BLACK SWAN REVIEW

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Being unfamiliar with director Darren Aronofsky's previous work, I had no idea what to expect from his 2011 offering, Black Swan. All I knew was that it featured an Oscar-winning performance from Natalie Portman and a lot of dark twists and turns throughout. Fortunately, Black Swan exceeded my expectations and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Because of this film, I can understand why people regard Aronofsky one of the greatest directors working today.

Black Swan follows the story of Nina (Portman), a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her retired ballerina mother Erica (Barbara Hershey) who zealously supports her daughter's professional ambition. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side with a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.

To prepare for her role as a ballerina, Portman trained for a year and paid for the training with her own money until the film found investors. Aronofsky attributed the film's getting made at all to Portman's dedication and enthusiasm. All the hard work clearly paid off as Portman gives, undoubtedly, one of the best performances in her entire career. She captures Nina's desire for perfection really well and also her anxieties. We know how much the part of the White Swan means to her, unfortunately, in order to perfect the role, she'll need to learn how to play the part of the Black Swan and get in touch with her inner dark side. Portman deserved to win her Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 2011. 

Alongside Portman, Kunis gives a great performance as her rival, Lily. Because she's shown from Nina's perspective, we never really know if Lily is being legitimately kind or not. In order to capture the rivalry effectively, Aronofsky would subtly try to pit Portman and Kunis against each other during filming. This included keeping the two actresses separated during filming and sending each of them intimidating text messages about each other's performance that day. However, according to Kunis, this backfired as the two were already good friends before filming. Despite this, Portman shows Nina's jealousy of Lily really well. Like Portman, Kunis practised with a ballet instructor for three months, five hours a day and seven days a week. After this, she had learned how to dance en pointe. As a child, she casually practised ballet as a child. 

Aronofsky successfully captures the ballet world really well. As any ballerina will know, there's a lot of pressure to give a perfect performance and not falter. The methods which Nina uses to 'break-in' her new toe-shoes are all common, including ripping the sole apart, re-stitching the ribbons, lighting the end ribbons to prevent fraying, spraying the toe-box and using glass and rosin to grate the bottom to gain traction. Nina's anxieties are shown through her harmful, compulsive skin picking. This is an actual impulse control disorder known as Dermatillomania. Her compulsive skin picking makes Portman's performance more effective and believable. I think that a lot of ballerinas and dancers in general will be able to relate to Nina and her desire for perfection.

While this can be described as a dark, psychological thriller, the intensity doesn't really begin until about an hour into the film. Aronofsky plays with the concept of reality and, as a viewer watching from Nina's perspective, we begin to question what's real and what isn't. Black Swan is definitely not for the faint-hearted as the intensity increases and shocks become more frequent. Like in his 2000 film, Requiem For A Dream, Aronofsky isn't afraid to show us the gory side. He knows how to grab a viewer's attention by shocking them with disturbing images. Throughout the film, Nina sees mysterious scars on the back of her shoulder which could be a metaphor for growing wings in order to fully inhabit the role of both the Swan Queen and the Black Swan. It's because of Aronofsky's directing why Black Swan is as intense as it is and he successfully earned himself an Academy Award nomination for Best Achievement in Directing.

One of the biggest themes of Black Swan is sexuality. In the beginning, Nina is seen as child-like with her bright pink bedroom that's filled with cuddly toys, despite her being an adult. She refers to her mother as 'mommy' and talks with a high-pitched like voice. Because she struggles to inhabit the role of the Black Swan, her director, Thomas, suggests that she gets in touch with her inner dark side by becoming more sexual. This leads to Nina and Lily having a passionate encounter after a night out. It's after this Nina finally starts to become darker as a character. However, as it turns out, Lily never went back to Nina's apartment after their night out which makes viewers question the passionate encounter Nina experienced. The scene could be seen as a metaphor for Nina being in touch with the darker side of her personality.

Black Swan is at its best during the climax. It's where it is as its most intense as we watch Nina perform as both the White Swan and the Black Swan. Nina's anxieties increases and leads to a shocking twist and an ambiguous ending. Despite being fatally wounded, Nina continues with her performance and, as she finishes, she jumps from on top of a platform and onto a safety mat. When Thomas asks her what she did, Nina replies with "I was perfect" and the film finishes. This lead to a lot of people wondering if Nina really died after achieving perfection, however, Portman has stated that she sees it more of Nina killing the little girl inside of her to finally become a woman. I think there are a lot of interesting theories, however, I do agree with Portman's statement. She was initially uncomfortable with the location of the blood stain on her tights as it looked like a period, however, that was Aronofsky's intention as it symbolized Nina's transition from a young girl to a woman. 

Black Swan proved to be a huge success after its release, receiving critical acclaim and receiving a total of five Academy Awards nominations including Best Motion Picture Of The Year. Natalie Portman succesfully won the Best Leading Actress award and it's because of her mesmirising performance as Nina why Black Swan makes for a compelling watch. It also glides on Darren Aronofsky's directing and is bracingly intense, passionate and wildly melodramatic.

8/10