Black Swan [MA]

Talented and dedicated ballet dancer, Nina, finally gets to prove herself when she wins the lead role in her theatre’s production of Swan Lake. Already perfect for the part of the delicate White Swan, Princess Odette, Nina initially finds the role of Odile, the Black Swan a challenge. But the challenge lessens as she begins to crumble under the pressure and lose her mind. 

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There are no words to describe the awesome power and brilliance of this film! It’s a wonderful psychological drama with never a light moment. Filled with beautiful costumes, dazzling makeup, pressure, violence, shocking visions, and ambition, Black Swan is an amazing achievement that proves that great tragedy is true beauty. 

Talented, dedicated, and sweet ballet dancer, Nina, finally gets to prove herself when she wins the lead role in her theatre’s production of Swan Lake. Already perfect for the delicate White Swan, Princess Odette, Nina initially finds the role of Odile, the Black Swan, a great challenge. However, the challenge lessens as Nina begins to crumble under the pressure and slowly lose her mind. 

I am still breathless and my stomach is still tumbling over itself. WHAT AN AMAZING FILM! I was completely blown away. For me, I would describe it as a cross between American Psycho and Pan’s Labyrinth. I am aware that that is a really strange observation, but let me explain my thinking: 

The story of Swan Lake runs parallel with Nina’s own internal struggles, mirroring her stages of mind and events that dictate the stability of her emotional state, making the fantasy very real. This is similar to the way that the fantasy dramas run parallel and mirror those happening in reality in Pan’s Labyrinth. Sometimes, you cannot tell what is real and what is fantasy. 

The film follows Nina throughout the entire rehearsal and production schedule, sometimes quite literally, and we, as an audience, see only what Nina is seeing. This is a very clever example of plot misdirection as we see what Nina perceives to happen, but then we are jolted back to reality, along with her. This is exactly what happened in American Psycho and gave the movie its power and shocking appeal. The combination of those two dominant elements makes, Black Swan one of the most powerful and shocking films that I have ever seen. 

Natalie Portman stars as Nina and she was just dazzling. To see her go through this slow change was really amazing. She began the film as a sweet and prim little ballerina but then the pressure that is placed upon her completely transforms her into this aggressive and violently ambitious creature. It is no wonder she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Her performance was sweet, ambitious, dedicated, trying, competitive, confused, paranoid, and delightfully dark. She was absolutely mind-blowing. 

Starring Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Mila Kunis, and Winona Ryder, Black Swan was a delightfully tragic and beautiful film that was filled with ambition, pressure, sex, violence, paranoia and dark desire. I cannot stress how utterly AMAZING this movie was. You have to see it to believe it!