Black Swan

"My sweet girl"

Darren Aronofsky follows up his fantastic 2008 film The Wrestler with another depiction of an artist striving for perfection.  Not only are these films linked by subject but the style is also very similar - handheld camera work, obsessive close-ups of the art itself to the exclusion of everything else and prolonged stalking camera shots of the principal character.

Natalie Portman is ballet dancer Nina Sayers, a girl with perfect technique but not much character as much in life as in her dancing.  Her route to leading roles is fraught with obstacles including the arrival of Lily (Mila Kunis) to the company.
As a whole the film starts rather 'Odette' with introductions to the sweet Nina's oddly innocent homelife and classes with the company she has been loyal to, seemingly without much reward. However, with the introduction of a new production of Swan Lake, we follow the journey from audition to performance around which she is slowly but surely losing her grip on reality, and the picture dissolves into a deranged, breathless 'Odile' of its own.
It is worth noting that Aronofsky sets up Nina's fragile mental state from the very outset of the film, not as a direct response to the casting of the ballet.  A brief glance into the adjoining carriage of her subway car leads her to suspect that there is a girl out there who looks just like her.  This becomes a recurring theme (and special effect) and visually the casting of Mila Kunis as the young pretender and Winona Ryder as the dancer not exactly willingly passing the torch is excellent.  The special effects throughout are well used and quite extraordinary; from the face-replacement creation of doppelgängers to skin conditions and injuries they range from the wonderfully subtle to the truly grotesque.
The same cannot really be said for the film itself.  There is not much subtlety involved in either the script or indeed the acting but that is the beauty of the piece.  All of the feelings of oddness are brought about by the fleeting moments of confusion and paranoia, and outbursts of showy voilence experienced by the central character; a clearly mentally stunted, neurotic young girl.

Natalie Portman is thoroughly convincing and takes herself to some wonderfully extreme places.  The innocent side of Nina can become grating but it does make for an extraordinary alteration as she slides closer and closer to mania. Mila Kunis is excellent as the 'looser' of the two, really embodying the free spirit that Nina could never be.  Barbara Hershey also convinces as Nina's outlandishly pushy mother, veering from oppressively supportive to dangerous.

Black Swan is a film during a viewing of which you shouldn't necessarily engage your brain.  If you fully accept its misgivings you will be taken on one hell of a thrill ride but if there are any niggling doubts you will find it difficult to see past the clunky plot devices, awkward scripting and performance cliches.  For, even though I really enjoyed the film, I have since struggled with the belief that Nina simply wouldn't have been cast in the Odette/Odile role.  No one (not even herself) thinks she can convince as the black swan and it seems highly unreasonable to think that the director would risk the name of his company on a girl he clearly doesn't believe will pull it off.

That aside I genuinely enjoyed the descent into madness (although as the film wore on I did find myself experiencing some crippling performance anxiety as the opening night got closer for Nina) and the manner in which it was achieved.


A terrific, grotesque, grandiose achievement - 9/10