Black Swan – A Review

My family often spends New Years Day recovering from the previous night’s activities while watching an endless array of movies. Though for the past years I have had the honor of choosing the cinematic lineup, this year I was overruled by my relatives. Instead of watching a film of substance that forced the audience to “think,” my family wanted to “escape reality” for a bit and watch a fairly mindless set of action and “comedic” movies. Thus, I was not only forced to watch a bad Bollywood version of Scary Movie, but I also had to endure almost two hours of George Clooney aimlessly running around in The American instead of watching Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. However, after finally seeing the movie last week, it seems as if the Black Swan might have actually been a perfect compliment to the plotless films I watched over break.

The Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Vincent Cassel, is your basic ballet narrative with a little bit of psychodrama added into the mix. Part Center Stage, Sixth Sense, and Mommie Dearest the film details the rise and fall of Portman’s character, ballerina Nina Sayers. Though Sayers wins the lead role in a production of Swan Lake, she seems to become increasingly conflicted and embattled regarding her own identity and reality. Ultimately, through her efforts to find herself, Portman’s character is often in conflict with her foe, Kunis’ Lilly, or her mentor (played by Cassel).

While I found the visual aspects of the film to be extremely compelling (ex. the GORGEOUS costumes by Rodarte and the exquisite dance sequences), the plot itself is not entirely unique. The movie basically boils down to the following stereotypical narrative: A ballerina strives for perfection and this obsession with perfection is his/her downfall. While the occasional bloody/gruesome scenes help to divert the audience’s attention away from this fundamental storyline (especially the one scene in which Winona Ryder seems to stab her face with a nail filer!), the ending is ultimately predictable and unsatisfying. I left the movie theater not only confused as to why this movie was so heralded in the first place, but also happy that my parents weren’t there to witness my cinematic upset. But, then again maybe I just didn’t get it. Let me know what you think in the comments section below 🙂