Black Swan Review

 

Black Swan Review

Here is another review of Darren Askolfky's film Black Swan, a thriller that explores themes of psychological issues, mental health, perfection, and forcing one's children to be something they are not. The film focuses on Nina, a ballerina whose mother forced her into it because her mother, Erica, wanted to be a famous ballerina. Still, she got pregnant with Nina and made her do ballet. 

We see how overprotective Erica is, like she has the crazy overprotective mother trope, because she never lets her daughter try anything else in her life, and she even treats her like a child or guilt-trips her to get what she wants. 

Natalite Portman also had to take years of ballet classes along with Mila Kunis too. 

In the film, they are currently in the midst of their latest production of Swan Lake, and the director, Thomas, is casting his Odette. Nina wants the role. After a kiss, she gets the part but angers two of the ballerinas. However, the others congratulate her, including one who was almost cast as the Swan Queen. She hates Nina and blames her for not getting the part, and the original ballerina, Beth, who is now past her prime, is unable to play Odette. 

It's funny seeing Mila do a serious role as she mostly does comedy.

In the film, Nina meets Lilly, an expert ballerina whom Nina sees as someone who wants the role, but she's very supportive. It's funny seeing Meg Griffin play this character. Now, one thing interesting about Lilly is that she gets Nina out of her bubble, and she starts to see the real world with her, and the two of them eventually end up having sex with each other. However, Nina finds out her mom didn't wake up, and she decides she's going to move out, and Lilly has been filling her in on her. So Nina tells her why she left after their night together, to which Lily tells her they never had sex. 

Some of the scenes in the film make your skin crawl. 

We see Nina starts to develop mental health problems as she sees stuff or has taken part in some stuff, but it's all in her head. By the end of the film, Nina's madness gets worse, and her mother, despite always being overprotective, really shows more concern for her daughter and wants to help her, not control her like she did in the past. 

One of the creepiest scenes is when Nina turns into a swan for real, and it's disturbing, plus this movie is shot beautifully. One thing this movie shows is that you shouldn't strive for perfection, because Nina wanted to be perfect, but in the end, no one is perfect. My old teacher once told me this, and something we should all know is that no one is perfect, no matter what. 

At the end of the film, Nina performs, but is stopped by her mother, who is worried about her. However, Nina doesn't care, as she has revealed her dark side too much, much like the black swan in the play. She goes and messes up at first, and Lilly is about to take over, but Nina and her fight, and she kills her. 

She then performs as the Black Swan and is incredible, and she praises him passionately, which shocks him. However, in a twist, she finds out she never killed Lily, as Lily is still alive, and she realizes she stabbed herself. She performs her final dance like a Wrestler with Randy. She sees her mother with tears of sadness, concern for her daughter, and finishes her dance. They all go up and praise her, but then they find out she's bleeding. Thomas tells them to get help, and Nina's words are, "I felt, I felt perfect, I was perfect." Then it goes to white. 

Perfect, yes, but at what cost?

Like the Wrestler, we never know what happens to Nina, whether she died or survived, but got some help. We don't know; maybe she lived, got some help, and quit ballet, moving out of her mom's and trying to do something new with her life. Still, this film, The Wrestler, shows how much these jobs can damage one's body both physically and emotionally. 

The cast of the film all did a great job, and Natalie Portman deserved the Oscar. Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, Sebastian Stan, and Benjamin Millepied were great. Overall, Black Swan is a great film that deals with a lot of themes, and I feel like at the end of this film, it teaches you not to be perfect. I give this film an 8 out of 10. 

Fun Fact: Darren got the idea of making the film because his sister was a ballerina.