My 370th Review: More Awful Than Excellent: The Explicit Exploration Of The Subconscious Is Not A Winner

Rating: 6/10 (14 February 2011)

Since the Ballet Russe and Dhiagiliev ballet has been explored on film. But not often. This is a waste, given that Merce Cuningham and The American Ballet changed the dynamic of dance and that film and ballet are both moving arts. Ballet has been explored in films like White Nights with Baryshnikov and All That Jazz, but has only been captured once truly successfully in Powell and Pressburger's stunning The Red Shoes (Which is one of THE films - whether you like ballet or not).
So we were looking forward, especially after the positive reviews, to seeing Black Swan. I considered The Wrestler to be very very good indeed and while I get that they are companion pieces I did not find Black Swan to be the same rich experience.
This is not the fault of Natalie Portman or an excellent cast who do give it their all.
Perhaps Aaronovsky in trying to pull the same trick twice shows too much smoke and mirrors here - and by this I mean, the film's constant desire to explicitly state the tortured side through images, which the Wrestler never does. It is effective sure, but it lacks the aesthetic to bring the dark side of the dance life to more than a reduction - and what we get IS a sledgehammer to crack an egg. I have nothing about the scenes per se (and they have been discussed so much in the papers I don't need to any spoilers here) but in this reviewer's opinion they do seem a cop out for the really hard process of conveying what they convey without this chicanery.
The better question is does the film lose by removing them? - In this reviewer's opinion, in all but the final 20 minutes - no, not a jot - which means they are at best a device and at worse a distraction. There is enough emotional impact in the relationships to drive the character to her final place, and the other scenes do not lend weight they simply overburden the film.
The film is at its best in the dance scenes - and I don't just say that simply as someone who loves ballet - it simply is. The back stories, mother, NY bars etc; somehow don't give the weight to the creation of Natalie Portman's character in anyway the same that the dance rehearsals do, or say, the simple act of children chasing Mickey Rourke in the Wrestler did.
I sense here a missed opportunity - yes, it is one of the great films about dance, but there are not that many to compare it to. Black Swan tries to imagine the complex world of pain, agony, and happiness that dancers inhabit, but in doing so it resorts to several devices that though uncomfortable are not more than effective.
It is worth seeing, but I for one, and this won't be the popular opinion, cannot rave about it.
All in all I was left strangely unmoved and distanced by the subplots and would wish that it had focused harder on the dance process. It is not an easy to watch, and I would not want that for one moment, but by making the internal so external it fails to achieve the pinnacle.