Black Swan movie review - Aussieboyreviews
HOW INTENSE OF A PSYCHOLOGICAL BALLET THRILLER IS BLACK SWAN?
Directed by Darren Aronofsky and with an excellent performance by Natalie Portman, this psychological drama-thriller about ballet and hallucinations is extremely intense. Some audiences may find Black Swan boring, but it’s simply masterful.
Storyline
When Nina, a committed ballerina, is selected for the lead roles in the production of Swan Lake, she finds herself losing her sanity as she descents into madness.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder, Barbara Hershey, Benjamin Millepied
Writer: Mark Heyman, John McLaughlin, Andres Heinz
Release Date (Australia): 20 January 2011
Runtime: 108 minutes/1h 48m
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Language: English, French
CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)
The film contains thematic material such as mental illness and multiple disturbing scenes, including hallucination sequences and self-mutilation.
The film contains depictions of self-inflicted injuries and a bloody wound as a result of a stabbing with a shard of glass.
The film includes several uses of the word “f**k” and occasional use of the words “s**t”, “whore” and “ass”.
The film includes scenes of drug use, including two women taking ecstasy and a woman experiencing side effects of the drug.
None.
The film contains depictions of a woman masturbating and a sex scene in which a woman performs oral sex on another woman. The film also contains moderate verbal sexual references.
mpaa rating
R (for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use)
Aussie boy's thoughts
Darren Aronofsky’s extremely intense thriller has enough hallucinations, disturbances and insanity to make you feel like you’re slipping into madness. Highly anticipating viewers can’t expect a horror film, although it can be utterly scary, and they can’t expect a ballerina film, although it’s centred around a ballerina and dancing. All they can really prepare for is psychological, hard-hearted material that’s strictly out of reach for the faint-hearted.
Aronofsky really knows how to craft something that’ll heavily disturb you, not not that and leave you with nightmarish images circling through your head. But in order to reach the climax of the tension, stress and dread Black Swan successfully builds up, you need to get past the long chunk of character development, slow for most and consisting of about 45 minutes. It follows a dancer whose selected for Swan Lake before she slowly starts losing her mind.
But the final half hour is when all the mental tensity begins to rapidly overflow, with distressing visuals during the character’s hallucinations and disturbing violence and sex that makes you feel like you’re going crazy yourself by just watching it. Again, Aronofsky is a seriously talented director and will leave you unsettled and amazed. Natalie Portman is Black Swan’s true star, deserving of ‘Best Actress’ for her stunning acting.
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