Black Swan
January 24th 2011 21:39
[I]We are so close to self-destruction when pursuing our dreams
This fast paced psychological thriller wraps you up in its thin, creepy arms and refuses to let you go until the credits roll. Director Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) explores the inner psyche of ballerina Nina (Natalie Portman) to reveal the madness of a young, fragile mind obsessed with perfection.
Black Swan is a beautifully crafted film which graphically follows Nina’s quest to encapsulate the darkness of the Black Swan in Swan Lake. When Nina’s artistic director (Vincent Cassel) advises her to embrace her dark side and let herself go, Nina is quick to pirouette out of control and we are left thinking perhaps she should have taken his advice with a pinch of salt. However, with only half a grapefruit and a lick of frosting in her stomach throughout the whole film perhaps she should have just eaten a pinch of salt. Even swans need food to stay afloat.
The classic beauty of Portman and the well choreographed ballet scenes in the film provide a shocking contrast to Nina’s dark and bloody moments of self destruction. And Tchaikovsky’s entrancing and eerie score is the perfect backdrop for this haunting tale to naturally unfold.
Winona Ryder makes a brief but powerful cameo as the company’s ageing lead dancer Beth and Barbara Hershey plays Nina’s ever so spooky mother who appears to lie at the heart of her daughter’s troubles. As the film gathers momentum Nina is haunted by vivid hallucinations which leave her, and us, unable to decipher fact from fiction. We are left to blindly follow the film to its dramatic climax.
Intentional or not, Aronofsky's film also manages to include scenes of a rather humorous nature. It was strange to find myself deeply moved by Nina’s breakdown one moment and guffawing at it the next. This could just reveal my innate childishness or maybe...just maybe... how Aronofsky lets lightness and darkness pervade through so many layers of his enchanting film.
This fast paced psychological thriller wraps you up in its thin, creepy arms and refuses to let you go until the credits roll. Director Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) explores the inner psyche of ballerina Nina (Natalie Portman) to reveal the madness of a young, fragile mind obsessed with perfection.
Black Swan is a beautifully crafted film which graphically follows Nina’s quest to encapsulate the darkness of the Black Swan in Swan Lake. When Nina’s artistic director (Vincent Cassel) advises her to embrace her dark side and let herself go, Nina is quick to pirouette out of control and we are left thinking perhaps she should have taken his advice with a pinch of salt. However, with only half a grapefruit and a lick of frosting in her stomach throughout the whole film perhaps she should have just eaten a pinch of salt. Even swans need food to stay afloat.
The classic beauty of Portman and the well choreographed ballet scenes in the film provide a shocking contrast to Nina’s dark and bloody moments of self destruction. And Tchaikovsky’s entrancing and eerie score is the perfect backdrop for this haunting tale to naturally unfold.
Winona Ryder makes a brief but powerful cameo as the company’s ageing lead dancer Beth and Barbara Hershey plays Nina’s ever so spooky mother who appears to lie at the heart of her daughter’s troubles. As the film gathers momentum Nina is haunted by vivid hallucinations which leave her, and us, unable to decipher fact from fiction. We are left to blindly follow the film to its dramatic climax.
Intentional or not, Aronofsky's film also manages to include scenes of a rather humorous nature. It was strange to find myself deeply moved by Nina’s breakdown one moment and guffawing at it the next. This could just reveal my innate childishness or maybe...just maybe... how Aronofsky lets lightness and darkness pervade through so many layers of his enchanting film.
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