I have to say that since I'm a big Arronowski fan (despite the fact that after seeing one of his movies you need anti-depressants :P ), so I wanted to see what he could achieve after the near-perfect Wrestler (2008). Well, he did it again, this time with a movie so rich in artistic imagery and symbolisms, as opposed to the minimalistic and low budget Wrestler, the caught me by surprise.
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| Natalie Portman |
As usual, Arronowski makes a movie about obsession. We follow the story of Nina (Natalie Portman), a ballet dancer who's getting the lead role on Swan Lake. She is a perfect dancer in technical sense but the leading role in Swan Lake poses a new challenge. To play it properly, except for the role of White Swan (who represents purity and order) she must also play the role of Black Swan (a representation of the chaotic nature of passion, and the beauty of imperfection), which is much more difficult to her. Oppressed by her mother Erica (Barbara Hershey), a retired ballerina who sees Nina as what she could become herself if she didn't retire from dancing to give birth to her, and her Director, Thomas (Vincent Cassel), who pushes her to stop being so perfect and express her inner passion in order to become suitable to play the role of Black Swan. Things get complicated when Lily (Mila Kunis) joins the group, a dancer who's pretty mediocre technique-wise but dances with pure passion, impersonating the Black Swan perfectly in the eyes of Thomas.
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| Mila Kunis |
So, from this point on the movie is about Nina's struggle to express her self and forget all those years where she was raised in a glass cage by her mothe, totally protected with her only goal being to achieve perfection. We also see how things get complicated about her and her antagonist, Lily, and that's all I can say about the plot without spoiling so much. All I can say is that Arronowski manages to give countless scenes with a symbolic meaning, without being pretentious, but more than that, he delivers a truely amazing piece of art, the visuals combined with the fantastic piece of music by Tchaikovski make the movie truely stunning. I have to say that the climax of the movie, around the last 20 minutes, is one of the best I've ever seen all those years I watch movies, both on a dramatical and an artistic point of view. As for the main actors they are all excellent. Portman maybe on the performance of her life, she's just perfect, so fragile and yet so freaky, she's absolutely convincing; great performance from Vincent Cassel also! The supporting cast also does a great job with the pleasant surprise being Mila Kunis.
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| Darren Arronowski during the filming of Black Swan |
Verdict? An excellent psychological drama with some thriller elements by the obsessed with obsessions Darren Arronowski. A movie so memorable and yet so painful to watch (not as unpleasant as Requiem For A Dream and The Wrestler though), so beautiful and yet so ugly at the same time, just like the dual nature of the black/white swan! The best movie of 2011, along with Inception ofcourse :) .
5/5
