So, some time back, some friends of mine and I saw the movie "Hereafter." We were uttely dissapointed by the movie and though it was not possible, we all wished that somehow we could have regained those two hours of our time and the $6.75 that we had lost. This was not possible, though there was one good thing about it. One of the trailers showed a very dark twisted movie starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis called "Black Swan". It seemed to promanently feature ballet, which admittedly was not too much of a draw initially, but the trailer looked disturbing enough for me to get interested.
Fast forward to two days ago when I actually saw the movie with one of my friends. He was skeptical of seeing a movie that centered around ballerinas, but I assured him that the trailer looked weird enough for him to be interested. His interest piqued, we walked in.
"Black Swan" is a psychological thriller by Darren Aronofsky which was intially released to a limited number of locations but has since rolled out to almost a national release.
First up we meet our protagonist, Nina Sayer (played by Natlie Portman), who is a ballerina. Yes, Nina the ballerina. My memory may be failing me, but I could swear that there was some children's toy with the same name. Anyways, Nina the ballerina is a sweet girl and Portman plays her with such innocence at first. She lives in New York City with her mother (played quite well by Barbara Hershey) who is something of a soccer mom by way of Carrie White's mother sans religious craziness. Nina while she is by age a woman, is somewhat (read: quite) emotionally stunted- almost reminiscant of a dog rescued from an abusive home who winces in pain every time a person moves towards it. She dreams of perfection in her dance and is frustrated with her lack of progress in her dance company in spite of her having been with the group for awhile.
But, that must change. The flamboyant and lecherous head of the dance company, Thomas (Vincent Cassel) announces that they are doing "Swan Lake" in the upcoming season. For those unfamiliar with the story, the story is such that a princess falls in love with prince, but a sorceror turns her into a swan. Fortunately, true love can change the princess back into human form, but *unfortunately* the princesses evil twin, the black swan seduces the prince and as a result the white swan princess in mourning throws herself from the top of a cliff to her death. Yeah, when you have *this* kind of story that the movie revolves around, you know that the movie is not going to exactly be rainbows and puppies.
The lead role for which all of the ballerinas are eyeing is the dual role of the White Swan and the Black Swan- which makes sense as the characters are twins, though the parts are quite different. While the White Swan part is more technical skill, the Black Swan is much more sensual and letting onesself go. Foreshadowing and symbolism much?
Anyways, Nina auditions and it goes quite well until the very end, when a newcomer, Lily (Mila Kunis) walks through the studio door and throws off Nina's concentration. Distraught and with enough existing emotional baggage to rival soap opera characters, Nina begs Thomas for the part the following morning. Thomas explains that Nina was quite good at the White Swan part but lacked the inability to let herself go to truly become sensual enough for the Black Swan. In short, Nina's obsession with perfection inhibits her from letting herself go to actually achieve it, which is deliciously ironic and boarderline poetic.
In order to not spoil too much of the plot for anyone actually interested in seeing it, Nina gets the lead part and that's where the story really heats up. The stress of such a complicated role lumps an enormous amount of stress onto the poor woman's psyche and various other stressors such as her micromanaging mother (who is herself a failed ballerina) and the overt sexual advances (boardering on harrassment) from Thomas adds more fuel to the fire. Enter Lily (Kunis) who appears to be everything that Nina is not. Lily is chill, calm and willing to let her hair down whenever and is a near perfect foil to Nina. Unlike Nina, Lily is able to let herself go into the part and while she lacks all of the technical skill of Nina, Lily is a darn good dancer herself. So, naturally when Lily approaches Nina for mere friendship, one would assume that it would exactly what Nina needed to help her calm down. And of course, Lily would learn from Nina and they'd become great friends.
...but this is "Black Swan" we are talking about. That doesn't exactly happen and a rivalry quickly rises between Lily and Nina and the central conflict of the movie appears and drives Nina further into her insanity.
And poor Nina, her hallucinations are absolutely nightmare inducing at the least. One of her early stress induced hallucinations involves her pulling at a recalcitrant hangnail on her index finger and ripping off skin up to her knuckle. My jaw was on the floor. I should also make the point that I am rarely squeamish and hard to startle- I have dissected cats and have seen many a cadaver and are able to call many "scares" in a given horror movie. With that out of the way, there are a few scenes that left me disturbed after the movie that I won't spoil in this review, but if you see it- the hallucination in Nina's mother's art studio was particularly jarring. Holy crap.
Nina's descent into madness is almost hypnotizing to watch and Portman's portrayal of her is nothing short of amazing. Portman, who is twenty-nine years old, can transform herself from young adult to emotionally wrecked little girl in a way that is both compelling and authentic. She makes the viewer really care for her and this viewer personally wished at a few points he could jump into the projector screen and assure Nina that everything was going to be alright.
The supporting cast is also incredible. Mila Kunis portrays Lily as the sensual, world wise woman that Nina clearly is not and reminds me of Brad Pitt's performance as Tyler Durdan in "Fight Club" (another excellent movie). Thomas makes me want throttle him every time he is on camera and manipulates the naive Nina and Cassel does a fantastic job, as does Hershey as Nina's mother. Also of note, is Winona Ryder's performance as Beth, who was the former head ballerina who is forced into retirement by Thomas to make way for Nina. Beth is full of bitterness and regret (understandably due to a plot twist about an hour in) and makes the viewer wonder if Nina will turn into another Beth.
Anyone going into the movie should not expect it to be a happy one. It is dark, psychotic, sensual and visceral. Of particular note on the "sensual" nature is a sex scene that is graphic and easily offended people may wish to skip out (for reference, Kunis, who participates in the scene, publically forbid her father from watching the movie specifically for that), though the scene is symbolic and makes sense in context of the movie.
The only (and this is really nitpicky) issue that I have with the film is the ambigious resolution in the end. I have no problem with the ending (in fact, I believe that it was excellent) but there is a plot twist near the end that really makes the viewer question how exactly the story took place. Weasel words, I know, and that this lack of clarity may have been the point that the movie was gong for. However, I felt one or two explainations were due that were left ignored, though that could be me being too anal retentive. But that's not enough to detract from a solid movie.
If you want a particuarly interesting character study full of drama and psychological thrill, I invite you into the tale of Ms. Nina Sayers. It is a dark one, and full of pain, but it is one of the best written films of this year and if you are willing to delve into her psyche, you will not be underwhelmed.
9.2/10- Excellent
-Reven
PS- I will be away from the blog for the next few days. I am going to a Orthodox Christian retreat and hope to gain some level of comradery and spiritual enlightenment. Pray for me a sinner, please.
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