Black Swan

I'm always a sucker for the general aesthetic of a movie. I have a soft spot for costume pieces and a lovely setting. So, I consistently love movies about dance, particularly ballet. From Center Stage to Save the Last Dance, I refuse to remove them from my list of "thumbs up" movies. But Black Swan, sadly, has failed me. Aronofsky consistently fails me by aiming for the most visceral reaction from his audience without supplying a backbone. It never enough structure for all of this sex and violence. Now, I'm no prude I like a bloody gangster movie or a rockin' sex scene just as much as the next person. Probably more than the next person. But if a movie is going to vacillate between the two so much that I get a blister, I'm gonna have to ask that it be worth it. And its not.

For starters the drive behind the entire movie is this new and improved version of Swan Lake that will give this company a reputation for groundbreaking work and make the prima ballerina a star. But there is absolutely no evidence in the dialogue or the choreography that this is anything particularly special. I don't know much about ballet at all, but I know what a great ballerina is capable of, and Natalie Portman isn't a great ballerina. The only person who seems to have any confidence in the greatness of the piece is the narcissistic Mephistilean character, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), and the schizophrenic Nina (Natalie Portman). But we never understand how it is going to change the face of ballet forever like we are led to believe.

Then we are led to believe that the pressure of the performance's debut has compelled Nina to commit a terrible crime against another dancer who has tried to befriend her. For those of you who haven't seen it, I won't ruin it. But I never picked up on any reason--delusional or defendable--for her to have the kind of jealousy required to commit such an act. After following him around that twist for sevenish minutes, he insists that instead, a different violent act was committed. Though the reality is a bit more believable, it just doesn't make any sense when juxtaposed with the initial act.

Aronofsky has a fetish with the tortured. His subject matter has included a washed-up wrestler, a crazed mathematician, a drug addict, and now a ballerina. One would thing that he had found his niche in ballet--an art that requires eating disorders, self mutilation, and fatigue. Aronofsky pushes past the existing burden of ballet and pummels its already abused ass beyond recognition. But the amazing thing about ballet is that the prerequisite suffering is transformed into a thing of beauty. Aronofsky leaves us raw, with nothing spiritual, beautiful, or even moral to show for it.

No review of Black Swan is complete without some reference to its predecessor, The Red Shoes by Michael Powell and Robert Pressburger. It is my favorite film of all time and seeing the trailer for Black Swan made me very excited for that very reason. Any ballet movie has to borrow from the Red Shoes, but a ballet thriller with a Mephistilean element has to make every homage permissable. Shorting his own epic ballet scene by exactly a minute, allowed for The Red Shoes to hold on to its record for the longest ballet scene in a movie. But there was one place The Red Shoes made it where Black Swan failed. The lead of The Red Shoes was played by an absolutely phenomenal ballerina--not an actress. Luckily for them, Moira Shearer turned out to be a stunning actress, and perhaps that is because she didn't have to work hard at all to be a ballerina. I don't have many thoughts at all regarding Natalie Portman. Shes beautiful, she has enough of a sado-masochistic streak to work with Aronofsky. I get the feeling she has passed up a lot of high paying roles that are nothing more than RomCom drivel, which is a little admirable. But I didn't think it was a stand out performance on any level outside of her weight loss. [Sidnote: The most profound body transformation in a film was Robert DeNiro for Raging Bull and that did not receive nearly the same attention because 1) bodies are not as culturally important for men as they are for women and 2) because the audience has little awareness that they are watching Robert DeNiro because he is a truly great actor.]

Aronofsky and Portman clearly had high hopes for Black Swan. He takes big risks with the feverish point-of-view and has many scenes with very real staying power. He reveals unsettling things about the minds of his characters and the culture of ballet in general. But ultimately I think his grasp exceeded his reach.