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Review - Black Swan
Darren Aronofsky certainly likes to experiment with different styles of direction, as evident by Black Swan against a back catalogue that includes Requiem For a Dream, The Wrestler, and The Fountain. His latest borrows liberally from David Cronenberg as Natalie Portman's ballerina suffers deep levels of stress pursuing her dream role in Swan Lake, personified by physical as well as mental breakdown. Aranofsky is not afraid to take risks, but thanks to an excellent cast he manages to avoid the pitfalls of self indulgence, in a movie that has almost no plot, but still delivers a substantial experience for the audience.
By referencing Cronenberg, Aronofsky felt he had to add a certain x factor to underpin Nina Sayers' (Natalie Portman) psychology, although I feel Portman is a good enough actress to have carried it off with a little less help from the makeup and special effects people
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That the movie (and its director) have been nominated at the 2011 Academy awards is surely mostly to do with the Best Actress favourite, who is on screen throughout the film, and shows a maturity that may lead her to some significant successes over the next decade. For Black Swan, Portman and co-star Mila Kunis trained for several months in ballet and this dedication to duty shows through in the choreography (Georgina Parkinson).
The supporting cast includes Barbara Hershey as mother, who lives vicariously and relentlessly through her daughter's bid to land the Swan Queen role, reminding us of Carrie's religious nut of a mum. Vincent Cassell was probably miscast, but is good support as the ballet troupe manager, and we have a cameo from Winona Ryder. Ryder plays the deposed Swan Queen Beth McIntyre, but her character should probably have been either written out entirely or else substantially changed, to appear only in flashback, or possibly haunting Sayers imagination: traumatising Sayers, and adding to her psychological turmoil. As Sayers unravels, the lack of any subplot means the movie begins to lose its way. However a fine denouement as we watch Swan Lake reignites our interest. Aronofsy has blurred the boundaries between ballet and film, and done so entertainingly.
8/10 Intriguing
Review written by John Franklin : January 2011
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