Black Swan – Review
The world of Cinema has not remained untouched by ballet. From ‘The Turning Point’; to ‘Mao’s last dancer’ & ‘Centrestage’; to the latest, ‘Black Swan’, ballet based movies have been created by most talented of the film-makers and have managed to impress the most critical viewers.
Black Swan, a pscychological thriller by Darren Aronofsky, is based on Tchaikovsky’s ballet ‘Swan Lake’, composed in 1876. The ballet is about Princess Odette who is trapped in a swan’s body (Swan Queen) by an evil sorcerer, Von Rothbart. The spell set by Rothbart can only be broken when Prince Siegfried expresses his love to Odette. While Siegfried wants to marry Odette, but can not reach her, Rothbart disguises his daughter, Odile (Black Swan), to look like Odette and wants to trick the prince to marry Odile. End of the play shows a battle between Rothbart, Black Swan and the swans of the Swan Lake & Siegfried. After Rothbart is defeated, Siegfried breaks the spell on the swans and marries Odette.
The movie shows a ballerina, Nina struggling for perfection in the Swan Lake ballet to be presented by the New York City Ballet. When Nina is appointed for the lead role, she is supposed to play the roles of both the Swan Queen and the Black Swan. While she has all the technique, the ballet requires her to also know and be the two characters she has to play. She can be the Swan Queen but fumbles when she dances the Black Swan. Understanding the dark character of Black Swan takes Nina to discover another side of her character, a dark side which brings to her the disturbing visions and hallucinations. She loses track of reality and her identity due to the hallucinations and is lead into committing a suicide!
Nina’s insecurities and her obsession for perfection, the causes that take her into the loop of self-destruction, have proved to resonate in viewer’s minds. Unparalleled ballet performances, technical brilliance, acting by Natalie Portman (Nina) and the story about Nina’s psychosis are believed to be the high points of the movie. The movie secured nominations for Best Director and Best Picture and Portman managed to secure the Academy Award for the Best Actress. The conclusion being, excellent art works continue to charm the world!