Black Swan Review

Rating: 5/5

Darren Aronofsky is truly one of the best directors of the new generation. I've never seen Pi or Requiem for a Dream, but The Wrestler is amazing and The Fountain is really underrated. Trust me, if you want to enjoy The Fountain sit down and say "this is gonna be weird" before turning on the movie. Anyway, this is Black Swan, the best thriller I've seen all year.

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a sheltered, immature ballet dancer for the New York ballet. She gets the dream role of swan queen in swan lake, but there's a problem. You see, in many productions of swan lake, the same dancer is both the innocent, virginal white swan and the evil, lustful black swan. Nina has no trouble being perfect as the white swan, but to her director (Vincent Cassel)'s chagrin, she just can't dance the black. Enter Lily (Mila Kunis), who parties, sleeps around, is an overall wild child, and can dance the black swan perfectly. From these two characters spins a truly terrifying drop into insanity.

The first thing I have to mention is how absolutely gorgeous this movie is. The cinematography, the set design, the women and the costumes are all beautiful. Directing-wise it's perfect, and writing wise it's even better. I have never so scared watching a ballerina as I was during some of these scenes. Natalie Portman absolutely deserves best actress for her portrayal of a woman under mind-crushing pressure. Vincent Cassel deserves at least a nomination for supporting actor, and wow, Mila Kunis actually acts in this. Seriously, it's her best performance ever.

What really sucks you into Black Swan however is the atmosphere. It feels like the ballet is a world unto itself. There are numerous parts where you don't know what exactly you are watching, and like I said earlier, it's absolutely terrifying at parts.

Now, before I end this review I have to address the subject of objectification. Yes, it is true that this movie has a lesbian scene. However, unlike what some people think, it is not there for no reason and people who like that scene are not chauvinistic pigs. The lesbian scene has really interesting symbolism in the plot, is an important scene for character development on Portman's part, and yes, it is hot. That scene is not the only reason to go see the movie, and it is definitely not there to lure horny teenagers in.

See, if Natalie Portman/Mila Kunis were constantly topless and there were unnecessary shots of their tuchuses, that would be exploitation of sexuality, and objectification of the two women. It would also mean the movie was way worse. Thankfully that isn't the case in either sense. We don't get a porno, we get a magnificently constructed, beautifully terrifying film that you cannot miss.