Black Swan (2010)
Genre: Psychological Drama
Format: Theatrical Release
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Ever since he blew my mind away with the masterpiece Requiem for a Dream, I have been waiting for Darren Aronofsky to give us something extraordinary again. The Fountain was good but it was emotionally-lacking because of its far-fetched science fiction concept and The Wrestler was just too timid of a story. With Black Swan, Aronofsky is definitely closer to greatness again though it still isn't incredible enough to be his second master work.
Nina Sayers is a ballet dancer who dreams to make it big and she finally gets her wish when she is selected to be the Swan Queen in a major production of Swan Lake. A fragile, innocent soul who is an obedient slave to her art in the first place, the added responsibility threatens to destroy her life and she begins to suffer from paranoia and delusions. You see, Nina is a perfectionist who lacks self-confidence. She has no life outside of ballet and even at home, she spends most of the time practicing in front of a mirror with her overly protective mother always close by so she is never afforded any privacy of her own. At the ballet theater, the arrival of a new dancer brings escalating insecurities and the sexual tension between herself and the director is not helping the situation. All of these things eventually lead an exhilarating climax of the film where the viewers are left unsure of whether or not Nina would survive the entire psychological ordeal.
The film's idea of the double becomes really obvious once it starts the whole discussion of Nina playing the roles of both the White Swan and the Black Swan but the way that the theme is presented throughout the movie is less so. Aronofsky likes to use mirrors in a lot of the scenes to show the defragmentation of Nina's psyche. One thing that I found really fascinating is how the film is able to showcase the sinister side to the strict discipline of ballet. The pointed feet in ballet are supposed to be a thing of graceful beauty but the way that they are presented here comes across as incredibly menacing. Natalie Portman, who was horrible in those Star Wars films she's well-known for, redeemed herself in this film with a raw, emotional performance as Nina. She captured the essence of a young woman struggling to make everyone happy while sacrificing herself quite convincingly and some of the really desperate moments truly transformed her into something else - the variances of facial expressions even made her unrecognizable at times. Mila Kunis who played the rival dancer however was her regular jovial self, nothing too special there. Look out for the impressive appearance from Winona Ryder though. After that shoplifting accident, she has been been really, really good with her acting performances it seems.
Black Swan, just like Aronofsky's own The Wrestler, is a story of what could happen when one is just too obsessed with one's work. That is not necessary a bad thing however because sometimes to achieve the best, one has to lose oneself somewhat in the process. There is a fine line between genius and insanity and that is the major dilemma here. The film itself is a little bit of both but that is what you get when you put on a pair of ballet shoes of a woman who is slowly losing her mind for the sake of art.
RATING: 4 out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment