Black Swan - 2010 - Darren Aronofsky directs, Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Vincent Cassel star ___________________________________________________

In the 1976 movie Carrie, we saw a girl warped by her home life, controlled completely by an oppressive and mistrusting mother who held a skewed religious belief over Carrie.  Her mother was also paranoid about boys and sexuality, and letting go of her daughter.  In Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan", these are parallel with Nina, and there are other comparisons .  But artistry in the case of Swan is far and above that horror story of yesterday.  Darren has taken suspense and psychological drama to yet another new level in this deeply haunting tale.  And it is accessible and easily understood without pandering to lower tastes, gratuity, or juvenility (although these are all critiques of the film that others have attempted to place on it). 

It is amazing, surprising, alarming, and yet also brutally honest, in the end.  It is about female sexuality, repression, possessiveness, the transference of dreams from one generation to the next, and also about the abusive state of male dominance and sexuality in yet another sphere of public life that is uncontrolled and inaccessible, except of course for the daring filmmaker.  It is also about growing up, and loss of innocence, sadly, at the hands of the social structure and pressure of misplaced, subversive, or sometimes simply diabolical expectations.  Nina eventually becomes the product of what is expected of her.

Carrie was withdrawn in an unhealthy way.  Nina is not exactly like that, but simply oppressed and backwards, needing to get out and become her own person.  She dumps her toys and rejects her mother's brooding protection.  However, we find as the story progresses that a psychosis has already wormed its way into her system, and mother and daughter are more alike than either suspects.

Black Swan is a must see for the psychologist, all men who may be struggling to understand the importance of their role with the female, and serious filmmakers and visual artists.  Women may find this story suffocating, or difficult to take, while also identifying with its sympathy-winning heroine.  It's unlikely that anyone in ballet will love this film, and in fact I've read a few negative comments concerning the ballet work, some from ballet experts and enthusiasts.  But what needs to be clear here is that this film, while placing ballet firmly in the center of the story as it's petri dish, is not about ballet.  The same story could be told about gymnastics, or sports of some kind, or anything that involves talent where a pushy parent corners a child in their world and attempts to create in them what they could not have for themselves.  It is both loving desire, and insipid self-interest, in this case, at a greater expense mother would wish to pay.

I'm going to give a more extended analysis of this film later, but for now, here is how I see it....

Brilliant: 5 stars