Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey Director: Darren Aronofsky Category: IIB
There is a monologue in Black Swan in which choreographer Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), explaining why he has chosen Swan Lake to kick-start his new season, touches the core of this movie. While the Tchaikovsky piece has been 'done to death', he argues, '[it hasn't been] done like this. We strip it down, make it visceral - and real.'
That could have been director Darren Aronofsky talking: Black Swan is a haunting thriller that exposes a ballerina's physical pain and psychological anguish as she seeks the transformation needed to deliver the performance of a lifetime.
Natalie Portman (right) delivers a barnstorming turn as Nina Sayers, a meek dancer whose close fit with the angelic White Swan belies her struggle to also play the evil role of Black Swan. Sayers' problems lies with her difficulties in 'letting go': the film is visceral and real as it probes the dancer's near-masochistic streak - endless practice and bloodied toes as she pushes her physical limits to reach artistic perfection.
Mischievously, the film's more real touches lie in its fantastical scenes. Aronofsky's film is at its grittiest and most authentic when Portman's Sayers is seen battling her inner demons in a somewhat twisted rite of passage. Standing in her way towards transforming herself from the squeaky clean White Swan to its menacing black twin are two powerful presences in her life. Her overwhelming mother (Barbara Hershey) represents both an obstacle to her own self-realisation and the fear of failure; and Lily (Mila Kunis), a wild-child friend/rival whose free spirit is what she seeks but could probably never attain.
While the film is driven by Portman's performance, Aronofsky's mise en scene is crucial. He places much emphasis on the use of mirrors, perhaps alluding to the way Black Swan thrives on the exploration of Sayers' approach to releasing a suppressed id.