Black Swan

   A thrilling challenge to maintain your sanity.

  Nina’s life has always been a perfect movement, flawless technique with graceful motion. After years, dedicated to the craft, dancing in the company core, she is given the chance to shine. Challenges mount: the scorn of a retired star; remorse for her role in that retirement; newfound desire for a new member of the company core; the malignity of that desired member; the spite of a particular core ballerina; affection and faith from the company director; and, her mother’s peculiar concern; plus, her own lingering doubt. Can she transform her passion for the science of ballet into passion for the art of dance and the tragedy of “Swan Lake”? Or, will she spin from the stage into tragic failure?

   Very well directed, this film will defy the viewer’s certainty of reality. Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis perform brilliantly and are wonderfully choreographed as ‘twin’ ballerina’s equally attracted and opposed, to the ‘Swan Queen’ and to each other.

B / R
11 December 2010 (reposted)
By Frank Jaymes

Starring: Natalie Portman; Mila Kunis; and, Vincent Cassel
Featuring: Barbara Hershey; and, Ksenia Solo
With: Winona Ryder; and, Benjamin Millepied
Writers: Andres Heinz; John McLaughlin; and, Mark Heyman
{plus (original composer) - Pyotr Tchaikovsky}
Director: Darren Aronofsky
{plus choreographer - Benjamin Millepied}