Black Swan

Black Swan (2010) is a Psychological Thriller of a play within a film, following the story of "Swan Lake." Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a young woman living with her mother while she attends school to be a ballerina. She's extremely timid, shy, and virginal, and when she is chosen to audition for the play "Swan Lake," she's a shoe in for the role of "White Swan," but there's a problem- Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), her teacher, wants to cast the same woman for the roles of "White Swan" and "Black Swan" and Nina just doesn't embody the Black Swan. She convinces him without knowing on a bite to the lip when he attempts to take advantage of her, and he casts her as the Swan Queen, despite his fears that she's not versatile. As the tension heats up for Nina, not quite being able to let go of her frustrations and need to be absolutely perfect, and her mother only adds to her stress, Nina hesitantly makes friends with the easy-going party girl Lily (Mila Kunis), who can never show up on time and pops pills with her alcohol. But is everyone as innocent as they appear? Who can Nina trust? As Opening Night draws closer, and she begins to question what she's really seeing apart from what she might be hallucinating, everything's called into question, and the roles of White and Black Swan will have to become one.

The original story was written by Andres Heinz.  It was adapted into a screenplay by Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, and John J. Mclaughlin, and directed by Darren Aronofsky, who also directed one of my absolute favorite thrillers, Requiem for a Dream, as well as The Wrestler. Aronofsky was originally interested in ballet when his sister was in school, and he hired a team of screenwriters to break down the script called The Understudy to make this film. He added in various elements that he was drawn to, including the duelity of the White and Black Swan characters. He first approached Natalie Portman about the role of a ballerina back in 2000, before he directed The Wrestler, and found her attracted to the idea. He mentioned to her the love scene between two ballerinas, in which one sees herself in the other, and she found it to be a great comentary on art and artists- being equally in love with and repulsed by themselves. It was Portman who reccomended Kunis (her good friend) for the role opposite her as the 'looser' character with more passion, juxtaposed to Portman's 'good girl,' who was stiff as a board. To become ready for the roles, the girls each engaged in intense physical activity- for up to five hours of cadio, pilates, swimming, etc a day, seven days a week, for six months- before they even began learning the cheoriography. Kunis, normally weighing about 117 pounds, lost 20, and Portman lost even more. They do fit the standard of professional ballerinas aesthetically in the film, but it is rather jarring to see the span of Portman's shoulders holding up her head in almost the same width. Jarring. This film is up for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing, this year at the Academy Awards.

This film is more startling than I understood it to be. The thriller theme runs through it like a spine, and this movie really is very surprising and dark. Portman has become kind of a stick for me as playing roles in which her character is... well... nuts; crazy, but badass- so that part was no shock, for me. The shockers for me were the hallucinations, the visual effects in which she nearly becomes a swan, the relationship with the mother character (Barbara Hershey), and all the erotic moments, so still, frigid, that we feel terrible for watching- just another person interupting her privacy and keeping her from orgasm. The whole film sort of walks on the edge of a needle, teetering between insanity, genius, and some third dimension, raw passion. The themes are well-written, and beautifully executed, and though the protagonist has a very clear arc,

I don't think I'd vote this film as Best Cinematography, having seen Inception. However- and it's kind of unfair to say this with complete certainty since I have not seen Blue Valentine or The Kids are Alright, but, thus far, I would vote for Portman as Best Actress in a Leading Role. I did really like Lawrence's performance in Winter's Bone, but Portman is just so shocking and compelling to watch, that she wins me over in almost anything I see- and damn that girl works hard. This is also not my choice for Best Picture, still gunning for either Inception or The King's Speech as I am. I'm holding off on the judgment of Best Director and Best Editing for a spell, not being especially moved by this film in either of those departments, and still needing to see the other nominees.

A couple of my fellow screenwriters, and several of my close friends, didn't like this film. There were moments when I thought that certain emotions could have been conveyed better (having not seen Swan Lake, except for The Swan Princess when I was a child) and there were moments when I didn't know exactly what was going on- having nothing to do with a hallucination. But, maybe I'm just stupid. I did love the costumes in the piece, but having a play within a film... of course there are going to be great costumes. I would reccomend that people see it as a THRILLER piece, and not necessarily for the Swan Lake component, though I was equally impressed with Portman as a dancer, having never seen that side of her, before. She did very well. I do think this movie was worth seeing. I don't find it to be Best Picture, but I did enjoy it.