Black Swan

I have a habit of playing Miss Know-It-All when a new, overly-hyped movie comes out. I can tell just what it's going to be about - its themes, metaphors and character issues. I couldn't wait to see this film. I'll bet it's about the exacting pressure wrought by the ballet world. I'll bet it will deal with the diva's succumbing to such demands manifested by an eating disorder. I'll bet it will show a dancer's obsession for perfection leading to her self-destruction, then redemption and recovery. Well, that was half right. While I kept hearing how "dark" this film is, I had no idea it would be about horror. And insanity. Whew. This movie blew my mind.

There are so many layers here; I am struggling to fit it all in a blog post. While certain polarities in it are obvious (art/life, good/evil, parent/child, youth/inexperience, virgin/seductress...), my view of it is that it is first and foremost a story of mental derangement. THAT, I didn't see coming.

I like the unexpected. Examples: Pretty early into the film, I figured out that our protagonist suffered from some hallucination, yet I was never quite sure how much, as I went along. Kept me on edge. The male choreographer character demanded less technical perfection from our ballerina, and more visceral response to the Odile character in Swan Lake. Cool. It was obvious early on that the storyline was echoing that of the Swan Lake narrative. James Wolcott (Vanity Fair) makes unique observations that, more than a black vs. white juxtaposition, Aronofsky uses virginal pink (Nina's bedroom) set against demon red.

Natalie Portman has come of age. As Nina Sayers, her primary acting tool here was her breathing. I was in awe of how that was used for varying purposes; found myself almost mirroring some of it. When she is finally able to tap in to her "dark" side and channel it on stage, her dancing (especially in contrast to earlier meek rehearsals) took MY breath away.

Barbara Hershey was chilling as the asphyxiating stage mother/has-been dancer.

Director, Darren Aronofsky uses close, rapid, mobile camera work that made this viewer feel like I was moving on-stage with Portman, or rushing with her down a street. Another viewer told me she felt like the camera conveyed the dark shadow of paranoia that accompanied Sayers everywhere. What's most sad in this tale, is that Nina's dark side was with her all that time; she need not "nurture" it. And so, with us all...?

There is a fine line between ambition and obsession, even between good and evil.

I'm going to surmise that some may hate this movie because it's gross, disturbing and not fun. I had a moment of that conclusion. But then I decided to dismiss that and simply look at the film away from my predictions and expectations. I suppose the ending was a little hokey, but ballet is high drama. Even Sayers demise is metaphorical, no?

Black Swan was fascinating, gripping, entertaining, and it resisted the temptation of indicting an industry. Nina Sayers was mentally ill. Period.

By now, readers, you know my litmus test: am I still thinking about this film days later? I am still thinking about Black Swan. And, I want to see it again. I'll know when to shut my eyes.