“The Wrestler” was crap. It was a simple comeback movie used to be the comeback for a star (who should have stayed in obscurity) that relied on a very cheap archetype. It tugged on heartstrings in ways it knew would engender positive critic response. So, when I say Darren Aronofsky has made the best film of his career, it means he only marginally beat out “Requiem for a Dream” considering his only other films included “The Wrestler”, “The Fountain”, and “Pi”. He is hardly a seasoned director. However, in a time when people are taking risks in film for the sole purpose of seaming bold and artistically superior, Aronofsky takes a major risk that ends up being so fulfilling.
The story is so. An ingénue ballerina (Brilliant and Bulimic Natalie Portman) finally lands the role of her dreams as the Swan Queen (both white and evil black) in her company’s production of a re-envisioned Swan Lake. She soon meets a new ballerina from San Francisco who seems to be both friend and foe. She the embarks on a quest imparted on her by the ballet's director (Vincent Cassel) to become "Perfect". The pressure continues to build on Portman’s character Nina and it starts to manifest itself in slight mental slippages and finger rippages.She begins to feel intense physical and mental changes that seem to parallel the story of Swan Lake. She becomes both the black and white swan. Eventually, the story culminates with a desperate move on Nina’s behalf to keep Lily (Mila Kunis) from taking her role in the ballet’s premier.
So, where did Aronofsky go right? Well, as I mentioned before, Aronofsky takes a huge risk. He does this by setting his film in a world of mirrors. In fact, the ballet’s rehearsal rooms are covered wall to wall in mirrors. This presents the problem of not letting the camera be seen in the constant reflection. Even outside of the Lincoln Center location Aronofsky surrounds the actors with mirrors that seem to offer a visual of Nina’s confined dark side. He manages to never let the audience glimpse the camera, which poses the initial difficulty of whether he will use innovative camera placement or CGI reflections. Aronofsky uses both methods in very appropriate manners depending on each scenario and ends up with an almost two-hour film with a mirror in every single scene (no exaggeration). I applaud him for it.
The writing is not at a loss either. There is incredibly subtlety in the language, although some blatant and utterly laughable lines slip through the delicately weaved vale of dialogue. For example, the scene where Nina and her mother briefly argue about who was the more promising ballerina and Nina’s mother just slightly hints that Nina was an accident, revealing a whole layer of the mother’s character. But at other times, the provocative nature becomes simply too much and you are forced to watch silently well holding in gut-laughs (“Show me your black swan, Nina” and “Did you suck his cock?”). Other than that, the story was well put together and excellently spiced with ballet techno-babble (I still don’t know what a Coda is), and the ending didn’t rely on a canned twist that we’ve seen thousands of times before. I only wish more thrillers were so concise and elegant.
The acting is one thing that truly stood out in this film. Although I could sit here and type out a long winded paragraph on how great Natalie Portman was in this, I would rather like to focus on the supporting cast and say only this: Natalie Portman is able to act because of how smart she is. She truly understands human emotion and full psychological immersion. She is Nina. However, the film ultimately sparkles with the help of an impeccable supporting cast. Barbara Hershey as Nina’s mother is one of the best older female roles since the mother from “Carrie”. She is appropriately loving and creepy with a hint of abusive and neurotic. If anyone is to blame for this films critical success, it is the brilliant Ms. Hershey. Vincent Cassel never disappoints and this film is no exception. Mila Kunis is finally embraced as a full on sex symbol and thusly emerges as one of the sexiest Femme Fatales to grace the silver screen. Finally, there’s Winona Ryder. She’s excellent but gets so little screen time she never really gets noticed. If only someone would give her a leading role.
Some may consider the film disturbing. Well, that's because it is. I mean there are some pretty disgusting visuals that include a woman stabbing herself in the face and Natalie Portman's feet becoming webbed. Also, her toenail cracks clean in half. This doesn't retrospectively hurt the film and only improves the dark motif of transformation. Also, the awesome lesbian sex scene makes up for all of it.
Ultimately, this uber creepy thriller makes you leave the theater checking your fingers for hangnails, hoping to god you won’t find one. And that’s exactly what this kind of movie should do. This beautiful psycho thriller simply puts you in the dark, underground world of ballerinas and gives you irrational fears (like your kneecaps inverting) because of how astonishingly real it seems, despite some heavily outlandish content. Aronofsky took his gritty side of film making and put it to some good use. Instead of being unnecessary like “The Wrestler” (which could have been easily polished into a Hollywood cookie cutter piece) he used basic but uncomfortably close shots and a cheap camera to ensnare the audience in what would otherwise be a run-of-the-mill, twist-based bowl of swan excrement. One final statement: This movie may have almost been "perfect" but I much rather preferred the ballet scene in "Top Secret!"
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