It’s been three days since I saw Black Swan and I still have Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake running through my head. And it’s giving me the creeps.The small-budget, big impact movie about a ballet dancer Nina (Natalie Portman) desperate for role of the Swan Queen, is chilling, brilliant and mesmerising. But it’s not for the faint hearted.
From director Darren Aronofsky, who gave us the similarly unnerving Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler, the drama gets inside your head and under you skin as Nina battles her insecurities, overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey), suggestive artistic director (Vincent Cassel) and rival dancer Lily (Mila Kunis) to nail the characters of the virginal White Swan and the dark, seductive Black Swan.
The always incredible Miss Portman trained for year for the role and is now preggers with choreographer Benjamin Millepied’s child (I can just imagine how those sweaty sessions went). Most of the dancing you see on screen she did herself with ABT (American Ballet Theatre) ballerina Sarah Lane doubling the most intricate bits.
But her dedication to dance is not the thing that impressed me most. It’s that such a seemingly level-headed, nice Jewish girl like Nat could take herself into such a dark and twisted place and come out the side, smiling on the red carpet for awards season. That’s what makes her performance Oscar-worthy. By the end of the film, she is barely recognizable. And that’s about as much as I’ll say about the movie, except that you simply must watch it (perhaps not with your mom or on a first date).One half of me can’t wait to see it again. The other half doesn’t think I can put myself through the melodrama again but like an addict in denial, I know I’ll eventually go back for more. Image © 2008 Nu Metro Entertainment. All Rights Reserved
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