Black Swan

 Black Swan is not your typical drama/thriller/...whatever you want to label it as. For the past decade, Director Darren Aronofsky had brought nothing but true artwork to the tables, and every time he does, it's something new. His latest installment, Black Swan, is about a ballet dancer, Nina (Natalie Portman), who confronts her dark side in order to achieve the dual roles of the White/Black Swan. As the movie progresses, it takes us on a psychedelic and terrifying trip into the depths of undergrounds of New York City and, most importantly, Nina's mind. But when do we draw the lines between reality and fantasy? Aronofsky combines his story with the actual Swan Lake ballet op. 20, which later interwines with reality, and, ultimately, unravels as the film reaches its climax. Now, I'm going to start with the first act of the film.

Who Am I, Really?

The movie starts off with Nina's dream, and in this dream she is dancing the prologue of Swan Lake. As this scene ends it establishes the ominous undertone of the film. Within the first ten minutes we are introduced to Nina's mother, Erica (Barbara Hershey), who is completely overbearing over her daughter. Now, there are many ways you can go from here: first off, her mother could be envious of her daughter, which can explain her eclectic behavior (If you already saw this, the cake scene is a perfect example). There are other behaviors that might imply that Erica sexually abused her daughter (constant "My sweet girl" saying)...but I think that's over the edge. Anyway, after we get introduced to her mother, we meet her co-workers, who all seem not-so-bright, but could it be Nina who is secluding herself from people? Who knows since, after all, this is from her perspective. We also meet her competition (or friend??) Lily (Mila Kunis) and Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), the all-mighty ballet intructor, known for his devious reputation with his co-workers. From here we keep thinking, "Lily is the antagonist." So, the rest of the third act is basically about Nina dancing and obsessing over winning the role of the "Black Swan," you know, time fillers.

Nina: You Sure About This?? Lily: Relax.

Now, here is where it gets juicy: She gets the part! (surprise, surprise!) A nice way to transition into Act II of the film. Act II is mostly consisted of Nina struggling to "lose herself" as Thomas puts it. Her obsession with her new role soon begins to affect everyone around and even herself. Oh, I almost forgot. Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder) is also a some-what important character since she is the one to be replaced by Nina as the movie transitions into its second act. She loses it when she finds out that Leroy replaced her and winds up in the hospital with a broken leg (could it be intentional? That's the mystery behind it). Anyway, this is where Lily comes into the bigger picture. As Nina struggles to "lose herself," Lily sort of befriends her by taking her out to the bar. Here is when we discover how different Lily is from Nina; Lily does drugs, goes to bars, have sex, etc. Nina eventually decides to be a little more social and goes out with Lily one night. This is where it gets crazy good! Nina begins to have visions of strange/terrifying unexplainable things and us, the audience, is thrown into a juggle of reality and fantasy.

Perfection is my priority.

Aronofsky does a good job with throwing in metaphors throughout the entire movie; it was almost not hard to catch them all by the time it ended. Mirrors are apparent throughout and symbolizes Nina's personality conflictions. There is one particular mirror in her home that is like a kaleidoscope. This mirror stood out most to me because it symbolizes the breaking of her innocence as she loses it. Colors in Black Swan is also very raw and adds substance to the movie. Most of the movie is black and white with a little bit of warm/bright colors like pink here and there. Of course, Nina is constantly wearing pink, representing her innocence and the "sweet child." Even her bedroom is pink! But as she begins to experience the real world, the pink goes out the window, and by the end of the movie she is wearing black/gray for the most part. To make production value cheaper, Aronofsky opted for film rather than standard digital (most films are filmed with digital nowadays), giving the movie that grainy, gritty look. Aronofsky truly knows how to spend his budget constructively; this movie cost about $13 million, much lower than the typical film production budget.

It was perfect.

Sexy, divine, terrifying, mystifying, roller-coaster ride...it's hard to label Black Swan; it is an audaciously rare cinematic gem. It takes an obsolete theme and pursues a different approach. Aronofsky immerses the audience into the cutthroat world of ballet dancing like never before! I'm not hesitant to say that this is definitely a strange movie, and by strange I mean that this movie does a good job at making people feel uneasy, but that is what is brilliant about Black Swan; it's unconventional. Performances are nothing but amazing, especially Natalie Portman and Barbara Hershey, who play their roles so convincingly that it will make you cry. Black Swan should be the film to watch in any film studies class.

Grade: A-