Darren Aronofsky has made some of the most intriguing, compelling and out-there films of recent years, but none comes close this completely bonkers, ripe, intense story. Even The Fountain, which featured Hugh Jackman floating through space in a giant lightbulb claiming to have cured cancer, seems like a modicum of taste and restraint compared to Black Swan. It has references to Red Shoes, Mommie Dearest, Mulholland Drive and The Fly, but in the end its a spiraling dizzying mess all of its own and despite its many flaws its different to anything else, and for that it should be applauded.
Nina (Portman) is the hopeful ballet dancer trying to make it in Vincent Cassels highly-acclaimed New York company. She works her butt off, is technically excellent but lacks the slightest hint of passion as Cassel keeps pointing out. She cannot seem to let go or get hot and heavy, despite him urging her to many, many times (if he says find yourself once, he says it about 20 times). He is casting Swan Lake and has no problems choosing Nina for the white swan, but can she portray the much darker role of the black swan?
So Nina has a problem, but as we soon learn she has all sorts of other worries too – she is haunted by a doppelganger on the tube, she is up against Lily (Kunis) for the lead role, and Lily, although technically inferior, is way sexier and looser. Also Nina meets the previous lead, Beth (Ryder), a woman so ravaged by the demands of the role she has unraveled, and to cap it all off her mother Erica (Hershey) is the original mad, pushy mum, who refuses to let Nina leave home or throw away her fluffy toys.
Against all the odds Nina is cast in the lead, and begins the punishing rehearsals. However its a race as to which is going to fall apart first her mind or her body. Her nails keep cracking, her ankle is fragile and she has a nasty rash on her shoulder blades, just where a wing would poke through. Its about at this point you might feel like standing up and screaming I get it as Aronofsky pushes the metaphor to within an inch of its life. Cassel keeps blathering on about letting go, Erica pays close attention to Ninas nails and skin and Beth goes a bit mad with a nail file.
And yet, as overboiled, insane and just plain daft as it is, its difficult not to go along with it. Aronofsky throws just about every trick in the book at the screen, including spurts of blood, the crack of bones, a bit of lesbian fantasy, loads of sweat and close-ups of sinewy bodies, and even a gentle strangling. Its insane, but so obviously not to be taken seriously its best just to sit back, have a gentle laugh at the ludicrous dialogue and just give into its charms.
Portman seems nailed on to take the Oscar, but its a strangely one-note performance physically mightily impressive, but facially all she really does is frown a lot and look vaguely troubled. Cassel breezes in like hes in Carry On up the Ballet, Ryder is under-used and Herschey chews scenery as the mother from hell. Like the film itself its a mad mix of styles.
Overall verdict: Ultimately Black Swan is just a thick slice of Grand Guignol, but it could have been so much more. The Red Shoes is still the ultimate film about dance and the debate between art and life, this updating is huge fun but just too daft to have any lasting effect.
Reviewer: Mike Martin