Black Swan

I just realized I never really posted about a movie that I DIDN’T love. So here it is.

There has been a lot of talking about this movie last year and Natalie Portman even won the Academy Award for her interpretation of the mentally ill ballerina portrayed in this film (recognition followed by a lot of discussions over the merits of an actress and her double in such a movie). For the sake of honesty, I must say that I found Portman's interpretation indeed superb, but this is not enough to save the whole movie at my eyes.

In a few words, Nina gets the part every ballerina wants, the lead in Swan Lake; while looking for her dark side to deliver a perfect black swan, she ends up destroying herself.

Here are the three main reasons why I did not enjoy this film.

• Over the top. I don’t mind movies that exaggerate, that go to extremes to make a point; but I think that the means need to be measured on the end. This movie is way out of proportions: I felt that its aim to shock and upset was done for the sake of shocking only, of having people go “geesh!” without leaving any space to go deep and understand a thing. The nails, the feathers, the scratching… way over the top.

• The mother-daughter relationship. This is not over the top, but way below it. I have seen countless movies of mothers with a failed dream (usually in the arts) who manage to ruin their kids’ lives over the same dream. Is a twisted relationship with a mother the only possible reason for people to go insane? Some originality people, please!

• Sloppy. I found that the plot and the way it is portrayed do not really stand. I can accept that the point was to communicate the labyrinth that exist in the head of a disordered mind, but I believe that this is no excuse to make a mess out of things. Characters, scenes, causes and consequences come out of nowhere and, I feel, go nowhere. What’s the point of Winona Ryder? Of Mila Kunis? One is the probable future and the other is the alternative present, ok, but are they really a value added?

Good things about this movie were Portman, as I said, Cassel and the dancing. I am no ballet fan, I understand nothing of it; but the dancing scenes were really intense and full of pathos.

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writers: Mark Heyman (screenplay), Andres Heinz (screenplay) 
Stars: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel