PLOT: The mind of a driven New York ballerina (Natalie Portman) begins to unravel after she gets cast in a revival of SWAN LAKE by a tyrannical director (Vincent Cassel).
REVIEW: Watching BLACK SWAN was an excruciating experience for me, and I mean that in a good way. Darren Aronofsky is a master at making his audience squirm, and this is just as cringe-worthy as another one of his triumphs, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. The reason I found it to be such a trial is that Aronofsky seems to have a direct pipeline into my nightmares, and the decent into madness experienced by Portman in this resonated deeply for me on many levels- which is a frightening thing.
Like that film, this is the story of an athlete (in this case a ballerina) who’s pushed her body to it’s breaking point trying to achieve perfection in her craft. In her world, failure is not an option, as she knows nothing else, and if she can’t dance, she might as well be dead. In someways she’s actually worse off than Rourke in that film, as it’s obvious that she’s a completely unhinged young woman, completely infantilized by her mother (Barbara Hershey), who wants to see her daughter succeed in the way she hasn’t. To that effect, Portman’s character is very much a child, inhabiting the body of a grown, sexually desirable woman.
I also should point out that BLACK SWAN isn’t really the horror film it’s being marketed as, although it’s more frightening than any true horror film I’ve seen in the last little while. The reason it disturbed me so much is that it demonstrated that more than any outside force, we are the ones that destroy ourselves. In an extremely difficult role, Portman gives what may be her best performance to date, and it would be a sin if she’s doesn’t win best actress at the Oscars this year.
She’s absolutely incredible, and this will be the film that establishes her as THE actress of her generation. She’s literally in every scene of the film, and she’s so commanding that her performance will haunt you as much as it did me. Aronofsky’s one director who really knows how to pull out the most from his performers, and what REQUIEM did for Ellen Burstyn, WRESTLER did for Mickey Rourke, BLACK SWAN does for Portman.
It’ll be interesting to see if the public is able to enjoy BLACK SWAN, as it’s certainly a difficult film. One thing’s for sure, all the Joblo.com readers who’ve supported Aronofsky from day one will adore this, as it’s as good as anything he’s ever done. It’s incredible.