Black Swan - Released 21/01/2011
When a film has rave reviews and goes on to win a bucketload of award trophies, I can’t help but feel apprehensive about seeing it (if I haven’t already). I normally avoid putting too much stock in any sort of institutionalised assessment of a film’s calibre; media hype tends to build up such excited anticipation that the experience of seeing the film is usually underwhelming and leaves something to be desired. Every now and then, however, a film truly deserves all the praise it gets and for me, Black Swan is one of a select cinematic elite.
To briefly synopsise, the film comprises of Nina (Natalie Portman) being cast as the lead in her ballet company’s new season production of Swan Lake, replacing the company’s dance veteran and long-time lead, Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder) as the star. However, the arrival of a new, extremely talented and intuitive dancer in the company, Lily (Mila Kunis), increases the pressure Nina feels to perform at her best and portray both the white and the black swan with equal credibility so as not to have her role taken from her. This is not helped in the slightest by her overbearing, ex-ballerina mother constantly pushing her to her limits. Nina and Lily forge an unlikely and interesting friendship as the film goes on, and Nina progressively succumbs more and more to the temptations Lily offers in the world outside of dance and the pressure of her role as the Swan of Swan Lake until she finally loses control.
Black Swan is, as my brief synopsis suggests, much more than a film just about ballet. Such a film would only appeal to a very select niche of the cinema-going public. Instead, this is a sort of “coming of age” film, offering a striking depiction of a young woman exploring, through the metaphorical conflict between the white swan and the black, her own evolving psychology and sexuality amid the pressures of dancing the lead role for a prestigous company. The seductive temptations the angelic white swan faces from the animalistic, carnal impulses of the black swan make for absolutely stunning drama that Freud would have a field day with, and that Natalie Portman delivers in performance more empassioned than I have ever seen from her before, even more than V For Vendetta, which made her career. The senses of alternate panic, hysteria and at points, arousal that she portrays deem her well worthy of her newly acquired status as both a BAFTA and Oscar “Best Actress” winner.
The psychological and dramatic complexity of the film leave the viewer unsure of what was real, and what was the hysterical depiction of the oppressed and conflicted protagonist’s inner dialogue. There are moments where one cannot quite believe what they are seeing, moments of seduction and of distress that verges on despair, and if nothing else it makes me very sure that I never want to be a professional dancer!
I would very much like to see this film again, not to clarify the points of slight confusion in the plot (I think this ambiguity adds to the effect of the film), but merely to revel once more in the decadent pleasure a film so rich in the drama of interior conflict. Black Swan is absorbing, disturbing, passionate and sexy all at once. A masterpiece of film-making.
