Black Swan- Review

In the competitive, blood-sport world of dancing, Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan nestles itself into the minds of the audience as a dark and twisted tale unfolds, detailing the deterioration of delicate minds and the ever present importance of self control. In one of my favourite roles she portrays, Natalie Portman tragically embodies herself as the struggling soul alongside the wild and edgy persona played by Mila Kunis.

Nina aspires to impress her artistic director Thomas and land the role of the Swan Queen. In attempting to gain Thomas' attention, she pushes her body to psychological and physical extremes that later impact her every move and judgement. Natalie did a fantastic job with the role she took on. Long gone is the innocent girl from the Star Wars franchise, now replaced with a fearful-eyed, tightly wound and fragile woman.

Lily, on the other hand, is relaxed and ever so slightly unorthodox. Refusing to live up to the stereotypes of a typical ballerina with natural to no makeup, tattoo-free and softly spoken, she creates a living, breathing train wreck of a magnificent disaster. Mila Kunis was exceptional and appeared as though her role was almost a second nature. While watching this film, I made many assumptions about her character and expected her to turn out quite differently in the end, but was pleasantly surprised at where her character journey swerved and ended.

This film is dramatic, kooky and shocking which is very much to the signature of Darren's work. Prior to this film, the only other piece of his I have viewed is Mother! (Which is equally as disturbing in its own way). When thinking about the connection between ballerinas and a psychological horror before watching this film, I was very skeptical but after watching it, you can definitely see that Darren has used the concept of "you are your own worst enemy" and applied it using natural resources.

The brilliance of this film has left me quite speechless, but also in pieces. Towards the end I found myself developing the cold sweats, moments of panic and finally a massive wave of sobs. The reason for that being only the concept of perfection that Nina speaks of frequently. If you can relate to the idea, struggles and unfortunate horror associated with perfectionism then you'll definitely find some discomfort.

For some, a re-watch might be required and for others (potentially me), this might just make your list of favourite movies or perhaps the appreciative "cannot watch again for reasons of insanity" list. This psychological horror from the crafty mind of Darren Aronofsky is nothing short of perfect and aims to rattle and disturb it's audience. I leave you with this quote that had me on my knees; "I felt it. Perfect. I was perfect."

Score: 10/10.