An Adult Fairy Tale...

Rating: 10/10 (18 March 2011)

A dark, modern fairy tale, Black Swan, itself, is a stunning piece of art.
A powerful and intense study of obsession and madness that focuses on Natalie Portman's Nina Sayers, a driven and uptight New York ballerina who wins the lead role - of the Swan Queen - in a production of Swan Lake.
For those of us who didn't actually know - and it's explained a couple of times - Swan Lake is the story of a young girl magically transformed into a White Swan who can only be saved by love. Unfortunately the prince she falls for is seduced by her evil twin, the Black Swan, and she ends up killing herself.
Darren Aronofsky's magnificent movie has Nina Sayers so determined to give the "perfect" performance that she finds herself "becoming" the character in shocking and disturbing ways.
Nina clearly has issues anyway, with a history of self-harm and an overbearing single mother (Barbara Hershey) who abandoned her own ballet career to give birth - and therefore carries the joint burden of resentment and a desire to live out her unfulfilled dreams through her daughter.
While the show's director freely admits Nina is ideal as the "white swan", he has reservations about her ability to also portray the evil "black swan" and encourages her to loosen up through a variety of unorthodox techniques.
There's enough "body horror" to satisfy David Cronenberg fans, while the "in-your-face" camera work and grainy film stock gives Black Swan the cinéma vérité feel of a "behind-the-scenes" documentary on the hard life of professional ballet dancers.
Sexually graphic in places as well, although you never actually see anything very little is left to the imagination, the film makes its audience uncomfortable and complicit in the unfolding psychodrama until you don't know what's real and what's imagined as pictures become animated, faces morph into self-reflections and Nina's body starts to undergo bizarre transformations of its own.
Aronofsky has brought out career-defining performances from his cast. Portman - who is on screen for almost every scene - is sublime, but she is also supported by a flawless cast. Mila Kunis, as Nina's only friend but also imagined rival, is a revelation while Vincent Cassel as the show director is enigmatically unreadable. Winona Ryder, as the outgoing lead dancer, although only in the film for a short while, is equally superb and memorable.
A truly unique film, Black Swan rightfully earned Portman her Oscar and will stay with you long after the credits have rolled.