Black Swan
Director Darren Aronofsky crafts smart cinema. Starting with his 1998 debut, Pi, his array of films are always challenging and filled with ideas. Everything has meaning and purpose. The costumes, the music, the camerawork… Whether he’s focused on manifestations of drug addiction (Requiem for a Dream) or the power of love (The Fountain), his films are original and thought provoking.
His latest effort, Black Swan, fits right in line with his aesthetic. Described as a psycho-sexual ballet thriller (funny, I know, but the description just about nails it), the story is an innovative illustration of surrealism. In the film we meet Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), an extremely dedicated ballerina who is an ensemble dancer for a New York City ballet company. Nina lives with her devoted mother and has a bedroom that, with it’s pink walls and herd of stuffed animals, seems to belong to a twelve-year-old girl.
But all is not well at the ballet. Attendance is down and the company’s main star, Beth (Winona Ryder), is growing slightly long in the tooth. It is obviously a time for change. The company’s director (Vincent Cassel) is looking for someone new to helm his upcoming production of Swan Lake and Nina, with her perfect form and demure style, is chosen for the lead. The role is comprised of dual duties and Nina is asked to dance both the White and Black Swan roles. The White Swan comes easy, as Nina is a walking definition of purity, but the Black Swan, not so much. She is asked to dig deep in herself and find the ability to let loose and become seductive. The task is daunting for Nina and she quickly begins to see parallels between her life and that of the characters on the stage. Enter Lily (Mila Kunis), a new addition to the company who is a natural choice for the Black Swan role (the floral tattoo on her back even looks like black wings) and a real threat to Nina. Delusions of persecution follow and Nina begins a downward spiral of paranoia that blurs the line between reality and fantasy.
In the role of Nina, Portman is amazing. She trained with an accomplished ballerina so that she could perform much of the dancing herself and (to my untrained eye) she is quite good. She also lost some weight and is concernedly skinny which makes her completely believable as an obsessed woman who is so focused on what she wants that she is hurting herself. She gives Nina a frailty that is so convincing that the character is, at times, irksome. She eeks out her words and is on the verge of tears more often than she isn’t. Portman’s work in the last act of the film is haunting. She transforms in both her acting style and dance technique. Watching her unravel is a treat.
The film isn’t perfect, however, and takes a bit too long to get going. Once the conflicts are introduced, we stay there awhile and material is repeated and exhausted. Nina needs to connect with her dark side, explore aspects that have been repressed. This is driving idea of scene after scene in the first half of the film. It is understood rather early and quickly becomes tiresome. The film then catches fire and ends incredibly strong. There are some genuinely frightening moments that pack more of a punch than any horror movie released this year. With a slight trimming, Black Swan would be nearly perfect.
It was recently announced that Aronofsky will helm the next Wolverine flick and, while that seems like an odd pairing that has the potential of going the way of Ang Lee’s peculiar take on the Hulk, I find it exciting. Let him take a stab at anything he wishes. Give him the sequel to Yogi Bear if he is so inclined. I’m wondering why Yogi denies his true animal nature, what with the hat and the talking and all, an Aronofsky is just the man to delve into such issues.