With a beautiful beginning and beautiful end, Black Swan tells the story of a ballerina of the name of Nina Sayers (Portman), her life devoted to the art of ballet, sent into a manic spiral between reality and hallucinations as she gives her all to perform in her company’s take on Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

This movie has been the first movie in a while to intrigue me to want more when the movie has finished. It shows how much pressure can destroy anyone who strives to impress. I find it explored the fear of being replaced and losing grasp on your fame. The fear of a double, or doppelgänger who is better than you. This theme became apparent when the scared ballerina speaks to Thomas (Cassel), the instructor, about her suspicions of Lily (Kunis), her understudy and the new girl at her company, trying to seduce Thomas and sabotage Ninas career.

I really enjoyed watching Black Swan as the movie already begins to foreshadow Ninas innocence deteriorating she emerges herself in her craft. I first noticed when is surprised when she seeing a woman who looks identical however, is dressed in a more dark aesthetic giving innocent Nina chills. This theme of seeing herself in place of other people seems to reoccur throughout the movie until the very end.
Nina playing the part of Odette, the white swan, was a perfect match. Her technique, delicate and innocent demeanour are exactly how the white swan is. Nina is confident in her ability to perform as the white swan because in some way, she is Odette the fragile, innocent, delicate girl she is. Odile on the other hand, the white swan’s twin, seemed to give Nina a hard time. The graceful ballerina, so focused on technique struggled to let go on herself. There was no emotion when dancing as the black swan. She couldn’t fully embody the sensual, lively creature of the black swan.

Black Swan was definitely different from what my initial thought of it was. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend this movie to anyone younger than 14 because some of the seems may be uncomfortable. Aside from that, i truly believe that Black Swan a beautiful piece of art. The dedication from the cast to prepare for this award winning masterpiece of 2010 has truly showed off in the production of the movie. I really enjoyed this movie and enjoy the deeper themes that Aronofsky touched on.
This movie is just as impressive as everyone gives it popularity for. I’d give it a solid 4/5 stars.