Black Swan from the start feels a step above and removed from reality. It tries to capture ballet not in form but in feeling- much like how ballet relies on physicality and intense, precise movement and melodrama to convey feeling without words, this film does the same through its own medium. Whereas on the stage you, by its nature, can only see the dance from one angle, Black Swan embraces the camera and uses disorienting, intimate angles from the very first dance scenes to convey a sense of precariousness to everything, where one slip of the foot could lead to a crash. And the film only doubled down further the more it goes on.
Every actor commits to their role by amplifying them, stretching them out, not obliterating the nuances but leaving them speckled in the fabric like font on a worn and stretched shirt. Portman's Nina embodies fragility, wide eyed and soft voiced. One touch or word could have her shatter. And then when the film calls for it, she embraces the siren's call, the catharsis of falling, the fleeting power of the breakdown when you know everything is about to fall apart and you won't be able to bounce back from it but oh, that moment isn't here yet and so you are invincible. Perfect. Cassel is a total sleaze, the male auteur convinced that his misogynistic projections are genius readings and his abuses of power favors of love. Hershey is the perfect stage mom, love and possessiveness, support and envy, care and abuse all wrapped up into one indistinguishable ball. Kunis' Lily's part is to contrast all this, to be the one Normal person and therefore the person Nina is the most paranoid of. She's what Nina wants- to be like or to be with or both, her freedom and detachment both a magnet and repellent to her- but will not allow herself to admit so in reality, and a reflection of her demons and fears in her mind.
The psychological and body horror are well done. More than a few skin peelings made me wince. But some big swings miss, like a scene with the drawings that made me laugh, or some questionable CGI contortion. These contribute to an odd sense of detachment from Aronofsky. There's a voyuerism to this film, where Nina doesn't feel lived in where we are experiencing this heightened reality with her but rather gawking at her breakdown and- of course- her latent homosexuality. Is there a thematic reason for it? Certainly- you can draw a clear line between it and Nina's suppression both from herself and her mother, her slotting into only one world and path and way of being. But when the lead straight actress says herself "Everyone was so worried about who was going to want to see this movie. I remember them being like, ‘How do you get guys to a ballet movie? How do you get girls to a thriller?’ And the answer is a lesbian scene. Everyone wants to see that," it leads one to wonder if this and the masturbation scene are more gratification than story. Though I've yet to see either, I hear Requiem for a Dream and The Whale get similar complaints, so I'm left to wonder if this film is more character study or freak show.
Still, even if it is the latter, it's a well made one. It's a trip that pulls you along, and the ending with a killer performance from Portman got me choking up. Black Swan isn't perfect. But it doesn't need to be to be plenty engaging, thought provoking, and mesmerizing.
Review by JCVIP 4BlockedParent2022-10-22T06:52:52Z
Black Swan from the start feels a step above and removed from reality. It tries to capture ballet not in form but in feeling- much like how ballet relies on physicality and intense, precise movement and melodrama to convey feeling without words, this film does the same through its own medium. Whereas on the stage you, by its nature, can only see the dance from one angle, Black Swan embraces the camera and uses disorienting, intimate angles from the very first dance scenes to convey a sense of precariousness to everything, where one slip of the foot could lead to a crash. And the film only doubled down further the more it goes on.
Every actor commits to their role by amplifying them, stretching them out, not obliterating the nuances but leaving them speckled in the fabric like font on a worn and stretched shirt. Portman's Nina embodies fragility, wide eyed and soft voiced. One touch or word could have her shatter. And then when the film calls for it, she embraces the siren's call, the catharsis of falling, the fleeting power of the breakdown when you know everything is about to fall apart and you won't be able to bounce back from it but oh, that moment isn't here yet and so you are invincible. Perfect. Cassel is a total sleaze, the male auteur convinced that his misogynistic projections are genius readings and his abuses of power favors of love. Hershey is the perfect stage mom, love and possessiveness, support and envy, care and abuse all wrapped up into one indistinguishable ball. Kunis' Lily's part is to contrast all this, to be the one Normal person and therefore the person Nina is the most paranoid of. She's what Nina wants- to be like or to be with or both, her freedom and detachment both a magnet and repellent to her- but will not allow herself to admit so in reality, and a reflection of her demons and fears in her mind.
The psychological and body horror are well done. More than a few skin peelings made me wince. But some big swings miss, like a scene with the drawings that made me laugh, or some questionable CGI contortion. These contribute to an odd sense of detachment from Aronofsky. There's a voyuerism to this film, where Nina doesn't feel lived in where we are experiencing this heightened reality with her but rather gawking at her breakdown and- of course- her latent homosexuality. Is there a thematic reason for it? Certainly- you can draw a clear line between it and Nina's suppression both from herself and her mother, her slotting into only one world and path and way of being. But when the lead straight actress says herself "Everyone was so worried about who was going to want to see this movie. I remember them being like, ‘How do you get guys to a ballet movie? How do you get girls to a thriller?’ And the answer is a lesbian scene. Everyone wants to see that," it leads one to wonder if this and the masturbation scene are more gratification than story. Though I've yet to see either, I hear Requiem for a Dream and The Whale get similar complaints, so I'm left to wonder if this film is more character study or freak show.
Still, even if it is the latter, it's a well made one. It's a trip that pulls you along, and the ending with a killer performance from Portman got me choking up. Black Swan isn't perfect. But it doesn't need to be to be plenty engaging, thought provoking, and mesmerizing.