As you can see, I'm writing about Black Swan. It'd be too late as a review but that's not my intention anyway. I want to recollect a few thoughts about the movie, but really, it's a hard job.
I saw the movie two days ago, urged by a blog post by a girl whose judgment on pieces of art I'm going to trust from now on. Unfortunately, I'm not educated in cinema or esthetics, not even in music, so forgive me for my subjective and lay talk.
The movie starts with a brilliant scene. First we hear the soft oboe, then the mysterious clarinet playing, and then comes a fragile balerina dancing delicately and very emotionally. We can take this as a prologue for the whole story, the beast threatening the girl and her first running away then giving in. I don't know how much of the dancing was done by Portman herself, but the whole thing was ever so beautiful and expressive. I've never been to ballet but after this movie I'm planning to watch Swan Lake asap.
I don't know much about the director, Aronofsky, and I haven't seen Requiem for a Dream or any other films by him. Nevertheless, I strongly believe he's got the brains and the eye for the job. I really liked the plot and the sequencing of the film, the end evolving naturally. Key motifs, such as reflections in the mirror, scratching, and feathers appeared and re-appeared throughout the movie but never became didactic.
So what's the story? In a nutshell, there is an excellent, perfectionist, and therefore distressed ballet dancer, Nina, who gets the role of the Swan queen in the ballet Swan Lake. She has to play a double role, that of the innocent white swan, a girl who was cursed by an evil wizard to spend the day as a swan, turning into a girl from midnight to sunrise; and the black swan, the ugly and cruel daughter of the wizard who takes the form of the white girl and seduces her prince; thus depriving her for her true love. Actually, in the movie they referred to the two girls as twins but I have a children's tale version of Swan Lake at home in which the black swan was the wizard's daughter. Okay, so Nina has to play a double role, but her director expresses his doubts of whether she will be able to play the black swan, Nina being so innocent and fragile, also referred to as frigid by other characters in the movie. Nina's task then, is to find the black swan in herself and let herself lose on stage. To solve the problem, the director gives her such home assignments as "touch yourself," for instance. So the movie tells Nina's metamorphosis from her mother's "sweet girl" to the black swan. I don't think this is a clear transition but rather an ongoing oscillation between her good and evil sides, trying to come out even.
I think the story raises several issues, such as growing up, the integrity of the self, the relation between art and artist, the limits of a parent's influence on her child's life, and of course that of reality versus illusion. For me it was quite interesting to watch this because I could relate to it on a personal level as well. Although I think it might have been a better idea to watch it on my own. Really, it's hard to choose the appropriate company for this because you might feel embarrassed watching a girl masturbating enlarged on the screen.
As so many others already said Portman is really amazing in this movie. She plays with every movement of her body, every twist of her muscles, her voice, her sobs and sighs and cries. I think Vincent Cassell and Mila Kunis were also great in it, their relation to Nina remaining ambiguous and undecided throughout.
This is a hard movie and it isn't for everyone but you should really see this. 'Til then enjoy the pics.
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