Black Swan

Reviewed by Paula Citron

Black Swan. Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder.

I suppose because I write on dance, people have been asking me what I think about director Darren Aronofsky’s film Black Swan that was a TIFF gala. It’s a horror film about the ballet world, if you can imagine.

The plot is simple. Natalie Portman is a ballerina of technical perfection who gets cast as the lead in Swan Lake. She can do the White Swan in a breeze, but has to find the fire in the belly to play the Black Swan. For that, she is influenced by bad girl ballerina, played by Mila Kunis.

Now Aronofsky is a singular director who knows how to work visual effects, and I was really on the edge of my seat with all the scary things that happen as the ballerina slowly gets consumed by the Black Swan character.

It’s a cleverly crafted film of immense imagination, tinged with over the top, high camp melodrama. Definitely a must if you like blood and gore.