Black Swan

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Han S Apr 26, 2019 Horror has never really been my genre but Black Swan kept me engaged because more than being a horror it's a film about the struggle of being an artist. I've been interested in Darren Aronofsky as a director since seeing Pi (1998) with my parents and this being one of his most popular films I expected something great. I really enjoyed elements of it and the performances of Barbara Hershey and Vincent Cassel were perfect but I felt it got too caught up in the Mila Kunis subplot and it ran a little too long for my liking. This is probably one of the better horror films I've seen but I wouldn't place it on the level of Carrie (1976) or The Shining (1980) because Natalie Portman's performance isn't as good as Sissy Spacek's and comparing it to something as intricately constructed as The Shining is just unfair. Nina Sayers, Natalie Portman, is a technically gifted young ballerina who is extremely conscientious about her craft, a fact that lets her down when she asked to portrayed the sensual and free-moving black swan in a production of Swan Lake. She is given the lead role despite her difficulty with one half of it and she faces off against a lascivious ballet instructor, Vincent Cassel, the concerns of her mother, Barbara Hershey, a rival ballerina with a greater handle on the black swan role in Lily, Mila Kunis, and herself as her hysteria leads her to have visions of transforming into a black swan. She pushes herself to the limit as she strives to perfect her performance in the role and become what those around her want her to be causing a disturbing chain of events and a surreal climax. Scenes of a woman tearing a strip of perfectly healthy flesh off of her body and then watching in awe as shockingly red blood cascades out from the wound is always going to be uncomfortable but it is the mental not physical horror that Sayers and the audience face that is more terrifying. Jealousy is an emotion that is universally relatable and seeing Lily through the eyes of Sayers we understand her envy, how could someone who seemingly tries so little be so effortlessly talented? When she listens to her mother berate her for scratching herself in stressful moments that anxiety is felt by all audience members, the disappointment and rage of your mother is a scary thing to contend with. All of these human obstacles are well conveyed and all of them put together ratchet up the stress level so that we understand why Sayers act out. Combining that with grotesquely beautiful body horror makes for a stressful experience. Barbara Hershey, one of the greatest living actresses, is almost too good as the mother living vicariously through her daughter who is caring and attentive but also infantilizes her daughter in a dangerous way. The scenes between herself and Portman are some of the best in the film as Hershey draws the best out of her fellow actress as she always does. Her laser focus on every word her daughter utters and the way that all of her words are spoken with a touch of annoyance as though she is directing her criticisms both at her daughter and herself add to the sinister aura that surrounds the character. Cassel is fantastic as a very creepy ballet instructor who has a habit of starting inappropriate relationships with his charges as his shifts from cold and professional to manipulative seduction are smooth. Barbara Hershey would have been a deserving Best Supporting Actress winner and her lack of nomination is shocking and disappointing but the Academy has a habit of not properly recognizing her. The moments where the film loses me are when Sayers and Lily go out for a night of debauchery with a young Sebastian Stan and eventually one another. Aronofsky lingers on the lesbian â~lovemaking' a little too long for my liking and it feels like an expensive pornographic film for a while instead of a thinking man's horror movie. We also see Portman, clad only in pink underwear, writhing around with her hand down her knickers attempting to let loose, an idea that we only needed a few seconds of screen time to convey but instead we get a full minute of this. For a film that is largely critical of the male gaze with Vincent Cassel's character being seen as a negative force these scenes feel as though they're being shot by Paul Verhoeven. This is a very good film that could do with a few unnecessarily long scenes being cut down but Hershey's wonderfulness and the close-to-home depiction of everyday stresses put the film well above the rest. See more

Apr 24, 2019 It is exquisite, with great meaning. Natalie Portman is spectacular, she does a great job!

Poe S Apr 22, 2019 Black Swan (2010) While Black Swan was highly stylized, it was also quite predictable. Most of the film's surreal "scary" and "sexy" action is happening in naive Nina's head as the result of burgeoning mental illness -- to which her mother was also prone. Black Swan is a bizarre ride you take via a vulnerable, woman-child who is used by her dance director to continue HIS fame and glory; he pushes Nina over the edge in the hope of tapping into her primal desires, fears, and urges...the dark "black swan" side of things. Somehow, it's still not very compelling; seems oddly pretentious and self-aware. One view was enough. The Wrestler, by the same director, was superior in comparison, imo. -April 2019 See more

George R Apr 7, 2019 Really amazing great Performances From Portman & Kuniz...Kept me on the Edge of my seat the Entire Movie!!!!!...

Hermione G Apr 4, 2019 5/5. A beautiful, yet insane film with fantastic performances.

Harry S Mar 1, 2019 Nina Sayers is a tragic heroine through and through. And by that I mean that besides that she possess a flaw that leads to her downfall, which she must accept with honour, we, the audience, shouldn't expect to be surprised by the ending; it's often kinda predictable. With that being said, we must know that Aronofsky's task is that of filling the movie with a sense of dread and macabre atmosphere in order to forebode the tragic ending, while pushing the envelope as much as he can in order to make everything seem original, and hence unexpected. The first thing is actually what Darren Aronofsky excels at. And in Black Swan, Aronofsky created a nightmarish surrealistic ambiance; using some of the most effective, if not the most violent, graphic gory images he ever used in his movies, and utilizing the sound almost as perfect as he did in Requiem for a Dream, only this time not just to disturb, but also to scare and daunt. In doing so, Aronofsky went far beyond foreshadowing Nina's dreadful inevitable downfall, making us feel Nina's pain as if we became her; Aronofsky made my feathery skin crawls! Alas, Black Swan's visual imagery sadly lacks creativity. Most of the symbolic imagery I felt that they are quite familiar, and that I had seen many times before. That said, the visceral and bold direction of Aronofsky made up for that with genuine intensity. The vague and mysterious nature of the characters and their actions adds up to the uniqueness of the movie, especially as they don't tarnish the drama, nor reject the logic for the sake of surrealism. I enjoyed interpreting the characters' motives, actions, and even purposes and roles in the story. The way they are represented can feel a bit messy sometimes, though. I think that what made me believe that the movie is a bit convoluted for its own good, and that Aronofsky tried too hard to give us as many reasons as he could to persuade us that Nina deserves her tragic fate while Nina's "hamartia" is crystal clear from hundred miles away in a most play-like way. The performances are all truly outstanding. As for Natalie Portman, she delivered what is indisputably her fantastic career's best performance; she was simply Perfect! (8.5/10) See more

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Black Swan

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