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THE BLACK SWAN

COMPETITION BECOMES TOO MUCH FOR A BALLERINA



★★★★★ (A Must-See)

Director: Darren Aronofsky

2010



On the opening night for Swan Lake, ballerina Nina Sayers visits the “aging” woman she replaced, giving back trinkets like perfume, earrings, and lipstick she stole over the years. The timid Nina insists she committed the theft because she wanted to be that much closer to perfection; and this unattainable need is the underlying theme in The Black Swan, a movie about an athlete losing her mind due to the pressure. This is a beautifully crafted and mesmerizing film, and Natalie Portman’s performance as the titular ballerina is nothing short of miraculous. Portman plays the character as vulnerable, not weak; as anxious, but not so far gone she can’t function. Nina walks through life with a worried expression that begs, “Am I good enough?” We’ve all known a Nina or been a Nina (especially at work) and their neediness only digs their grave deeper, annoys others into alienating them. During downtime at the studio, she’s always alone, and even if she wanted to branch out beyond the obsession of perfection in her field, she couldn’t because she’s enabled by her single mother, a former ballerina who lives vicariously through her only child.


In a professional ballet company in New York City, Nina is just one of many who play supporting roles behind the prima ballerina (Winona Ryder). One afternoon, director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) makes a rare appearance among the peasants to let them know he’s putting on a grittier version of Swan Lake and is looking for a new prima ballerina who will play both leads: The virginal white swan and the lustful black swan. The stakes are high for Nina because she’s on the wrong side of twenty in a profession that has an expiration date. She makes the first cut which means she’s allowed to try-out for the part…but it doesn’t go well.



In tears, she runs home to the apartment she shares with her mother. While the city is filmed as a sinister thing, with dark corners and grime, Nina’s bedroom is made up of pastels and stuffed animals and florals. It’s the jewelry box her co-dependent mother Erica (Barbara Hershey) has trapped her in. Erica has succeeded in infantilizing and disabling her daughter, who whines about the bad audition, and like any small child, blames it on someone else—the new girl, Lily (Mina Kunis). To everyone’s surprise, when the roles are announced, Nina has snagged the coveted prima ballerina status and the lead in Swan Lake.


This is when she begins to unravel. Nina’s an excellent, innocent white swan, but Thomas is becoming more and more frustrated with her as she can’t seem to transform into the black one. He constantly compares her to Lily, who is free and flirty, and begins to wonder if he picked the wrong girl for the part. Because Thomas has singled out Lily as Nina’s competition, the new prima ballerina—like any high-achiever—fixates on how she can be more like this sexually-charged young woman. Nina tries to explore her sexuality for the first time in her life, but she’s never known privacy; there are no locks on the doors and Erica barges into any room at any time. I know all too well the misery of living with a mother without boundaries, and predictably, Nina starts to rebel.


The attention from Erica, Thomas, and Lily eventually whittles down Nina until she hallucinates. You see, Black Swan is also about mental illness, and how lack of support and extra pressure can cause someone to completely break. For Nina, Swan Lake is a trail of gunpowder to a keg. Old habits resurface, such as skin-picking and anorexia. Like Rosemary’s Baby, we’re as disoriented as our heroine, and we don’t know what’s real or imagined.


“WE’VE ALL KNOWN A NINA OR BEEN A NINA (ESPECIALLY AT WORK) AND THEIR NEEDINESS ONLY DIGS THEIR GRAVE DEEPER, ANNOYS OTHERS INTO ALIENATING THEM.”


Black Swan is a fascinating look at the backstage of a ballet company’s production and its ruthless culture. Cassel plays the lecherous Thomas with just enough charm; the director could have been a casting couch stereotype, but we’re given more than that from him as he works hard to make Swan Lake a true success. Hershey is wonderful as the unbalanced mother whose obsession with her daughter has long been toxic. Erica’s more than happy to mention she could have been a famous ballerina if she hadn’t gotten pregnant, which means Nina has always had to make up for ruining her mother’s opportunity. The woman flies off the handle with just a hint of criticism from her daughter, and paints macabre, Gaugin-esque paintings of her. Like a slew of other parents of athletes who claim they’re pushing their kids for their own good, Erica’s love appears to be contingent on the child’s success. She only realizes the damage she’s done at the eleventh hour.


Being perfect is Nina’s mantra, but not a single character in the movie asks this of her. She’s equated excellence with perfection, and they’re not the same thing. As Nina devolves and becomes a machine only capable of doing the one thing asked of her, she gets what she wants and everyone else is forced to accept their role in it.





GENRES: Feminist-Friendly, Psychological


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