Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a fiercely dedicated ballet dancer who is also an obsessively meticulous perfectionist. An example of her compulsive behavior is akin to a situation when you have a hangnail; you
attempt to get rid of it by peeling it off, only to result in pain as well as
making it look much worse than before. There is a reason why they use this
visual image early in “Black Swan.” Nina has the necessary talent to be great
at what she does, but her assertion to be the best at it is what tears her
world apart.

Her ballet company in New York is setting up for their presentation of the Tchaikovsky classic Swan Lake. The production tells the story of a princess who is
transformed into a white swan through a sorcerer’s curse and whose only escape
is to get a prince to fall in love with her. Being cast as the lead (called The
Swan Queen), the ballerina must assume dual roles: the white swan, which
exemplifies purity and abstinence, and the black swan, which represents lust
and temptation.

Having just sent off the former prima ballerina Beth (Winona Ryder), the company’s director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) is searching for a replacement dancer to take on the responsibilities of The Swan Queen. Nina
timidly approaches him for the chance to audition. According to Thomas, she
would be spot-on perfect if they were only casting for the white swan. As
elegant and precise as her dance moves are, he simply says that she is TOO
elegant and precise to play the loose and audacious black swan. He wants her to
tap into her wild side, which she just cannot seem to do.

Only trepidatiously does he grant her the lead role. But she becomes anxious that there is competition afoot with the new body to the company named Lily (Mila Kunis). Lily almost has a natural intuition for ballet
dancing and approaches the activity with a cool and confident attitude. She
would make the perfect substitute should anything happen to Nina. Becoming wary
of Lily’s friendly appearance toward her, she initiates her downward spiral of
fearfulness, paranoia and self-mutilation (sometimes all three take place in
one scene).

Meanwhile, the pressures of living under the rule of a former ballerina (Barbara Hershey) slowly begin to get to her as well. Her mother is one of those types who has big plans that her child will achieve the
fame and accolades that she was never able to. Hershey plays this role quite
well, as it requires her to appear supportive in the first half and gradually
become somewhat of a control monster.

Director Darren Aronofsky is not a stranger to associating himself with this variety of dark material. To a degree, he actually specializes in making films that are so bleak and hopeless that they make you
want to kill yourself after watching (such as 2000’s “Requiem For A Dream” and
2008’s “The Wrestler”). But in addition to making your skin crawl, his films
are also tremendously artful, thought provoking and powerful. And “Black Swan”
indeed proves to be no exception to any of those attributes.

“Requiem For A Dream” illustrates a few different stories that all center on the mental decay brought about by the characters’ addictions. A parallel theme can be perceived in “Black Swan.” Nina’s addiction
lies in her performance or more accurately in that her performance goes without
the slightest hiccup. She will do anything to get her time in the spotlight. In
turn, her aspirations make her into something she is not. By the end of the
film, you do not know whether Nina was crushed under the pressures of the world
or if it was the world that turned on her and made her into the person she
becomes.

Aronofsky’s many allusions to the Swan Lake story through his two main characters are really quite brilliant. Just as the white swan so desires freedom through the prince’s love, so does Nina want to attain the highest
level of greatness. Even looking at something as basic as Nina and Lily’s
opposite personalities bears strong correspondence to the illustrious symbolism
found within the white swan and black swan, respectively.

When broken down, the film belongs to the genre of psychological horror. And through its efforts, it is probably the most horrifying film of the year and it does not require a plethora of jump scares
to realize its goal. “Black Swan” is more like an old Gothic horror tale. I
mean, it is not at all pleasant to watch Nina’s perception of the world crumble
to bits right in front of you. Many times, the audience members themselves feel
as though they are experiencing dementia vicariously through her. At a certain
point, your mind and Nina’s begin functioning collaboratively as one unit. The
result feels visceral, shocking and, as I said before, horrifying.

Natalie Portman is practically guaranteed a nomination for Best Actress come Academy Awards. And I hope against hope that she wins it. She gives what is likely to be the greatest performance of her career in this film
and, as far as I am concerned, outshines every other female acting performance
I have seen this entire year. The reason why it is great is because the film
does not revolve around her as a character as much as it does the metamorphosis
that takes place within her psyche. The film has an uncanny way of getting you
into the character’s state of mind.

And while Portman is the definite V.I.P. of the film, Kunis certainly holds her own as well, even if she is not always so subtle about it. She has come a long way since “That 70s Show” (which was good, but was not too
demanding of her). Vincent Cassel gives a fine performance as well. Why not
just give everyone in the movie a big round of applause?

“Black Swan” is about ballet and Swan Lake as much as “The Social Network” is about Facebook, meaning that they are subjects but not the subject matter. No, the focal point of the film is Nina’s internal struggle of trying
to succeed. It is about what lengths she will go to in order to achieve
perfection. It is about witnessing somebody transform not into a graceful white
swan but into a sad ugly duckling. Does achieving absolute perfection mean
losing what is really important in life?

VERDICT: 4 out of 4

My blog is just as crazy as this movie was: http://saltythebeastblog.blogspot.com/