This is a suspenceful masterpiece of fear and mystery. The interwoven narrative of the tale of Swan lake perfectly mirrors and foreshadows the unravelling of 'perfect' ballerina Nina (Natalie Portman). The dual nature of the role of the Swan Queen ballerina who plays both the 'delicate' white swan and the 'dangerous' black swan implies the light in darkness within us all and therefore also the protagonist who, in her pursuit of perfection - to be both the white and black swan, the audience sees her descent into darkness. The antiquity of this tale gives Nina's breakdown almost poetic in style.Hallucinations and imagined sequences are effectively used to show Nina becoming more and more unhinged by her paranoia and jealousy. The director has attempted to parallel the competitive strain that ballerina's put on their bodies to the break down of Nina's mental state. The dark lighting on screen and fearful ambience cause the audience to question everything as to whether it is in Nina's head or reality. The psychological horror element of Black Swan is brought through in small glimpses of shocking and flinch-making blood and pain.
There are brilliant plot twist and the narrative although led by Natalie Portman, who is phenominal, is supported by wonderful performances from Mila Kunis (Lily - a rival ballerina), Vincent Cassel (Thomas Leroy- the manipulative choreographer) and Winona Ryder (Beth - an older ballerina who has been pushed out of the company) who only appears briefly but is terrifyingly brilliant in the role.
The interplicing of the reaction shots with the actual ballet and performance are intriguing and brilliantly balanced and the look of the film, almost drained of colour in many places (would have been beautiful and even more terrifying in black and white) give it a classic and stunning image.
The ending is wonderfully done with understated dialogue (a style throughout the film which is both effective, eerie and realistic because ballet is free of speech, meaning is held almost entirely in movement) but predictable if you know the tale of Swan lake.
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