At the Movies: Black Swan

“An extraordinary, intoxicating masterpiece” Empire

“Natalie Portman gives the performance of her career” Total Film

“A triumph in every sense” Evening Standard

With these words pirouetting boldly across the poster of Natalie Portman’s beautiful porcelain like face tickets have been hard to get ones paws on with cues snaking out of the cinemas, something I haven’t witnessed in a while. Curzon Soho, a cineaste’s cinema of choice had bird cages and black tutus as well as other ‘Black Swan’ related paraphernalia placed around its bar area a week before its general release, topped with the cinema’s box office staff having their make up professionally done (to resemble Natalie Portman’s Black Swan make up) on its first night of screening. Not being able to get a ticket sold by a Curzon’s own black swan I ventured to Odeon Covent Garden nearby where there was an even bigger cue so I resorted to my nifty little trick and chanced it at the refreshments stand where most people don’t know they can buy a ticket while paying for their popcorn. I was lucky and got pretty much the last ‘premiere’ seat that I knew would not be great but I really really wanted to see the film then and there and I didn’t care if I was going to crane my neck in swan like fashion for the next couple of hours. So did ‘Black Swan’ live up to its hype and my high expectations? Not really. But more about that later.

Nina (brilliantly played by Natalie Portman) a beautiful ballerina eats, drinks and sleeps ballet. A driven perfectionist (as well as a fragile soul) she trains tirelessly under the watchful eye of her supportive but equally smothering, controlling mother (convincingly scary Barbara Hershey) that she shares a small claustrophobic New York apartment with. Nina’s room is pink and full of soft toys, she is her mommy’s ‘sweet girl’ mommy being a retired ballerina who lives through her daughter. Nina’s dream is to play the lead in Swan Lake and when the company director Thomas (the handsome and always charismatic Vincent Cassel) announces the new production of this famous ballet Nina’s dream materializes as she gets picked to play this coveted role. But Thomas has his reservations; Nina’s White Swan is perfect, her innocence the embodiment of the role but to play the deceptive, erotic Black Swan Nina needs to let go and shake off her inhibitions; something she doesn’t know how to do and Thomas wants her to explore that side. “I have a little homework for you,” he says to Nina, “go home and play with yourself.” Cue the arrival of the new ballerina, the sexy, sultry Lily (Mila Kunis) and the film soon spirals into a claustrophobic, fragmented, close-up galore, handheld, dark cinematic atmosphere. The intensity and duality of the role Nina is chosen to play affect her fragile mind and drive her slowly to the edge of madness and delusion but also to a performance of her life.

So is ‘Black Swan’ “an extraordinary, intoxicating masterpiece”? No in my opinion it is not. It’s not a great film, nor it is a bad film. It’s an ok, interesting, well shot and art directed film saved often by really good performances (apart from misused Wynona Ryder). The story felt uneven, like shattered glass, and I really wasn’t drawn into it enough to reach down and pick up the pieces. It is not Darren Aronofsky’s best or most accomplished film as feted by many, that much I was certain of throughout watching it and after leaving the cinema. He is a fine filmmaker no question about that, and before ‘Black Swan’ he delivered four films of which ‘Pi’, ‘Requiem for a Dream’ and ‘The Wrestler’ were great and his last ‘The Fountain’ I will forgive him for even though it was one big overambitious mess and a nap inducing movie. That aside Aronofsky is a great craftsman, his use of hand held camera and close ups create worlds that offer intense insight into his characters and he is a master of creating suffocating, heavy environments. I felt down for days after seeing ‘Requiem for a Dream’ and ‘The Wrestler’ was pure heart that left me feeling profoundly sad. But ‘Black Swan’ was just as glacial as Natalie Portman’s White Swan performance, it left me cold.

“Natalie Portman gives the performance of her career”? Yes she most probably does and yes she will probably get a nice little gold man of her own for it. The Academy just love awarding their Oscars to roles involving physical transformations, year long trainings, grueling exercise regimes, diets and general body contortions and tortures that go into shaping a heavy weight performance. Natalie Portman gave it her all and she carried the burden of this uneven film on her small, elegant shoulders with grace and ferocity.

“A triumph in every sense”?. Well not really. Natalie Portman was brilliant, it looked good but ultimately it suffered because of the story. The most surprising thing about ‘Black Swan’ is how much I laughed at places I felt I wasn’t supposed to laugh at, that really threw me from the territory of a ‘sophisticated psychological thriller’ to a comedy turf… In the end the only triumphant thing about ‘Black Swan’ was its marketing campaign that really helped creating hype around it and I fell under its spell and I am not happy about it, as this does not happen to me. To that I take off my hat as I do to Natalie Portman. As for the film overall I will keep it firmly on my head, resting on my over craned neck.

To see the trailer clickHERE