Awards season is always the best time of the year to go to the cinema. It may be odd when you consider it, but releasing most of the years great films over two or three months, is incredibly encouraging. Each week you can be sure to find a very worthy film in your cinema. There are however, a few downsides to this. By distributers holding onto their strongest film for a very specific release date, it casts a very obvious dearth on the rest of the year. The year is top ended, with the majority of great films getting released from December to February. Not to say there will be no more great films this year, it would just be more welcoming for more of these worthy efforts getting released in the Summer time, when Blockbuster fatigue is setting in. And of course, just as it can get quite tiring after a while reseeing all the explosions and shallow characterisation the Summer has to offer, it can also get samey reliving all the more classic and serious minded films the Awards Season has in store. I find it all the more strange then, that "Black Swan" is one of those films being considered for awards. Not to say it is undeserving of its awards success, far from it, but it just seems most of these films are more often than not 'safe'. Not to take away from any of them, as this is never necessarily a bad thing, it just seems blatantly obvious as to what films are going to be favoured by the Academy and get nominated and win awards. "Black Swan" is completely and unashamedly polarizing. Just as many people going into it will detest it as those to proclaim it to be a breathless work of art. Moreso than that, when was the last time you saw a film win awards that featured extreme violence, jump scares, and a full on no holds barred lesbian scene? This is not any film however. This is a film by Darren Aronofsky, and any glance over his body of work shows perfectly what we have in store here. "The Wrestler" may have brought him more mainstream success, but it has not for one second changed his sensibilities. His films split a fine line through the audience. They are more often than not, searingly brutal, uncomfortable to watch, quite upsetting and visually majestic. You may not have enjoyed the ride he has brought you on, but at the very least, you will not be able to shake it off for days. This is a tradition he upholds in glorious style, with "Black Swan".
Ballet dancer Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) lives a sheltered and very protective existence under her Mothers (Barbara Hershey) wing. When she is finally picked to appear as the lead in the new production of 'Swan Lake', it seems all her years of practice have finally paid off. However, Thomas (Vincent Cassel) her sexually manipulative director, says Nina is too technically perfect in her dancing skills. While this is perfect for the White Swan side of the character, she does not know how to lose herself in the moment to fully engage as the Black Swan. This is embodied in Lily (Mila Kunis), a new younger upstart, who fits the Black Swan role perfectly. She is everything Nina secretly wishes she could be; confidant, sexually ambitious and dances gracefully and carefree. Pressure comes from everywhere: her so called 'friends', her Mother, her director who may or may not be abusing her and Beth (Winona Ryder), the aging dancer Nina recently replaced. The immense pressure coming from all angles causes Nina's psyche to crack. Of course this could all be intentional. Is Nina's quest from shy, unassuming 'nice' girl to vampish and psychotic seducer what she needs, in order to fully inhabit the Black Swan character, and win the adulation she craves? The film, at the very least is intense. Led by Portman's stunning turn, the film begins quite melodramatically and grows ever more nightmarish and terrifying as more and more of Ninas psyche comes undone. Everywhere she looks is an oppressive force looking to corrupt the innocent star. However as it turns out, Nina's greatest enemy may in fact be herself. In every scene mirrors dominate the frame, with a mysterious doppelganger skirting around the edges. It's no coincidence that Thomas' repeated orders for Ninas technique is to 'lose yourself'. Paranoia and vivid, walking hallucinations dominate proceedings and all the while Nina struggles to keep it all together. The film is very effective in showing Ninas floundering mental state, and all the more disconcerting for it. You may not want to experience something so vividly dissected, but you will not be able to tear your eyes from the screen come its gloriously deranged climax.
Of course, this is Aronofsky through and through. The film shares parallels with his previous feature "The Wrestler", something the director himself acknowledges. As he himself puts it, 'Wrestling some consider the lowest art—if they would even call it art—and ballet some people consider the highest art. But what was amazing to me was how similar the performers in both of these worlds are. They both make incredible use of their bodies to express themselves'. Aronofsky again takes pleasure in detailing the routine behind the scenes injuries of these show people. Their bodies take as much a beating as their heads and hearts do. Aronofsky shoots in a similar style to that film, yet as "Black Swan" goes on, it throws subtlety out the window in favour of shocking violence and terrifying ghosts, haunting our heroines mind. Interesting also to note, that Aronofsky gave its so called 'low art form' of the wrestling world, a far more subtle and heartbreaking emotional experience; while for ballet, the 'higher art form', he goes to great extremes in making everything visually heightened and wildly excessive. This is part of his genius. His is surely one of the best visions in Hollywood right now. His films are not ever nice or pleasant, but they always make the audience feel. In fact "Black Swan" also shares some parallels with his sophomoric effort "Requiem For A Dream". Both films feature underlying themes of how fragile the mind can be, and both race towards a nightmarish and disturbingly surreal conclusion. In fact it is probably for the best Aronofsky has not yet crafted an out and out horror film as of yet; the results might simply be too much to take. Anybody who has witnessed "Requiem For A Dream" can tell you just how terrifying it portrays drug abuse; likewise here, there are some scenes that will have you looking out from behind your popcorn. And yet the overall film, never descends into horror cliche. As unsettling and creepy as it threatens and indeed does get, it is grounded in our heroines performance, and her reality. Losing ones mind is something most people fear. Aronofsky knows how to take basic and very real human fears and turn them into nightmares on screen.
Portman gives an incredible performance. She puts absolutely everything into her performance and not just into the dancing, so stunningly photographed by Aronofsky regular Matthew Libatique. The dichotomy of her character is also enforced by the real life Portman; we all know she has what it takes to be nervous and fragile Nina, but what about that rarely tapped, darker side? It doesn't matter because Portman nails both. Aronofsky always gets incredible performances out of his actors. After the career best turns he coaxed from Ellen Burstyn in "Requiem" and Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" would be be unreasonable to add Portman to that list? No, here she shines brighter than ever before, and taken out of her normal comfort zone so much as she is here, shows what a courageous actor she is. This film calls for some outrageous scenes and situations to be in, and without Portmans convincing veneer, the audience would be lost in the jumbled mess of this persons mind. Cassel aides as a very sly and slimy director. His actions and power to manipulate others minds and bodies is ugly to watch, but nontheless entrancing. Kunis also gives a fantastic performance as the woman who may or may not be out to steal Ninas role for herself, while Barbara Hershey terrifies as the passive-aggressive Mother. It is through Nina she lives now; all her dreams and failures are on Ninas back and with her constant nagging and treating her daughter like a little girl, it is obvious that even without the ballet underlying the drama, Nina would still be teetering on the edge of sanity.
The film is stunningly filmed. It has images and scenes that stick in the memory long after the final lights have died down. Aronofsky goes for grandiose in every performance and scene. As events spiral towards a breathtaking and original climax, no matter how much you want to, you will not be able to tear your eyes from the screen. The dance sequences are majestically filmed and the underlying grace and beauty of ballet, is contrasted brutally with Aronofsky's hard edged presentation of it. It is quite possible, you won't see anything like this for a while. For his next gig, Aronofsky is helming the new 'Wolverine' film. Charged with the saving of a franchise as big as that shows the faith in his talent. Looking at his films when he started no one could have predicted they would be awards favourites, mainstream successes, or even blockbuster extravaganzas. How such a searingly inventive, extreme and original director achieved this must show that maybe it is in fact the world that is losing its mind, and not Darren Aronofsky.
Verdict: 85%
Divisive, terrifying, putrid, ugly, depressing, exuberant, theatrical, original, thrilling, shocking, exciting and remarkable. Vintage Aronofsky then.
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