BLACK SWAN, not a Dance Movie, But Chilling Horror Thriller

Black Swan is a horror film with a bit of a psychological thriller.  I went to the movie expecting a marvelous acting performance by Natalie Portman, who lost twenty pounds to play the main character—prima ballerina, Nina Sayers.  But I had not expected that I would have to hide my eyes more and more as the movie progressed at the horror of was happening on the screen...Every time Nina began to clip her nails, I hid my eyes...it felt a bit like watching the shower scene in Psycho although that movie and this movie are in no way similar.

Nina Sayers is a ballet dancer whose dance is technically perfect, but passionless.  She is cast as the White and Black Swans in Swan Lake and though she is perfectly cast as the White Swan, she must find the wild abandon of the Black Swan somewhere inside herself.  At the same time, Nina feels threatened and stalked by a new dancer in the company, Lila (played by Mila Kunis) who dances with the freedom and passion that Nina lacks.  As Nina succumbs to the pressure of the situation, she becomes increasingly psychotic and her life story intertwines with the story of the swans in the ballet Swan Lake.

I would not call Black Swan a dance movie.  They use a body double for any shot that requires professional level dancing and generally they shoot Natalie from the waist up.  But I could tell that Natalie grew up taking ballet lessons because her hands and arms were beautiful and believable ballet hands.  Mila on the other hand was not convincing as a dancer...her hands were stiff and completely wrong for a ballerina.   Still, Black Swan is not about the dancing, but the story of Natalie's decent into insanity along with her transformation from a girl to a woman.   The self absorbed, pressure cooking world of ballet just sets the stage.

The general assumption from the media at large is that Natalie Portman will receive an Oscar Nomination for her work and I agree.  Director, Darren Aronofsky may also receive a nomination.  The movie also has nice acting from Barbara Hershey who plays Nina's clingy mother and Winona Ryder who is the aging ballerina that Nina replaces.  I highly recommend this if you like scary/horror/psycho dramas.  Grade A-.  The "R" rating is well deserved for some raunchy scenes that may or may not take place in Nina's disturbed mind.