Title: "Black Swan"
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Producers: A. Handel, S. Franklin, M. Medavoy, A. Messer, and B. Oliver
Editing: Andrew Wiesblum
Composer: Clint Mansell – “Swan Lake” by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky
Starring:
- Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers/The Swan Queen
- Mila Kunis as Lily/The Black Swan
- Vincent Cassel as Thomas Leroy/The Gentleman
- Barbara Hershey as Erica Sayers/The Queen
- Winona Ryder as Beth MacIntyre/The Dying Swan
Plot and Critical Review: Nina Sayers, a young dancer with a prestigious New York City ballet company, lives with her mother, Erica, a former dancer who gave up her career at 28 when she became pregnant with Nina. The company is preparing to open the season with
An intoxicated Beth angrily confronts Thomas and Nina. She is later hit by a car and seriously injured in what Thomas suspects was a suicide attempt.
Nina begins to witness strange happenings. Thomas, meanwhile, becomes increasingly critical of her "frigid" dancing and advises her to stop being a perfectionist and lose herself in the role. Thomas points to Lily, another dancer in the company, whom he describes as lacking Nina's flawless technique but having the qualities she lacks.
The relationship between the two dancers is cool because of Lily's indiscretions, but Lily invites Nina to a night out. Nina is hesitant at first but decides to go against her mother's wishes. At a nightclub, Lily offers Nina a capsule to help her loosen up. Though reassured its effects will only last a few hours, Nina turns it down. Lily later slips it into her drink while she is absent. When she returns home late, Nina has another fight with her mother, barricades herself in her room, and has sex with Lily.
Next morning, Nina wakes up alone and late for rehearsal. When she arrives at the studio, she finds Lily dancing as the Swan Queen. Furious, she confronts Lily and asks her why she did not wake her up that morning. After Lily tells her she spent the night with a man whom she met at the club, Nina realizes she imagined the encounter.
Nina's hallucinations become stronger as she sees Thomas and Lily have sex in a backstage area and Beth stabbing herself in the face at the hospital. She has a violent argument with her mother, after which Nina passes out. Concerned about Nina's erratic behavior, her mother tries unsuccessfully to prevent her from performing on opening night. Since her mother had called to say Nina was sick, Thomas assigned understudy Lily to take over, but reluctantly gives way when Nina insists on performing.
The first act goes well, until Nina is distracted by a hallucination during a lift, causing her partner, playing the Prince, to drop her. Distraught, she returns to her dressing room and finds Lily there. As Lily announces she is to play the Black Swan, she transforms into Nina's double. Nina shoves her into a mirror, shattering it. She grabs a shard of glass and stabs her rival in the stomach, killing her. The corpse transforms back into Lily. Nina hides the body and returns to the stage to dance with passion and sensuality. Sprouting feathers, her arms become black wings as she finally loses herself and is transformed into a black swan. At the end of the act, she receives a standing ovation. Offstage, Thomas and the rest of the cast congratulate her on her stunning performance. Nina takes Thomas by surprise and kisses him.
Back in her dressing room before the final act, Nina is congratulated by Lily, showing that their fight was imaginary. The mirror, however, is still shattered. Nina removes a shard from her own body and realizes she had stabbed herself. Dancing the last scene, in which the White Swan throws herself off a cliff, Nina spots her mother weeping in the audience. As Nina falls backward onto a hidden mattress, the theater erupts in thunderous applause. Thomas and the rest of the cast gather to congratulate her and see that she is bleeding. She whispers to Thomas, "I felt it. Perfect. It was perfect."
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There is much to say about the film but I’d like to give some attention to the director. Darren Aronofsky is 1) very talented and 2) very wealthy because of his talent. He also posses a most sought-after skill; taking low-budget movie and making many hundred times on them over what was spent on the budget. Some examples:
“The Wrestler”
Budget: $6 Million
Box Office Gross: $44.7 Million
“Black Swan”
Budget: $13 Million
Box Office Gross: $329 Million
“The Fighter” (Aronofsky only gains a Producer credit here)
Budget: $25 Million
Box Office Gross: $129 Million
He suffered something of an embarrassment with “The Fountain” in 2006, but aside from that mistake (and who doesn’t have them?) his directorial career is quite sterling. While he’s not yet caught the Academy’s eye and earned a Best Director nod, we can expect it from him in the very near future. Of all his attributes in directing I’m convinced it’s Aronofsky’s honesty that will continue to propel him into even greater cinematic heights. While the films above aren’t exactly moral “gems”, they present examples of personal and inter-personal honesty that testify to Darren’s great talent. He’s slated to release a film in 2014 re-telling the story of Noah and the
My Rating: 7.5/10 (This is not an easy one to rate. While I feel it is of masterpiece quality in direction, casting, editing, and plot delivery, it does cross several lines in the moral sense. Artistically I want to give it a 9, but morally I think it only merits a 4. I hope you’ll accept my 7.5 as a gracious concession.)
Content to Caution:
V-4 – Several instances of person-to-person and self-inflected violence.
L-3 – Coarse language throughout.
DU-3 – Tobacco, alcohol, and “club drugs” are used by several characters.
RT-1 – No comment.
H/S-3.5 – Psychological terror and suspense throughout.
CH-3 – Crude sexual humor.
S/N-4.5 – Several scenes of intense sexual content. Brief nudity in one scene.
The "Reel Revelation": "Take Me Away"
Jesus, take me away
Away from myself
Away from the commotion of this beating heart
Which yearns for peace but embraces chaos.
Jesus, take me away
Away to the “far off place”
Away with you to pray and watch and listen and learn
How to turn again and be right by your righteousness.
Jesus, take me away
Away from temptation
Away from empty proposals and deceiving offers
Which present opportunity laced with deception.
Jesus, take me away
Away to be with you
Away to find a way to be like you
Away to see The Way, know The Truth, follow The Light
And walk in your Word.
Jesus, take me away
And return in the morning
To the life you’ve given me to live.
See you tomorrow - E.T.
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