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Black Swan
| Released |
21 January 2011 |
| Director |
Darren Aronofsky |
Starring
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Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder |
Writer(s)
|
Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin |
Producer(s)
|
Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, Brian Oliver |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
111 minutes |
| Genre |
Drama, thriller |
| Rating |
16 |
|
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Delectable duplicity.
Fresh from the plaudits he received for 2008's The Wrestler Darren Aronofsky has once again taken a bold step into the insular realm of the performer. Indicating in interviews that he always meant Black Swan (conceived as far back as 2000) to be seen almost as a companion piece to The Wrestler-as two different takes on the troubled psyche of a damaged perfectionist-it seems almost unfair to compare them despite their fundamental similarities.
Black Swan follows the story of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) a talented young ballerina whose life is completely consumed by dance. When her prestigious ballet company announces plans to kick off the new season with a production of Swan Lake, artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) has plans to cast Nina as his prima ballerina. However he does have some reservations: the duplicitous role of the Swan Queen calls for the sweet graceful innocence of the white swan but also the dark sensuality of the black swan. While Nina is perfect as the former, it is her rival dancer Lily (Mila Kunis) who embodies the recklessness of the latter. Their competitive rivalry soon evolves into a twisted psychosexual friendship as Nina seeks to unleash her dark side with strange and thrilling results.
Aronofsky's formula of intertwining the real and the fantastical can go either of two ways-the absurd (The Fountain) or the supremely good-and thankfully it is here that Black Swan nestles comfortably. His visceral directorial style finds its apogee in the combination of elements he has seamlessly entwined here-reality, illusion, suspense, aggression and melodrama are just some of the driving forces at work in Black Swan as we watch Nina slowly start to unravel.
While some have criticised the lack of actual bona fide dancers in the more prominent roles, this argument seems more than a little nonsensical when the vast majority of people who will actually experience Black Swan are non-dancers who are happily unaware of the difference between a plies and a pirouette. 'Could have fooled me' seems an appropriate response when we observe Portman and Kunis leap around the stage en passe and their serious commitment to training before and during filming should be duly acknowledged. Some visionary directing would of course be nothing without some seriously bravura performances from its leading actors-Portman is excellent as the damaged fragile Nina while Kunis is a revelation as the rebellious good-time girl Nina whose flirtatious and confident manner perfectly offsets the naiveté of the white swan. Cassel brings more than a little European decadence to affairs while Winona Ryder makes a welcome, albeit minor, return to the big screen as the self-mutilating former ballerina star Beth MacIntyre.
While some may ultimately fail to surrender to Black Swan's twisted tale, a greater number will undoubtedly succumb to the machinations of a troubled mind.
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Louisa McElwee |
