What happened to my sweet girl? She's gone!

So I just watched Black Swan for the third time, and still it is mesmerising. And I decided how better to share my opinion than with all you lovely people.

Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman (V for Vendetta; Closer), Mila Kunis (The Book of Eli; Friends with Benefits) and Vincent Cassel (Read My Lips; The Crimson Rivers) is a recent film that deals first and foremost with severe psychological issues and extreme striving for an ultimate perfection. Nina Sayers (Portman), is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company who has been wishing for the lead in a production for a long time, especially with her obsessively protective mother telling she deserves it non-stop. When the previous lead female is fired for being too old and past-it, Nina lands herself the role of the Swan Queen in the company's production of Swan Lake, though she does this in a not entirely P.C. way. I shan't elaborate. I will only hint that the director is male.

Anyway, a new addition to the company, Lily (Kunis), arrives and immediately Nina feels threatened. We all know that feeling. I can relate especially to Nina when the director, Thomas Leroy (Cassel), makes it known to poor Nina that he clearly admires Lily and her "passion" for ballet. She is so afraid of being replaced, and perhaps this is what stems a lot of the rest of the storyline.

If you do not know the ballet, let me help you. The White Swan falls for the Prince, but when her evil twin, the Black Swan, seduces him, leading him to reject and hence forget about the White Swan, she kills herself in despair. As 'Swan Queen', Nina has to play both parts immaculately. Precision is not a problem for Nina: she is always accurate and flawless; but it is also her main problem. Leroy insists that the Black Swan has to be passionate and carefree, i.e. a bit like Lily. So when Lily is made the understudy or alternate of the Swan Queen, Nina goes crazy. Not that she was particularly sane before that.

What we see in Black Swan is the production season through Nina's eyes, leading up to the grand performance. As previously mentioned, though, Nina is slightly insane, in that she is extremely paranoid and has magnificently vivid hallucinations. The point is, we are seeing the film through Nina's eyes, so half the time something will occur, the audience is shocked / upset / in a terrible awe; then it will turn out to have been a hallucination. This is what makes the film so thrilling. The goosebumps factor comes in when they play the Swan Lake theme tune in all its delicate glory, whilst her music box plays and the ballerina spinning has eerily had its top half broken off.

The contrast between Nina and Lily is pointed out all the time in Black Swan. Lily always wears black and has tattoos and swears a lot; whereas Nina wears white and is quiet and reserved. However, both have the girly, high voice typical of ballerinas and this sometimes confuses the two of them, especially when it is too dark to see who it is. The cleverness of this staggers me. We do see, however, a change in Nina as the film progresses. When she dons her Black Swan costume after committing a particularly heinous act, she dances as she never has before, with passion and insanity. I shan't tell you the ending, but it is as spectacular as the rest of the film.

Black Swan seems to me to be a bit like marmite. If you love it, you love it. And if not, then you hate it. So many people have reviewed it so badly yet so many have reviewed it so well and by that you know it's going to be hard-hitting. A friend said to me that she found it slightly far-fetched, which is true in a way, but so incorrect in another. Do you see what I mean? The questions are endless. Please do see it if you were unfortunate enough to miss it on the big screen.

Here is the trailer just to persuade you even further:





By Jess