Perfection, Obsession, Repression

Movie: Black Swan
Director: Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke)
Cast: Natalie Portman as Nina, a young ballerina; Barbara Hershey as her mother; Vincent Cassel as the choreographer; Wynona Ryder in a cameo part as a washed up dancer; and Mila Kunis as Nina's rival Lily
Language: English
Release Date: December 2010

Should You See It? This is not your typical film about beautiful dancers with tragic flaws. Beware. The flaws are much more serious and the dark side of the Swan Lake figure is really morbid. But if you are up to the challenge and want to see a beautifully filmed movie, go for it.

In a Nutshell:

Perfection--this is what Portman strives for, what her choreographer expects of her, and what her mother (reliving her own failed career) needs from her.

Obsession--Portman takes on a self-destructive posture as she tears at her own skin; she sees nothing else in life but achieving this masterpiece role.

Repression--Portman's sexual repression is highlighted in several graphic scenes. In one, you find her masturbating in her bed, only when she looks up she is shocked to see her mother sitting in a chair watching her. In another scene, the rival Lily (purity in the name but not in the character) takes her to a bar and gets her drunk. At least you think this happens.

The movie begins with a beautiful shot of Portman's breakfast--a perfectly cut pink grapefruit and a poached egg. Hershey has served this to her and you see immediately that something is not quite healthy between mother and daughter. The mother is overly domineering and the daughter repressed. Portman lives in a typical New York apartment--yet she has stuffed animals all over her bedroom. How many twenty somethings do you know whose mothers wait on them and take care of their every needs in a "picture perfect" idealized apartment? In startling contrast to this meal, Hershey offers Portman a gooey, almost childlike cake in a later sequence. Somewhat Hollywoodish for my taste--the metaphors are too obvious and almost hit you over the head.

All this portends some problems for Portman. She is trying out for the lead role in Swan Lake. Cassel tells her she has the good swan down pat, but she needs to work on the dark side. In a violent kiss, he remarks that she is sexually repressed and cannot play the dark swan without releasing herself.

Enter Lily, her rival, who has arrived from California to compete for the part. Much of the action revolves around the rivalry between the two of them. In a small, almost forgotten role, Ryder is both honored and discarded as the over-the-hill swan, coming to a tragic end.

While there is some wonderful music and many of the dance scenes are quite beautiful, the movie takes a huge leap with fantastic scenes of supposed murder and mutilation. At times you are left wondering what is real and what imagined.

In the end, I liked the movie, but found a number of flaws, just as Portman's character revealed her own flaws.