Black Swan is one of my top ten favorite films of all time, mainly because I relate to the introverted protagonist disturbingly well. We both tend to apologize for everything we do, we're both dreamers, and we own a dark side that can blow away people's minds.
It is about a young woman named Nina, a ballerina who is preparing for her lead role in the ballet production of Swan Lake. As the Swan Queen, she must perform double roles: one, as the fragile, timid White Swan; and the other as the seductive, manipulative twin sister, the Black Swan. Due to her innocent nature, she can embody the White Swan flawlessly, but because the Black Swan is the polar opposite of her personality, she struggles to match its identity.
Becoming the Black Swan develops into a new obsession that creates delusions and awakens a foreign force within Nina that is desperate to break free. Her energy during the process is drawn from her desire for perfection and the ongoing war with the outside world.
Perfectionism is an obsession that could either make or break a person. The path to mastering an assignment can present challenging obstacles that test the person’s will and dares them to come out of their comfort zone. This is widely seen in artists. If there is a project someone is passionate about, they will go to great lengths to master it. In the film, Nina is willing to starve herself to stay thin, experience unfamiliar sexual practices, and poison her body with drugs to encapsulate the seductive and fearless essence of the Black Swan.
Like many perfectionists, she finds herself in different stressful environments and encounters eccentric people who instill desperation, yet motivate her to work harder. First is the production director, Thomas, who inflicts immense pressure resulting in carrying out unusual teaching methods. Second is Nina’s rival, Lily, who embodies the Black Swan perfectly and whom she fears is trying to steal her role. And last is her overbearing mother, Erica, a former ballet dancer and of whom Nina only wants to make proud.
The war between introverts and extroverts is real. It falls into the same realm of good vs. evil. But sometimes introverts can find themselves in fierce battles with other introverts. In Black Swan, there is only one introvert battling an army of opponents seeking to break her soul. Although the conflictual encounters are only in her mind, it depicts the ongoing struggle introverts endure to seek acceptance in the extroverted world.
Nina’s first words at the beginning of the movie are, "I had the craziest dream last night; I was dancing the White Swan," in which she is talking to one of her two reflections in the mirror, or possibly an invisible friend. At birth, we are all innocent and pure. As we grow and experience what the world has to offer, we face temptation, hate, and despair. We lose our innocence and either cope with reality or simply give up.
Nina lives in an apartment building with her mother in the city. She travels alone by subway to and from the dance studio encountering perverts and other grimes festering about. Along with the city striving to break her soul, there is Thomas, Lily, and Erica. Two out of the three of these individuals could be interpreted as introverts, but since they had, at one point, exhibited extroverted behaviors, let’s label them all as extroverts.
THOMAS
Although Thomas is helping her bring out the darkness from within for the benefit of the show, it could also be interpreted as an attempt to convince her to take more risks and be more open. Not necessarily a bad thing, and in fact, I also applaud Thomas for helping her to be adaptable for future roles.
But as average film watchers, do we think Nina’s early rehearsals of the Black Swan were terrible? Was Thomas pushing her too hard?
Incidentally, I really like Thomas, and he becomes more likable with every sitting.
LILY
Whether Lily’s invitation of taking Nina out for drinks was a friendly gesture, or a way to help Nina prepare for her role, or a plan to steal her role as the Swan Queen is based on personal opinion. Nevertheless, she is an extrovert and realistically could have dealt Nina serious harm. Nothing good comes out of taking ecstasy mixed with an alcoholic beverage. Lily wanted Nina to join her world of social pollution and risks. She wanted her to start inhaling everything life has to offer, and it starts in a noisy, dark, alcohol-flowing nightclub.
ERICA
And then there is Erica, Nina’s mother. We’ve seen in movies like Carrie and Psycho the behavior that results from a young person with an overbearing mother. Nina talking to herself at the beginning of the film indicates she has no friends. More likely it is because her mother has sheltered her from the world, thus making her feel alienated from everything except ballet. During their scenes, we watch Erica freaking out over deep scratch marks on Nina’s back and the imperfect curves of her fingernails. And if you've seen the movie, you would know she had a right to.
To break out of her shell and truly become the Black Swan, she must escape her mother and unlearn her strict teachings.
Black Swan can be viewed as a film about losing innocence, becoming more than ordinary, or even one simple word, freaky. There are plenty of WTF moments scattered throughout the film. The fingers and toes scenes are the most brutal scenes to watch—in my opinion.
After the final dialogue is spoken and the viewer's mouth is hanging open, there is a yearning to imagine what may happen next. I love this movie.
Incidentally, I hope this blog post is perfect. It took me thirty hours just to write it.
Black Swan, 2010 Drama. Rated R for language, strong sexual content, mild violence
Starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, and Mila Kunis
Director: Darren Aronofsky
2010 Best Actress - Natalie Portman
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