Director Darren Aronofsky has always had a talent for delving in to the human psyche and offering us deeper more complex looks in to our souls and perceptions of reality. “Requiem for a Dream” was a film constantly teetering between a life of misery and woe distorted by our own desires for something better, while “The Fountain” destroyed all of our notions of time and infinity in a world not bound by simple quantities of hours and days. His master opus is a work of art that transforms the world of Nina Sayers in to something of a personal hell where she is incapable of escaping and is seeking a perfection that she may never be able to obtain. “Black Swan” is a masterpiece, a classic trail of perceived normality in to madness, a world of light consumed by shadows, and our very own minds becoming the key to our unraveling of consciousness and reality.
With the world of ballet, Aronofsky tells the tale of a woman struggling with her own personal demons and put upon ideals, a world where she’s pressured in to being everyone’s everything and can never quite grasp that sheer untarnished idyllic image that each of her worlds demand from her no matter how hard she tries. And through this reality of hers we get a disturbing view as her own personal ballet unfolds as she creates enemies, dramatic scenarios and a darkness within her that threatens to entice her in to a corner of her own personality she’s horrified to enter and embrace. Unflinching, harrowing, and menacing, Aronofsky never shies away from the torment of our tragic character Nina who houses various worlds that reflect not only her state of being but her state of mind where she’s in constant demand of perfection in her professional world.
It’s a world where age is a ticking time bomb, and every one of her peers are anxiously stabbing one another through the back in hopes of achieving fame and notoriety for themselves, however fleeting it may be. At home, Nina is preserved like a China doll, a young woman perpetually in a state of ignorance and juvenile devices that keep her closed off from the world at the clutches of an overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey is delightfully despicable) who both idealizes but loathes her. She’s a figure of hope in Nina’s life, but also an obstacle portraying the ballerina in her truest essence always striving to help her but also secretly praying for her downfall. All the while Nina attempts to live up to her expectations and is kept in her very own music box plastered with childhood relics and seeds of regret and torment.
Deep down though Nina is a person of incomplete nature, one whose yet to fully embrace her humanity in attempts to become a fictitious ray of sunshine in everyone’s life, and as the pressure of her upcoming role in a revival of Swan Lake dawns upon her, soon her plunge in to madness follows. Aronofsky employ both astounding sight and disquieting sound as a form of telling this tale implementing the musical score and the play of dark and light to envision the battle in Nina’s soul to either embrace or reject this lingering evil. The personal turmoil is made even worse when Nina is introduced to Lilly, an unkempt and confident young dancer who embodies the perfection within the imperfections, and threatens to cast out Nina once she becomes convinced Lilly could at any moment occupy her chance for worship and greatness. Lilly (as played by the gorgeous Mila Kunis) is a fascinating character, one who is without shame and embraces her own unusual sense of style and habit, indulging in sin at every turn and beckoning Nina to do the same for reasons left ambiguous until the very end.
Natalie Portman is superb as the delicate Nina, a girl who could break and shatter at any moment like a fine piece of glass, dueling with her own inner most desires and lust and hoping to conquer whatever demons that may linger in her own reflections. Always tinkering with our views on reality and sexuality, Aronofsky keeps Nina in a world in between our own and hers and turns the screw at every such occasion to convey a marvelous descent in to sheer absolute insanity that offers up one final bow that will undoubtedly take your breath away after the credits have rolled. Elegant and horrific, bold and yet subtle “Black Swan” is a masterwork of sight, sounds, and direction, one of the most riveting psychological thrillers of the year, and a true work of art in the Aronofsky tradition that presents us a glimpse in to the horrors of the human psyche and the torment of someone struggling with a self-perception of perfection that can never truly seized.