Black Swan

Wow. Darren Aronofsky's film Black Swan grabs the viewer, and hits them over the head with one of the most powerful films I've ever watched. Which is also probably my first (and certainly not my last) psychodrama.

The film follows Nina (Natalie Portman), a ballerina at Lincoln Centre, whose life is consumed by ballet. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother (Barbara Hershey) who wraps her up in a pink, toy filled bedroom, and almost controls the day-to-day life of her 'sweet girl'. Meanwhile, the company's old prima ballerina, Beth (Winona Ryder) is retiring and so the director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) announces his search for a replacement to dance the role of the Swan Queen, Odette, as well as the Black Swan, Odile in a new version of Swan Lake. Whilst he picks Nina, channelling the role's darker part causes her to become more and more obsessed with perfection, and her paranoia surrounding new soloist Lily (Mila Kunis) threaten to consume her wholly.

I'd been looking forward to watching this film since it was first announced, and it did not disappoint. The performances are all fantastic. Portman thoroughly deserves all the accolades she has achieved and should and hopefully will sweep the Leading Actress categories this year. Hershey as the terrifyingly overbearing mother was also strong, and Cassel brought a weirdly charming, creepiness to the role of Thomas, who seems to revel in his power over multitudes of young women. Kunis doesn't really have to do that much, other than be good-looking, and the polar opposite to Nina, but her character of Lily is hugely important. Lily comes to represent part of Nina; the part she is keen to repress, and the part that threatens to eat her whole by the end.

The plot is pretty clear to any one who is familiar with the plot of Swan Lake, with further exploration of the idea of a duel personality. However, the way that Aronofsky delivers it is incredibly powerful. Nina begins having an eating disorder and problems self-harming, but it all seems (relatively) controlled. Yet it is not long before she begins thinking she's seeing doppelgangers in the street (normally dressed in black), her reflection moving differently to her, her reflection even doing the self-harming to her, and her face in place of Lily's and in place of Beth's. The fact that the whole film is from her perspective, the viewer almost feels a sense of self-doubt when it's finished-I know I began to question whether or not certain scenes were actually real or whether they were just figments of Nina's imagination.

The sound design was also phenomenal, it was the only time I really thoroughly noticed it and it added so much the film. The use of feathers, of swan noise of the music from both Swan Lake and newly composed and the accentuated sounds (especially the clicking of toes and feet), all build up alongside the jumpy visuals to create a truly wonderful film.

I'd advise you to go see this.