Black Swan is a beautifully done film, shot artful and creative, but in the end leaves the viewer feeling sort of tom and want to just a little more. It is big on appearance and excitement, but in the end, I wonder where we end up?
Natalie Portmans character, Nina Sayers, winner playing a leading role in the ballet Swan Lake on a major stage company in Manhattan. The role has a dual role, a part of delicate, innocent White Swan, and the other the darker, more seductive and intense Black Swan. Nina's demanding Director, played by Vincent Cassel, using each manipulation mind games in his considerable arsenal to lure the Black Swan out of her. As the pressure builds up and opening day is approaching, Nina descends into delusion, paranoia and madness, no longer sure of what is real and what is not, which is out to get her, and who is on her side.
The viewer sees the film mainly through Nina's eyes, which adds to the confusion about what exactly is going on here. One minute we see her rock bands from his ankles in close-up, revealing very real vabler and itch from the intensity of the dance practice; the next she plucking actual Swan feathers from under his skin and sweating in a psychotic rage. We swear we see her in an extended hot and heavy sex scene with her understudy, Mila Kunis, but did it really happen? After a while it becomes impossible to say, which is to say, it is impossible for our main characters to tell what is going on around her. She is going mad.
At the same time, there is the specter of Nina's cold, last, check the Mom hanging over her, demanding to know her whereabouts and regulating food intake to ensure optimal performance. But like feathers, wild night in bed and demons lurk around every corner, we ask themselves after awhile how real Mom is itself. She is a direct cause of insanity, Constitutional Affairs Nina ... or is her very image a result of this madness?
It is all done very well, confusing, even disgusting ... to a point. When we reach catastrophic climax Black Swan opening evening, does it feel like we have put on the spin cycle of a washing machine. The difference between real and imagined will become even more impossible to decipher, and the film's dramatic conclusion is no different. It is a maze of mirrors, which lends itself well to conversation and analysis, but lacks the resolution that we are looking for investing so much emotional energy in a movie.
Portman and Kunis is fantastic in their roles, which is the formidable Barbara Hershey as Nina's Mom. All things considered, the Black Swan is worth a screening for its artistic value and uniqueness (I am sure it will be especially noticeable on LCD HDTV), but don't expect a huge dividends in the end.
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