A Quick Tip by Count_Orlok_22
I really cannot wait for this film. Like all of Aronofsky's films so far, I'm sure that this one will be just as creative, powerful, visually stunning, and well-acted. The idea of Aronofsky setting a psychological thriller around a ballet sounds intriguing. And hey, I'll watch anything with Natalie Portman.
UPDATE:
Now, after all the months and months of waiting, I've finally seen Black Swan. Unsurprisingly (when one considers my expectations of the director and the cast) I was little let down. This had nothing to do with the acting, which was superb, or the overall story. Rather, I felt a little cheated by Darren Aronofsky's heavy-handed use of visual metaphors as a way to give insight into the main character's mental state. It's clear that in Natalie Portman's character we are dealing with someone who has a repressed dark side, but do we need her mother there constantly treating her like a child to emphasize her inability to mature? Do we need multiple scenes of her having delusional episodes in which she believes that she or someone else has inflicted bodily harm upon themselves only to discover that obviously these are hallucinations? Do we need repetitive shots of broken mirrors, double-takes of Portman as she sees her own face in the faces of others as she walks by in order to explain that she has a fragmented personality?
No, all of this is overkill and much of it comes off as a cheap and somewhat exploitative attempt at creating a belief in the audience that perhaps there is some supernatural or conspiratorial explanation for what's going on. I think that in American cinema of the last forty to fifty years, we've experienced a sort of expressionist revival where instead of displaying the complexities of the psyche through performance or through dialogue, we are instead given physical manifestations of the character's psyche and their emotional condition. In this case, Portman's character externalizes her paranoia and fear of not being strong enough, so that we see her repressed sexuality emerge quite literally in the form of a new woman. We also get numerous displays of seeming self-mutilation and grotesque deformation (from the rash on her back that turns out to be the imaginary growing of feathers to the episodes in which her skin peels away after she tries to pull off a hangnail). Okay, we get it, she's a perfectionist with a repressed libido complex and a tendency towards self-destruction. Now, if this had been approached in a different angle, it might have worked. But when one looks at Aronofsky's films (all of which deal with humanity's nature to destroy oneself) then the so-called twists of this film feel not only obvious but gimmicky.
Predictability and symbolism aside, the film is still actually quite good. As I mentioned earlier, the performances are all amazing, the script is strong and provocative, and the dance choreography is stunningly gorgeous. Does the film merit the praise it has been given -- absolutely. But I feel that if you see it, do not, do not compare it with Aronofsky's other works or view the film as part of a whole as such a viewing would diminish the abrupt and disturbing qualities of the story.
