2010 - Black Swan

Oscar season is heating up as more and more genuine contenders are released. I'm once again finding myself behind the eight ball with a lot of catching up to do in terms of viewing said contenders, so I won't offer any thoughts about frontrunners just yet, except to say at the top of my watchlist right now are current box office hits Wicked and Gladiator II, as well as the smaller talks-of-the-town Anora and Conclave. Varying degrees of buzz around each of those films.

Next up on our tour of the Best Picture nominees of 2010 is...


Black Swan
Director:
Darren Aronofsky
Screenplay:
Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin
Starring:
Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassell, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, Benjamin Millepied, Ksenia Solo, Sebastian Stan
Academy Awards:
5 nominations
1 win, for Best Actress (Portman)

As a member of the New York City Ballet, Nina (Portman) has high expectations of herself, almost as high as her overbearing mother (Hershey) who treats her like a child. When Thomas (Cassel), the harsh and unyielding artistic director, announces that Swan Lake will be the company's next production, Nina nervously auditions for the lead role. The audition does not seem to go well, but after an awkward interaction with Thomas, Nina unexpectedly wins the part. As opening night approaches, she becomes increasingly paranoid about being replaced by her free-spirited understudy Lily (Kunis), while also being forced to address her own oddly avian transformation.

As one expects from director Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan exudes a creepy vibe from the outset. Much of that psychologically disturbing atmosphere is created by a fascinating amalgamation of naturalism and surrealism (another of Aronofsky's trademarks). However, while the surrealist elements work like a dream (pun intended), the more naturalistic segments don't quite hit the mark for me. The dialogue is sparse of subtext as characters often say very obvious and blunt things that are not at all the way normal humans speak, which is ironic considering a major plot point is how Nina isn't real enough in her dancing. Of course, I'm probably just missing the point of surrealist art, but it seems to me that if you're going to attempt a veristic mood with shaky camerawork and authentic performances, then a less superficial script might help.

All that said, as we enter the second half of the movie, the surrealism is ratcheted up and things really start getting weird, at which point ... well, who cares about natural dialogue? The tension moving forward is executed perfectly (I mean, she's turning into an actual swan, for heaven's sake), layered with a healthy dose of horror tropes. There are jump-scares aplenty, shadowy figures you can't quite identify, and a mirror image that has a mind of its own. I'm usually not a fan of those sorts of bait-and-switch tricks because they often seem meaningless (like, do the hallucinations imply it's all in her head?), but in this case, they cleverly reveal the depths to which Nina has lost her mind. The result is a final act that is a genuinely thrilling ride. And considering surrealism and horror are two of my least favourite genres, that's high praise indeed.

As mentioned above, the performances are mostly naturalistic despite the unconvincing dialogue in the early parts of the film. Natalie Portman (pictured) won an Oscar for her portrayal of a passionate pleaser completely unravelling. She was the only member of the cast to even receive a nomination, despite some impressive performances by the supporting players. Mila Kunis, in particular, is breezy and mysterious, and was unlucky to miss out, in my opinion. So, too, was Vincent Cassel who injects Thomas with a cavalier intensity. And don't miss a pre-MCU Sebastian Stan, impressing in a small role.