Film A little too Black and White.
First, let me say: All the Aronofsky hallmarks are here. The almost too-close closeups, the physical injuries representing the character's deteriorating inner state, the brutal look at how great a toll being "the best" can take on someone determined enough to lose everything for their goal.
The problem? Among other things, our heroine has little enough to lose, and it's not a far drop to 'outright violent lunacy.' That Nina is pre-unhinged yet positively terrified of everything makes it seem heavy-handed at best when her 'change' begins; it doesn't feel natural, nor does it have the terrifying descent into madness and isolation that could be found at the other extreme. Instead it settles for shock value, like an aspiring director being edgy for edgy's sake. Nina's relationship with her mother has brief moments of clarity but is too quickly sacrificed for stage-mother cliches, then glossed over; the little-girl bedroom makes the overdone club scene feel less dangerous and more tacky, Lily is little more than a too-obvious bull in the china-shop of Nina's innocence/naivete, and Thomas - while interesting - is chained to the Casting Couch cliche.
I liked Pi. I cried in Requiem For A Dream and The Wrestler. Black Swan had more in common with The Fountain. Aronofsky is adept at making us care and fear and weep for characters, but only if they come with the visceral reality of the 'real world' to ground them. Black Swan, like The Fountain, suffers from too little connection to reality, and the resulting movie seems disjointed and contrived. It has its moments: The gore is startling, the dance and costumes beautiful, the score as good as ever. But at times I found myself wishing the Scare Chord would cut it out so I could hear the music, and that's how I felt about the movie: Out of the way, talked-about lesbian scene and darkening-of-outfits-to-obviously-portray-inner-self! When Natalie Portman begs her mom not to trash the cake because really, she loves it, thank you! That's the uncomfortable, bordering-on-painful drama I want, not the melodrama I got.
I saw it in part because of the hype; now I'm thinking the most accurate critical review was The Hollywood Reporter's "guilty pleasure," though it wasn't even that for me. Not because of the actors; because of the director's choices.
Film The madness of obsession
Black Swan is one of my favourite movies. It follows Nina, a sheltered ballerina who becomes obsessed with the role of the Black Swan and subsequently enters a deluded and terrifying reality.
The performances in this film are key to making it work. Natalie Portman gives one of my favourite performances of any actor. Nina is a complex character with a ton of ambiguity and development. Portman plays her masterfully. Mila Kunis is also brilliant as Nina's alternate Lily, bringing a playfulness and mystery to the role. Barbara Hershey, Vincent Cassel and a scene-stealing Winona Ryder are all fantastic as well. Naturally, the dancing doubles, regardless of how much they contributed to the film, are also fantastic (at least as far as this person who knows barely anything about ballet can tell).
The film is shot in a way that makes it feel claustrophobic, creating brilliant tension. This combines with dark lighting and shocking imagery to build a horrible landscape, beautifully reflecting Nina's mind.
The film is terrifying, though the scariest aspect of the film isn't always what we see, but the moment afterwards where we question whether what we saw actually happened. The story is full of hallucinations and misdirection, and yet never becomes annoying or incomprehensible. From start to finish, it is a beautiful and ugly tale of obsession and its physical and mental impacts. Many ballet dancers have said that this film doesn't fully reflect the experience of ballet and the reasons they pursue it which is unfortunate, though as someone who knows little about ballet, this doesn't affect my enjoyment or love of the film. Furthermore, Nina's story can easily apply to any sport or hobby: her obsession with success at the cost of her health and, ultimately, her own identity can happen to anyone.
The soundtrack is also great, though what else would you expect from Clint Mansell (and Tchaikovsky of course)? It beautifully combines the majestic Swan Lake with the uncertainty and building terror of Nina's story.
Overall, Black Swan is a masterpiece that I can certainly recommend.