Black Swan

In films like "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Wrestler", Director Darren Aronofsky puts a magnifying glass on the dark side of human nature. He isn't interested so much in what makes us noble as what keeps us from nobility and how we strive to rise above our dark selves. You don't really think about that kind of duality in the graceful world of ballet but it turns out that those skinny ballerina's are a pretty cutthroat crew. Who knew that toe shoes could kick that kind of ass?
Natalie Portman lives up to the demands of a difficult and internalized role as Nina Sayers, an up and coming dance world star who has been cast as the Swan Queen in "Swan Lake". It can make her career if it doesn't destroy her first.
Using "Swan Lake" as the vehicle that frames his movie is a brilliant maneuver by Aronofsky because as it turns out The Swan Queen dances as two different characters-the virginal White Swan and the shadier Black Swan, a seducer with a dark spirit. Pretty convenient metaphor, huh? And Aranofsky gets the most out of it.
Nina has the White Swan covered but as she is pushed to delve into the psyche of the Black Swan her own demons emerge and threaten to destroy her both physically and emotionally. Aronofsky sets up a rival, Lily (Mila Kunis)as a catalyst to the destruction, but watch carefully. Kunis' character never actually does anything overtly evil or underhanded. It's only in the eyes of the increasingly paranoid Portman that evil is perceived. Who is out to get whom?
Sound complicated? Actually it is. This is a film-goers film, not really for the casual movie fan. It's more Dostoevsky than Stephen King, that's for sure. But it's a film you'll want to talk about, to delve in to. But be warned, it doesn't have the likable central character that "The Wrestler" had. Natalie Portman's performance, though difficult to watch, is a masterwork of psycho-sexual drama. Good film.