Don’t believe the hype! Black Swan is the best film of the year! I love “Black Swan!” OMG Black Swan is amazing! You are going to love it! That’s what people have been telling me for months, ever since the film opened at the Venice Film Festival this fall to raves reviews. Maybe I saw a different movie but I really didn’t like this film. I did really like Natalie Portman’s performance and it is definitely worth all the accolades. She has always been an excellent actress and the fact that she had to learn ballet and does it as well as she does in the movie, is impressive. Her performance is believable and interesting as well. The problem with this film was not the acting, although I did think Barbara Hershey was terrible, but the trouble was the confusing script and abstract directing. I’m really surprised at how much I disliked this film, especially because I really loved “The Wrestler,” Darren Aronofsky’s last movie, but in the end I was just bored and completely turned off by the film’s strange and ridiculous twists.
The film begins by introducing us to Nina (an excellent Natalie Portman), who is a professional ballerina in New York City. She lives with her overbearing mother (Hershey), who was once a ballerina as well. Nina desperately wants to break out of the ensemble and become the prima ballerina in their new show, “Swan Lake.” Thomas (Vincent Cassel), the director of the ballet has decided to replace his lead ballerina (Winona Ryder), with a new star. He holds auditions and Tina is set on getting the part. The ballerina must play both the white and black swan in the show and she is perfect for the role of the white swan. Unfortunately she doesn’t fit the role of the black swan as well as her rival, Lily (Mila Kunis). After pleading with Thomas for the parts, Nina wins the two roles and begins rehearsals. She strikes up a cautious friendship with Lily, which ends in unexpected ways. At the same time, something strange is physically happening to Nina, which she cannot understand. As opening night approaches and Nina prepares for her role, she pushes her body to the limit, as well as her relationship with her mother and eventually things start to fall apart. Now, Nina must pull herself together and figure out what is happening to her before Lilly is able to sabotage her and steal her roles.
The film has many twists and turns and I was careful to not give too many away but they all felt forced and out of left field at times. The movie seems to be an interesting look at the world of competitive ballet but then becomes a strange horror film by the end. While the movie doesn’t answer many questions by the conclusion I was just left with, “Really? That’s it? That’s the explanation?” I wish the film had known what it wanted to be. The ballet stuff was interesting enough, especially thanks to Portman’s performance, so I don’t feel like I needed that psychological thriller that the movie became. I’m not really sure what Aronofsky was even trying to say with this movie. I guess he was trying to say something about dual personalities but I just felt it missed the mark. There are also some weird scenes that come out of nowhere too, like a masturbation sequence as well as a love scene between Portman and Kunis. They didn’t seem to fit the story, although they did fit the offbeat tone of the film.
I guess what maybe confuses me the most is, what are people seeing in this? Am I missing something? I wanted to like this movie more, but I just didn’t enjoy it. Again, Portman was fantastic and the dancing was beautiful. I wish there was more of it. Portman’s Nina is very endearing and we do care for her by the film’s end but her metamorphose seems like a cheap metaphor more than anything else. Kunis is good in her role as the bad girl and can certainly carry off the dancing too. While the final moments of the film shed some light on what has been happening throughout the movie, you almost don’t care by that point. Getting there was so awkward, confusing and tedious that you kind of just say, “Okay, that’s it?” The story is just bizarre and the mood of the film is odd. Maybe the director wanted it to be jarring in some way but I was just unimpressed by the pacing of the film.
There are definitely some interesting aspects to this movie but I just think it fell short. I know it is a front-runner for a best picture nomination at the Oscars this year and I don’t really know why. I can easily think of ten better movies than this one that came out this year. Aronofsky will probably be nominated as well and I just think he’s made a lot of better movies than this. Now, if the script gets a nomination … that would be a tragedy. But Portman deserves all the praise she is receiving for this role, especially considering how good she is in such a strange and uneven film. She gives a fully rounded performance and he believability, as a ballerina, is just incredible. In the end, I think Aronofsky bite off more than he could chew. He was trying to make an abstract/artsy film with a twist and I don’t think it worked. The genre aspect confuses the film and I think the metaphor then gets lost. What could have been a beautiful movie about the New York ballet and the challenges of trying to survive in that world is instead a weird, uneven film that will leave you confused and unsatisfied at the end.
