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I know nothing of ballet, but Black Swan is an incredibly captivating look at a character who strives for perfection, and in the process, slowly starts to lose her mind. At the same time, it’s a suspenseful horror movie. Directed by Darren Aronofsky, and starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Winona Ryder all as ballerinas, Black Swan is the story of a ballet company putting on a production of Swan Lake. The film opens with auditions and casting for the roles, and follows the daily rehearsals and successes, but mostly failures of the main characters. |
Nina Sayers (Portman) is the main character, who surprisingly gets cast as the Swan Queen -- the character who plays the parts of both the white swan and the black swan… both the good twin and the evil twin. She is a very innocent character, who in her 20’s still lives at home with her mother, still sleeps with stuffed animals, and who is still put to bed by her mother every night. In the casting of the ballet, she was the obvious choice for simply the part of the white swan, but needs to learn to simultaneously become the black swan. The director tries to pull her out of her shell, and so does Lily, (Kunis) who is the newest dancer in the company. The process of Sayers learning to embrace both her innocent and her evil side is where the movie gets interesting, and where the real character depth comes from.
Even though the majority of the movie walks the line between reality and dementia, once the last lines of the film were uttered, I was confident that Aronofsky nailed it again, in a way that probably exceeds The Wrestler. There are a lot of parallels between the two films, and I would recommend Black Swan to anyone who was a fan of The Wrestler. In both films our main character is highly motivated to find perfection in their given profession. And because both of their professions are also very physical, their drive encompasses both their mind and their body.
This film is rated R and I would definitely not recommend this film for anyone under age 16. It’s very sensual and violent, and does prominently feature drugs. However, if you are of age, and can handle these things, get out an see this movie. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Seeing this film makes me even more excited to see Aronofsky’s interpretation of Wolverine, which is slated for next year.
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