Black Swan (2010)

Well, first of all - this film was not as I had expected it to be.  "What did you expect?" I hear you cry.  Well, I'm not entirely sure - but it wasn't that.

I suppose I expected the usual stuff - girl is ambitious; a new person comes on the scene; new person starts to mess with the protagonist; the protag goes crazy and looks insane.  Oh wait, that it was happened.  But there was so much more to it!

In a good way.

Natalie Portman was slightly irritating.  I know she was supposed to be quite timid and fragile, but when the black swan took over, it was more than appreciated.  Her portrayal as the white swan was delicately done, but it's difficult to imagine someone in such an ambitious field being that timid.  However, having said that, the comparison between the white swan and the black swan was easily identifiable due to Portman's contrasting roles.

On the other hand, Mila Kunis was brilliant!  She was so lovely towards Nina (Portman's character) that it was great to see her being perceived in Nina's mind as a villain.  Classic.

I know there was a lot of 'hype', shall we say, regarding their lesbian scene; and, let me tell you, it was pretty graphic!  But, it was such a crucial part of the film.  It was such a dark thing for such a quiet, shy girl to do that I found it most relevant to the plot.  If anything, that was the turning point in the film for me, when I actually believed that the good girl was being taken over by the bad.

As for Winona Ryder's character.  As much as I love her, and she still proves to be such a great actress, I found her small role to be quite unnecessary...and confusing.  The part where she stabs herself in the cheek several times seems somewhat inconclusive.  I'd welcome any explanation towards this...

When Nina was finally taken over by the black swan, and her performance in Swan Lake proved a blinding success as she portrayed both roles spectacularly, it proved only one thing - that she could finally seduce her ballet teacher.

So, overall, although I quite liked this movie, I found it to be terribly confusing and some things did not add up.  I'm sure Nina was going crazy before taking part in Swan Lake, so the whole white/black swan and good/bad girl role made not as much sense as it probably should have.  However, the fact that I would watch it again proves that it must have been fairly decent, and let's hope that I realise what the bloomin' 'eck's going on, and then I can amend this review...