driving Nina's ambition as well as her insecurity through the roof, and Kunis does a great job here as well. She's lively and funny, but also sinister when necessary. Vincent Cassel owns the role of the rich, oversexed, and arrogant director, and Winona Ryder takes the rest of the cake here as the retiring self-destructive dancer; she only has a few scenes, but she's got a sort of drunken 1970s Joan Crawford sensibility about her, and also partakes in probably the most disturbing scene in the entire movie.
The film builds itself into an astonishing third act, a crescendo for everything that has slowly burned through the course of the movie. It's astonishing not only visually, but also metaphorically, lyrically, and because of its hysteria- ridden balance between "what is real?" and "what isn't?", all of which combusts on opening show night.
"Black Swan" leaves audiences with some questions but quite a few answers, and the ambiguous fragments really make the film what it is. The performances here by all the actors are fantastic, as is the art direction and the general storytelling itself. It may leave you scratching your head in regards to some of the material that is hinted at and thrown toward us without full explication; but ultimately it won't matter, because "it was perfect". 9/10.