Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vicent Cassel, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder
Directed By: Darren Aronofsky
Written By: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin
Produced By: Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer and Brian Oliver
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Rating: R
Running Time: Approximately 108 minutes
Website: foxsearchlight.com/blackswan
Budget: $13,000,000
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Release Date: December 17, 2010
Black Swan probably isn’t the movie you think it is. Early ads emphasized its backdrop of the competitive world of New York ballet, but anyone thinking this is a dewy, delicate drama about the dreams of young women who just want to DANCE, dammit! is probably going to walk away traumatized. Recent ads have swung the emphasis toward the film’s more horrific aspects, hallucinatory gore and rapid-fire visual barrage. This is not, however, a horror movie.
The best answer is that the film is both of these things. This is the story of Nina (Natalie Portman), a frustrated ballet dancer looking for a breakout role in her dance company’s upcoming season. Faced with an overprotective mother (Barbara Hershey, in a welcome return) and Thomas (Ocean’s Twelve’s Vincent Cassel), a demanding ballet instructor, Nina feels the pressure to perform mount as her company prepares to launch a new production of Swan Lake. Into this competitive atmosphere enters Lily (Mila Kunis of “That ‘70s Show”), a brash newcomer to the company that immediately unnerves Nina and puts the prize dual role of the Swan Queen and her dark double into the hands of the most ruthless dancer. As Nina begins to psychologically unravel, is it just pressure and paranoia, or are strange forces actually allying against her?
That plot description barely scratches the surface of what’s going on in Black Swan. Icy Nina, repressed to the point of psychosis, is mirrored by free-spirited Lily, the complementary dark side to Nina’s naïve Swan Queen. Contrasts are a recurring theme for director Darren Aronofsky, who similarly contrasted light and dark in his debut feature, Pi. Black Swan is obsessed with contrasts and counterparts, reflections and perceptions. A watchful viewer will notice Aronofsky carefully laying out his motifs: twins, reflections, mirrors, duality, distortions. It all adds up to a dizzying effect, making it one of the most artful horror movies and horrific dramas to come along in a few years.
Aronofsky has never shied away from showing brutal descents into madness before. Black Swan is not his most harrowing movie (that would be Requiem for a Dream), his most ambitious (The Fountain), or even his most emotional (The Wrestler), but it may be the closest he’s come yet to portraying the sharp disconnect between people’s internal reality and the much different world around them. Portman, never better than when paired with a director who can properly coax a performance out of her, portrays Nina with carefully controlled composure that systematically breaks down over the course of the film. Nina is repressed to the point of eruption when faced with no outlet for her desires, and not solely the carnal longings she feels for both Thomas and Lily.
It’s all beautifully shot by cinematographer Matthew Libatique, one of Aronofsky’s longtime collaborators back in the fold after making Iron Man look cool for two movies. Libatique shoots Nina in virginal white and Lily in scandalous black – there’s those contrasts again – until their lines and roles begin to blur, all set against sterile New York City backdrops of mansions and stages that eventually give way to grittier locations like clubs and subways. The supporting cast does its part, with Kunis finally breaking free of her sitcom image and Cassel, already a leading man in his native France, managing ballet director Thomas with equal parts sleazy manipulation and genuine artistic vigor. Hershey, never quite off the map after a notable run of films in the ‘80s, is pitch-perfect as Nina’s control freak mother. Winona Ryder, virtually unrecognizable under Jersey hair and runny mascara, has a brief but memorable role as an aging (by ballet standards) prima ballerina, a Ghost of Nina Future.
Black Swan is not a comfortable movie. Its brazen portrayal of Nina’s attempt to embrace her own dark side will leave many audiences feeling awkward, and its hallucinatory stretches will test the patience of viewers unaccustomed to both its style and content. This is not a movie for a casual viewing, nor a first date (okay, I suppose it depends on the date). It will likely divide people into love-it-or-hate-it camps – which, for a movie all about duality, is only appropriate. See it for its art, see it for its horror, see it for the sake of judging for yourself.
Grade: 4 Stars
