In Review: Black Swan

The Gist

Possibly the film that has Natalie Portman's best performance yet, Black Swan sees Aronofsky put art and psychology into one cinematic salad bowl--the result of the tossing being a bold and inventive storytelling of modern day rivalry and success, an encounter with passion and climax that ends the same way as the ballet classic it rides upon.

The Good

• very fine casting and solid acting
• a not so convoluted storyline from Aronofsky; well-presented and not as spiritually and psychologically confounding as his other films

The Bad

• nothing much, except perhaps for the visually disturbing scenes, which if removed would take a lot out of the movie, so yeah, no complains really

Synopsis

A veteran ballerina, Nina Sayers lives a strict and disciplined life under the watchful eye of her retired ballerina mother. When her ballet company decided to refresh their rendition of Swan Lake, Nina was one of the front runners for the role of the Swan Queen, but the catch of also playing its twin, the Black Swan, does not bode well for Nina. While she is elegant and perfect for the Swan Queen role, she is too controlled and too disciplined to play its twin, the Black Swan. Her understudy, Lily, while not as technically good or graceful, has the passion and the sense of freedom enough to play the Black Swan and eventually replace her. Fearing to lose her dream role, Nina dared undergo a search for her darker side to give everyone a performance of a lifetime.

PowerArtHouse

Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis needed to train ballet for 7 days a week in 6 months to be able to play ballerinas in this film. This film made me appreciate the art and beauty of ballet and the dedication and torture ballerinas undergo to perform a masterpiece. I remember a talk with Coke Bolipata about how they violinists are simply machines of the ancient maestros. They are simply tools with which the maestros become alive once more; if they do well, they have done their jobs. Performance art is like that. You have to give it your best because what you are doing is not original and will have to beat or outdo a set standard--which is pretty high. It is a tradition, a high-browed discipline, and you have to fare well with those who have done it before you. Black Swan presented that pressure in a splendid manner and it was quite a sight.

Of Control and Letting Go

Black Swan acts on the premise of a ballerina who wanted to perfect everything without knowing that the only way for everything to be perfect is for some things to be imperfect as they are. Natalie Portman did play the role well of the discipline-driven mad beauty who dances to herself to death and perfection. This is possibly the role of her life and she nailed it, frame by frame. I am no ballet expert, but watching her do ballet makes you believe that she really is a ballerina who got acting lessons.

The supporting cast were also good. Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel both pulled off convincing performances and Barbara Hershey played the austere and manipulative mom quite well, too.

I liked how Aronofsky paralleled the Swan Lake with Black Swan's story, using the Swan Lake's story to feed the machine that keeps The Black Swan's wheels rolling. Needless to say, the storyline was well done and the screenplay is also perfect. The execution of the film's concept is also top-notch and while I was in fear that this will be as boring and ocean-deep as perhaps, The Fountain, it wasn't. Very far from it, in fact. Black Swan is simple and yet still wonderful to the point of being relate-able. The difference between these two films are, while The Fountain pretty much poked everything physiological, spiritual, psychological, and emotional, Black Swan simply dipped on psychological and art. It maintained a very cohesive two-layer storyline (Swan Lake, and the film's storyline).

Pacing is perfect and not too dragging. Storytelling is top-notch and even if you are not fond of ballet, watching Portman dance can be enthralling and is a reward in itself. I guess the cinematic lighting, and camera angles, zooming and panning, helped present ballet in a better, er, light.

The film's final resolve and its similarity to Swan Lake's resolve made me love the it. This is one of those films that I would remember not just for its visual effects or the compelling storyline, but more for how relatable it is. I believe I have grown a control freak and it came at a time in my life where I am learning to loosen my grip and go with the flow. And a film like this feels really liberating.

My verdict:

A passing and recommended mark of 4.5/5.