Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" Movie Review

As Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" gains popular awareness, it's not unusual to hear: "Oh, you mean the psycho ballerinas movie". Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis star in the psycho-sexual thriller as said psycho ballerinas. Aronofsky has crafted a gut-wrenching film of disturbed metamorphosis, tragic repression and visceral beauty. In other words, it's a radiant film that's effectively difficult to watch.

"Black Swan" wants us to churn in our seats, giggle nervously and watch this metamorphosis in awe. It burns a brilliant fire to which we are irresistibly drawn, but must keep a distance from its radiance. I'll come right out and say that Aronofsky deserves a Best Director nomination, as does Portman deserve Best Actress and a Best Supporting nod to Kunis or Barbara Hershey.

Two Fox Searchlight films were bookends at the 2010 Denver Film Festival: Danny Boyle's "127 Hours" and Aronofsky's "Black Swan". Fox Searchlight featured the directors at Firstshowing.net, as Boyle exuberantly praised Aronofsky's "The Wrestler", which is his companion piece to "Black Swan". It resonates deeply with Boyle's notion that audiences ought to experience cinema by "feeling pinned... trapped... visceral..."

As Portman's ballerina Nina Sayers lands the dual lead in a production of "Swan Lake" we are exactly that; pinned, trapped and viscerally violated. "Black Swan" molds an emotional mash-up of two highly influential films: The Archers's "The Red Shoes" and Roman Polanski's "Repulsion". The metamorphic role of Nina Sayers undergoes hallucinatory Swan mutations, emulating the White Swan's fate on and off the stage, just as Vicky Page in "The Red Shoes" leaps off stage into the fate of her character. Portman brings us into the tormented mind of Nina just as Catherine Deneuve did with Carol in "Repulsion". The parallel of these young women is bound by spiraling hallucinations triggered by sexually repressed isolation.

Stating that "Black Swan" is effectively difficult viewing is not due to plot complexity or overly disturbing imagery. The dance's symbolism is intoxicating and mercilessly unveiled by Portman, Kunis the ominous Barbara Hershey as Nina's mother and Vincent Cassel's choreographer. From the moment Hershey appears on screen she put a knot in my stomach that held a haunting core to the last scene. A core that is the gravitational wrench cranking Nina Sayers's spin on a self-destructive music-box.

The editing in "Black Swan" from Andrew Weisblum is spectacularly culminated from his work as a visual effects editor. Weisblum shaped Rob Marshall's "Chicago" into form and also sculpted the complex visuals of Aronofsky's "The Fountain". The aural soundscape cues hallucinations; an Aronofsky trademark perfected from raw use in "Pi" and "Requiem for a Dream". Layered atop is Clint Mansell's ethereal scoring that digs the emotional tunnel beneath Tchaikovsky's masterwork.

The much talked about doppelganger device in "Black Swan" evokes more than just a character study. Aronofsky's story is an evil doppelganger to the romance of Swan Lake's folklore, focusing on the Swan's fall and not the transcendent love of the ballet. There is Clint Mansell's darker score to Tchaikovsky's music and Natalie Portman's doppelganger descent into darker roles.

Aronofsky was privy to what he calls ballet's "insular world", but had interesting things to say in an MTV interview: "There's a lot of privacy...the ballet world could give two sh*ts about anyone making a film...ballet is their universe and they're not impressed by movies." "Black Swan" is an emotionally retching experience that will surely disturb dancers. While the ballet world may not sanction "Black Swan", Aronofsky doubtfully gives two sh*ts as the film attracts acclaim.