Black Swan is a feverish concoction that recalls the early psychological thrillers of Roman Polanski along with the backstage drama of All About Eve and a dash of Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes. Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky continues exploring themes of addiction and the mental anguish that comes from naked ambition. In his debut film, Pi, a mathematical genius is driven to the brink of insanity due to an obsession with a numerical sequence that might allow one to contact God. His sophomore effort, Requiem for a Dream, followed a quartet of hopeful dreamers whose lives are utterly destroyed by their addictions.
Thematically, Black Swan matches up very closely to Aronofsky's previous picture, The Wrestler. On the surface, ballet and professional wrestling seem like they are worlds apart, one is considered highbrow and the other lowbrow. But, both are performance arts that require its participants to sacrifice a great deal in terms of physical well-being and personal lives. While The Wrestler focused on a downtrodden man past his prime, Black Swan centers on a young woman at the cusp of a burgeoning career.
Natalie Portman is Nina Sayers, a dancer for a prestigious New York company run by the artsy alpha male, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel). For the new season, Leroy boastfully proclaims that his production of Tchaikovsky's "Black Swan" will practically reinvent the old standby. He chooses Nina as his new lead with reservations. In terms of grace and technique, Nina has all the skills necessary to dance the role of the White Swan. However, she lacks the raw sensuality to dance the role of her twin, the Black Swan. As Nina throws herself into her work, her grasp on reality gradually unwinds. Her unbalanced mental state is only exacerbated by the arrival of Lily (Mila Kunis), who threatens to steal her spot as the company's top star. Lily is everything that Nina is not. Lily is sexy and free-spirited whereas Nina is virginal and repressed.
Physically, Nina must remain thin and lithe while mentally, she is kept in a state of child-like regression by her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey). The Sayers live in a cramped apartment with Nina's bedroom decorated in pink and littered with doodles and stuffed animals. It's clear that whatever psychological problems have plagued Nina for years and haven't sprung up overnight.
Much like David Cronenberg, Aronofsky blurs the line between reality and the protagonist's distorted fantasies. The director pulls the carpet out from under the audience multiple times as Nina slips further and further away from sanity. The film's much talked about lesbian sex scene between its starlets is a firm example. Perhaps, it really happened. Most red-blooded males certainly hope it did. Was it a complete dream or maybe a masturbatory desire? Also cribbed from Cronenberg is Aronofsky's fascination with extreme body horror as Nina finds herself gradually morphing into some sort of avian form.
The first and second acts of Black Swan are gripping thanks to the excellent performances of Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. Aronofsky's long-time cinematographer, Matthew Labatique (who shot on Super 16mm with some DSLR work), gives the film a grainy look that only accentuates the moody atmosphere. But, the film's final act is where it goes completely off the rails. Black Swan switches from creepy psychological thriller to wildly over-the-top melodrama. Any semblance of subtlety is thrown right out the window. It's difficult to tell if Aronofsky wanted the movie to be taken seriously or treated as camp.
Rating: ** (*****)
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