BLACK SWAN
Darren Aronofsky
Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin
107 min.
Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder
R for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use.
The pursuit of perfection. Every young child is fettered by what they perceive is a requirement for their ultimate happiness. Please your parents and society and all will be wonderful. Darren Aronofsky’s ballet drama Black Swan shows one young woman’s agonizing attempt to achieve that unobtainable goal.
Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a member of a ballet company whose prima ballerina is being forced into early retirement. And for their first performance of the new season, the director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) is keen to stage a production of one of the most famous ballet programs in history: Swan Lake. To do so, he seeks a ballerina who can play the quiet, unassuming White Swan as well as the mischievous Black Swan. Nina has what it takes to play the perfection of the White Swan, but because of her sequestered home life, she knows little to nothing about evoking the vicious sensuality of the Black Swan.
When she’s given the chance to prove herself, it is her rivalry with a fellow ballerina, Lily (Mila Kunis) who drives her to shed her pristine image and embrace a darker side that will allow her to meet her own goals of perfection and play the ultimate part: The Swan Queen.
For her part, Portman’s transformation into the Black Swan is a tour de force. At the outset, in a scene where the dancers are practicing on the bars, the new director arrives and each ballerina perks up, energizes and tries to gain the eye of the watchful master. Like the swans they will portray, they preen and strut to make themselves more attractive and more accessible for this powerful man who will choose one of them to lead his new production. Portman inhabits the scene as she stares hopefully at Leroy wanting to catch his attention, but afraid to act like those around her. She feels her talent should be enough to elevate her immediately to the role. Yet, her trepidation is palpable. The performance continues through the film as she faces varied tests to her personal beliefs: her rocky, sexually charged encounter with the director; her dejected proclamation of congratulations to a fellow ballerina whom she is sure will get the role; her bathroom emotional collapse; and much more. Each delicate scene pushes her character into our hearts, struggling against what she feels are insurmountable odds to attain what she wants more than anything.
And then, as she sees the dangerous potential betrayal of the new star Lily, she begins exhibiting out-of-character behavior, subconsciously imprinting her fears on her surroundings, fantasizing and embodying the escape from her shackled emotional development. She is trying to break free even if it means a destruction of everything that stands in her way. In a scene late in the film as she is confronting Lily the Betrayer, the performance come to a head and we are shocked at just how far she has come and how far she could possibly fall. It’s a career-defining performance that almost relegates her fellow cast members to obscurity and anonymity.
Yet, based on their strengths as actors, the four remaining actors don’t fade into the background. Mila Kunis abandons the immaturity and blandness she has so far displayed on the screen. She displays an experienced actor’s range of performance. Although her character has little breadth in purpose, she carries out the role with flare, beauty and a touch of subversiveness. Vincent Cassel, son of the late French legend Jean-Pierre Cassel, marks his first real impact on American audiences with a ego maniacal performance that befits his character. He’s not a beauty like the little ballerinas he commands, but has a subtle charismatic sexuality that evokes itself nicely in his private scenes with Portman and Kunis. The erotic charge between the actors enhances the tension in the film and sets the character squarely in his place.
Winona Ryder is so briefly on display that we must scrutinize her few scenes to see if that talented waif of 20 years ago still has any of her appeal. And there behind the vain indignation, the injured swan flies again allowing the audience to see a small glimpse of what we’ve been missing all these years. And that leaves Barbara Hershey. For a brief period in the late ’80s and ’90s, Hershey was one of my favorite underutilized dramatic actresses. She picked roles carefully and always delivered a commanding performance. After a decade of limited visibility and acting obscurity, Hershey is back with a vengeance and despite her limited screen time, like the rest of the supporting ensemble, she makes the most of what she has. Playing the demanding, controlling mother is something a lot of actresses have attempted and most have come off as a pale knock off of Piper Laurie in Carrie. Here, Hershey doesn’t quite match up to Laurie’s delicious turn in that film, but she does a fine job carving out a character that’s all her. The vulnerabilities, insecurities and passions that have been suppressed in her daughter lash out from her mother suggesting effectively that not only does her mother want to keep her daughter from taking after her, but that her daughter very well break away and exhibit some of the same manipulative tendencies. It’s almost as if Hershey channels herself through Portman and their scenes together not only serve to showcase Hershey’s own capability, but also her ability to pull the best of her scene-mates.
Outside of a dispiriting disappointment in The Fountain, director Darren Aronofsky has created a rather impressive list of film credits marking him as one of the modern generation’s finest craftsman. Eschewing the visual effects bombast of contemporary Christopher Nolan, Aronofsky exhibits a visceral excess that never supplants his story. And while he’s shown he can handle the simple personal connection of a film like The Wrestler, Black Swan is an exciting specimen of the type of film he excels at making. I’m struck by the beauty, elegance and sensuality on display in the film as well as the narrative tightness, visual finesse and emotional guardedness presented. Aronofsky is a filmmaker at the pinnacle of his career and Black Swan represents one of his finest works.
After The Wrestler, this may be Aronofsky’s most accessible film to date. Even though it takes place in the world of ballet, the story transcends the medium and should appeal to fans and non-fans alike. In addition, it’s not as violent as Requiem for a Dream, so it’s easier to recommend to the Aronofsky-uninitiated. Not everyone will enjoy Black Swan, but it will certainly be one of the most talked about films of the year.
December 2, 2010
Black Swan
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