Black Swan by Jessica Cree

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Duration: 108mins

Rating: ****

I think I’m still in shock after watching this film. I’ve seen ‘Swan Lake’ plenty of times, but nothing compares to Aronofsky’s adaptation of one of the world’s most famous ballets.

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a ballerina with a troupe in New York looking to revamp ‘Swan Lake’ and cause a stir within the ballet world with its unorthodox version of the classic. Nina has strived for years to be noticed by French ballet master Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) and gets her opportunity when former prima, Beth (Winona Ryder), becomes too old to cope with the role and a fresh new face is needed. Nina is perfect for the part of the White Swan, with her innocent, accurate style of dancing. However, the Black Swan is a much more sensual, seductive and passionate character; a role her rival, Lily (Mila Kunis), is much more suited to. Nina sees Lily as a threat and starts to hallucinate. She becomes paranoid that she is trying to take the part from her and begins to have psychotic episodes. Attempting to turn herself into the Black Swan, Nina tries some of the outrageous antics that she had never previously had the confidence to do. Warning! There are some scenes here that you definitely would not want to watch with your grandma!

There are a few particularly noteworthy sequences, which will stick with me for a while. Nina has a tendency to scratch herself and on discovering that her daughter has reverted to her old nervous habit, her mother furiously cuts her nails – I won’t be using nail scissors for some time to come! The scene, where Nina starts to pull feathers out of her back, has also been engrained into my memory.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this film. It’s nice to see a dance movie that actually has a great storyline– it’s no ‘Step Up’ or ‘Center Stage’! I also appreciated the training that Portman and Kunis have put in, having worked their technique for over six months, and couldn’t tell that they were amateur ballerinas. I’m not sure about the age 15 rating, but the artistic approach of the more risqué scenes perhaps validates this. As a massive ballet fan, I was worried that ‘Black Swan’ may not live up to the masterpiece that is ‘Swan Lake’. But I was proven wrong – it’s different and quite daring, but I’m so pleased that ballet is being seen as a more modern, main-stream art.