Sticks close to what you should expect, with enough room to surprise newcomers to the genre

Rating: 7/10 (24 April 2011)

This movie is actually difficult for me to review because it was pretty much exactly what I expected, through and through. I place Aronofsky's greatest gift at putting the viewer into the mindset emotional topography of the character, but here it sort of comes as part of the package, considering he's making what is honestly an identity thriller typical of his contemporaries back in the late 90s. You've really got it all here, mirrors, doppelgangers, mirrors, sexual confusion, mirrors, blurring of fantasy and reality, and mirrors within mirrors. If we consider "identity thriller" to be a genre, this is one of its more straightforward additions.
That said, it's still shot beautifully, featuring a particular style of grayscale that had me captured by the first few moments of the trailer and never ceased to let me down throughout the actual movie. And as Aronofsky's gift for cerebral suturing goes, unlike in his other films where such an immersion takes place over time, you're basically stuck in Nina's head from the moment the movie starts, with only enough indication of the world outside the movie to make everything so deliciously claustrophobic.
But what makes that work (as opposed to just make you shift in your seat uncomfortably for two hours) is two things: Natalie Portman's acting, and small details in the background characters. Portman's acting does not need too much elaboration because she's the star of the show, and shines: that's what is. What helps is that it's counterpositioned against the rest of the ballerina troupe--not just Lily, but the rest of them as well. There, petty jealousies, misunderstood whispers, even gestures with no significance intended set the entire tone of the scene for Nina/us. It's common enough to set a movie inside someone's rapidly deteriorating mind--but it's really difficult to do what I think Aronofsky pulled off doing, and that is showing enough indication that there's an actual reality outside of the mind being completely washed over from stress. Dare I say that this movie is then exactly what it would be like, having a mental breakdown while the evidence is clearly there that the breakdown is occurring? Certainly there have been times when I've known there is nothing to be upset about, but managed to let myself go anyway. The problem here is that Nina is outright encouraged to go crazy.
Another thing I really like about this movie, though, is that it's potential for literary allusion or allegorical meaning or whatever is actually ignored. It would have been so easy for Aronofsky to use this space as a place to pound Meaning and Significance, but for all the stylistic shenanigans I'd actually consider this movie quite reserved. The stuff that happens is kinda crazy but when it's over, it's over, and we're not left with some unearned pseudoquestion like whether the top falls or keeps spinning. We know what happened, because that's all the movie is concerned with doing.
I don't think it's Aronofsky's best, nor that it should really surprise anyone who has ever heard of David Lynch, Nicolas Roeg, or Jorge Luis Borges (to name just a few off hand). I think this movie might have been quite the profound experience to someone not familiar with those people or Aronofsky's other work, in which case I recommend they follow up. For those who love or hate Aronofsky, it is not going to change their mind either way one bit. And for those of you who are like, "Eh? Aron-who-sky...? Bore-gus? Isn't this the movie with Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis getting it on?!" yes, yes they do, and it's... pretty much the type of sex scene that is featured in a movie like this, which means you'll probably have something else on your mind while it's happening, like figuring out what the heck is going on. It's not that type of movie, bro.
--PolarisDiB