Thursday, March 31, 2011

Movie review - Black Swan

Am I missing something by thinking it's not as brilliant as everyone else seems to think? I finally watched Black Swan - a movie about how the rivalries and the psychological pressures of *inhabiting* a role can cause psychological problems. Or at least, that's what the movie attempts. Don't get me wrong, the movie is well acted and well directed but anyone with a bit of knowledge about ballet knows that the core of the movie is incorrect and I couldn't help thinking that many times while watching the movie.  

Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is an up-and-coming dancer in a ballet company who is still quite childish and lives with her controlling mother (Barbara Hershey). Selected to audition for the dual roles of Odile/Odette (bizarrely referred to as The Swan Queen) in the upcoming production of Swan Lake, she is criticised by the artistic director of the company, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassell) as being extremely technically proficient but lacking the passion of her rival, newcomer Lily (Mila Kunis). As Nina attempts to get in touch with her adult side and sexuality to tap the darkness required to inhabit the role and witnessing the callous treatment of the company's former star (Winona Ryder), she starts to psychologically unravel.


I'll say that the movie is definitely well acted and well directed, but I think it is overall let down by the writing. I know the movie is supposed to be about a controlled dancer driven to insanity in the search for artistic perfection, however I would say instead that what is written is watching an already fragile person crack under pressure. At several points in the movie, Nina is easily cowed by her mother, the director, the other dancers, etc. In fact, even when she's being *strong*, it is done as a reaction to people in Nina's life. She is not a strong character to begin with and so there's no tension watching her descent into madness.  

But my main problem with the movie was my knowing that some things they showed us were outright wrong. For one, Nina freaks out is when she discovers Lily has been assigned her understudy quite late in rehearsals. No major ballet company would cast a single dancer for a major role, and definitely NOT the lead. It's too physically demanding - a role is usually taken by 3 or so dancers who rotate...which pretty much puts to hell the basic premise of the story. And okay, I know it's meant to be artistic and the majority of people won't care but a little bit of basic research goes a long way.

I'm not going to weigh into the use of body double arguments. It doesn't matter how good an actress you are - I never believed that training for a year could make Natalie Portman dance like a professional. And having said that, there aren't that many actual scenes of dancing. Perhaps the most memorable one was when Nina literally turns into a black swan as she triumphantly dances but I couldn't help thinking I would have preferred a scene like this one to be shown, which is the real moment of the Black Swan's triumph in the ballet...

Although I guess no amount of special effects would make Natalie Portman dance like Svetlana Zakharova.


Anyway, it's alright but poor writing makes it definitely not a masterpiece.
6-6.5/10 

2 comments:

Lynnie said...

I was a little underwhelmed by the film too. I thought Natalie Portman did a pretty good job though.....I actually predicted the ending midway through.

I also don't think it's that big of a deal of Natalie Portman had a body double do the dancing for her. I mean, she didn't win the oscar for her dancing, but her acting. I thought Mila Kunis was really good too.

mallymoodle said...

I think the issue is whether or not she's taking more credit for the dancing than she actually did.

And I guess if I were the double they said she did 80% of the dancing on-screen when the reality is 50%, I'd be pissed too.