Black Swan:

Insights into human psychology

RUWINI JAYAWARDANA

Capturing the deliriousness behind high class glamour, Darren Aronofsky’s award winning psycho-drama Black Swan portrays the emotional turmoil and fear lurking in the mind of a ballerina aspiring for stardom. Time is her enemy as the opening scenes of the film confirms with the company looking to replace their ailing star Beth Macintyre.

Set in the world of New York City ballet, the films sees Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers who lands the role of the Swan Queen at the company’s presentation of Swan Lake. Beautiful, vulnerable and sexually naïve, Nina comes under pressure when playing the role of a lifetime.

Her dance director, Thomas Leroy, is satisfied with her projection of the White Swan but as the star of the show, her real challenge is to dance the Black Swan. For this she has to find the darker, more sensual side of herself.

Nina’s anxiety leads to a mental illness. She becomes obsessed with her role and this threatens her dancing as well as her sanity. She suffers from hallucinations, panic attacks and nervous breakdowns.

Beth’s tragic plight adds to her dread. Leroy’s admiration towards the company’s new free-spirited ballerina, Lily, is another cause for worry. It only gets worse when she discovers that Lily had been placed as her alternate for the Swan Queen. She begins to dislike the new girl though ironically it is Lily who helps Nina to delve in her dark side and to unlock her inner-self through seductive overtures.

The core of the movie is about confronting your fears: the fear of failure, fear of coming to terms with your body, fear of imperfection, fear of confronting the affections of a powerful man, fear of penetration and accepting your growing hatred towards an overprotective mother.

Barbara Hershey gives an impressive performance as Nina’s difficult mother. A former ballerina who had abandoned her stagnant career after being impregnated by a business tycoon, she channels her rage, disappointment and unfulfilled dreams into her daughter, Nina.

Vincent Cassel’s facial expressions as the defiant Leroy are superbly captured. He carries off the role of the tough French dance director well. Mila Kunis as the feisty Lily is the perfect foil for Nina. Her mischief streak and self assured mannerism contrasts with Nina’s wide-eyed fearfulness.

Amid these great performances Portman still shines in the lead role. She had ventured out of her comfort zone to dons demanding scenes like swerving between reality and illusion and slowly losing sight of herself.

She drags her thin and weary body out of bed each morning to head for the dance studio to pirouette on bloody toes, crack her ankles and strain every muscle, yearning for a breakthrough performance.

Such episodes link Nina with the battered protagonist of Aronofsky’s most recent film, The Wrestler. There is no doubt that she truly deserved the Oscar Best Actress title for the presentation. The film includes a number of intimate scenes and sexually charged encounters. Therefore it is more suitable for the adult audience.

Though a few scenes in Black Swan are overdone, it does not harm the excitement, anticipation and horror surrounding the story. The end comes as a surprise and it is fascinating to see the charming Portman surrendering to madness.

The nightmarish sequence which projects her face transmuting into a horror-mask sends a chill down the audience’s spine. Complex, dark, exhilarating and absorbing, Black Swan mirrors the mounting pressure and competitive backdrop behind a top ballet company that veers between enchantment and distress. It is truly an engaging film.