Black Swan directed by Darren Aronofsky

After many, many people telling me that they thought Black Swan is my type of movie, I have finally sat down and watched it. I watched it properly too; this kind of film is meant to be watched alone, in the dark, and ideally, with a good sound set up. Somehow, I got lucky and managed this. Neither the in-the-dark part, nor the alone part for that matter, was difficult to pull off. The surround sound was just me being fortunate to have a friend with a nice home theater system and me being left to my own devices in said friend’s home for an evening. Here is where I open up; I have always loved the music for Swan Lake, and thus the reason why I felt the necessity of a good sound system. It’s not for the wonderfully haunting whispers of things just off screen that pull the eye, (and camera), to things previously lurking unnoticed, though that is a plus. It’s the score that made this film for me. Beautiful orchestration for some of the key movements of Swan Lake, as well as the companion pieces chosen to round out the soundtrack, made the film an auditory pleasure.

 In fact, so much of this film is a pleasure, it would be impossible to sum up everything I loved. The pacing of the film was tight and fluid, and the story itself was enjoyable. It features a young ballerina named Nina, (played by Natalie Portman), who wants desperately to land the role of the Swan Queen in her company’s production of Swan Lake. The role, along with her relationship with a new addition to the company and her need for perfection slowly consumes her right up until the film’s end credits. 

Along with the story itself, the striking swan transformation special effects were mesmerizing and the symbolism was thick and heavy -I’ve never seen so many mirrors in a movie before- but yet didn’t feel like I was being hit with the obvious stick overly often. The cinematography complemented -and helped create- the tone of each scene, and we got to see Natalie Portman actually act again. This is a key point for me. I think Portman can be a fantastic actress, but so many films just don’t seem to use her for much more than an object for other actors to say lines at. Other times her range feels choked or she is limited to being the girl who gets sad or laughs a lot. With this film I felt run through the paces along with her character. Her whole performance spoke to the character’s desperation, fear, entrapment, inner lust for freedom, as well as her desire to be noticed and needed. Portman as an actress became invisible to me, and she became Nina. When an actor or actress can embody a role so completely that I no longer think of them as anything but the character, they have succeed in their portrayal.

A film like this screams for multiple viewings. The symbolism and foreshadowing would be even more of treat knowing where the film is going to end, (and trust me, I’d totally write a thousand words about them and my interpretation of them if I was feeling pretentious), and the cinematography made each scene its own little set piece in my mind, prepping me for a second view. The actors and actresses in the film were all wonderful to watch, with Portman giving a breathtaking performance.

Oh, and the score. Did I mention the score? That alone makes me want to watch the whole thing over again right now.