Best Picture Buzz: The Academy Goes to Black Swan, “the Mind [insert four-letter expletive here]!”

Black Swan, the Mind [insert four-letter expletive here]

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Other Nominated Categories: Best Actress, Cinematography, Directing, Film Editing

Film, like science, is constantly changing. Last year film drastically evolved thanks to the technology of Avatar. This year, Black Swan was the film to change the game, not because of its visual effects but because of its elevation of film as a more respectable art form, due in large part to the dedicated involvement of those engaged in the project’s success.

Black Swan is about the young, uptight, often overlooked, New York ballerina Nina Sayers (Portman). Nina, who constantly feels the pressure to succeed from her overbearing mother Erica (Hershey), is thrilled when Thomas (Cassel) gives her the prima role as the Swan Queen in the company’s rendition of Swan Lake. Thomas begins to push Nina to her limit, even encouraging her to experiment with her sexuality. Nina soon thereafter begins to have extreme delusions about the bad girl, a newcomer from San Francisco, Lily (Kunis). Defying her mother and having a wild night out with Lily forces Nina to confront her distorted psychological state in order to distinguish fantasy from reality. Unfortunately, she is unable to overcome the seductive nature of her “other half,” which causes a tragic end to the tragic life of a young woman.

Black Swan is the film version of Swan Lake. It’s quite different, however, from another film version from our childhood that some of you may recall: The Swan Princess. As Thomas first enters the screen, he tells us precisely what will happen to Nina as she takes on the roles of both the black and white swans. He sets up her transformation so the audience is not surprised when Nina is transformed in her everyday life as well. Perhaps the most brilliant thing about Thomas’ confession is the question, “Is any of this real?” The tone of the film is so intense that even the viewers have a difficult time distancing themselves from the emotion and “reality” of the content. This is the kind of film that aims to crawl under your skin and leave you shocked for days. And it does so quite beautifully.

Black Swan explores some of women’s deepest concerns through Nina’s character. She asks questions such as, ‘How can I prove myself as a woman? How can I please a man? How can I be successful? How do I keep from losing myself?’ All questions that, whether we like to admit it or not, we as women tend to think about. Perhaps as the viewer, we should be asking ourselves what this film really says about women.

Fortunately, Portman is an example of a celebrity that women can look up to as a role model. She is educated, has a genuine concern for the world and is seemingly put together, not to mention that she is absolutely gorgeous. But it’s hard to determine if this is really a movie about a woman or a man’s portrait of a woman. I would argue it is the former despite director Darren Aronofsky’s obvious influence on the presentation of his female characters. “I think Hollywood’s kind of killed the tragedy, and I think you can have real catharsis by exploring the darkness,” Aronofsky says. “I think it shows us a lot about ourselves that is different than great heroic roles.”

Aronofsky, who is best known for directing films such as Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler, gives this film the illusion of grace by contrasting it with his well known gritty and rough, although respected, screen style. Unlike the shaky, violent directing of The Wrestler, Black Swan is subtler in its movement. This is due to the difference in presenting what Aronofsky calls “high art versus low art.” Ballet is obviously the high art whereas entertainment wrestling is the low, although it should be noted that The Wrestler did put Mickey Rourke on the fast track to a comeback.

If it were up to me, Aronofsky would win the Oscar for his outstanding directorial skills. None of the other films are nearly as unique as his when it comes to this particular aspect of filmmaking. This Harvard film graduate (the same Harvard as Portman, coincidence?) is relatively new to the scene, though, and only completed his first feature film a mere 13 years ago. He’s sure to snag an Oscar win, even if it is later rather than sooner. However, I will be interested to see how he uses his trademark style to make the new X-Men Wolverine prequel.

Even if Aronofsky doesn’t win, Portman surely will. She was attached to this project nine years prior to filming and trained a full year before going to set. It’s been mentioned in multiple articles that she had extensive dance training and studied choreography almost eight hours every day. And this is on top of her daily mile-long swim. She reportedly lost 20 lbs. during all of this. Although, it’s probably fair to say she gained it all back thanks to her baby daddy, who she met on set (oh, come on, like I was really going to let that slide!). Portman has already won the Golden Globe for her part, and it’s safe to say she’ll be taking home the Oscar gold as well.

There is so much more I could talk about when it comes to this film. I still feel the need to discuss Beth (Ryder) and Lily in greater detail. If you’re up for it, let me know. For now, I end this post with a quote by Aronofsky that has yet to escape my thoughts.

He says, “I liked this idea that we were kind of making a werewolf movie, except it was a were-swan movie.”

And that pretty much sums it up.

The Bottom Line: This is a gritty film that’s absolutely worth every nominated award.

SOURCES:
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/aranofsky-black-swan-werewolf-…
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2016150,00.html
http://www.vogue.com/magazine/article/natalie-portman-january-2011-cover/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004716/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Swan_(film)