Black Swan (2011)

Running Time: 108 Minutes
Directed By: Darren Aronofsky

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder

Screenplay: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John J. McLaughlin

UK Release Date: 21st January 2011

Quick Plot: Nina Sayers lives the perfect life for a ballerina, according to her over protective ex- ballerina Mother. Taking over Beth for the role of the Swan Queen, Nina has to show her director, Thomas, that she can dance the White Swan- innocent, fragile and everything she knows to be. But the title also requires to dance the Black Swan- dark, rebellious and sinister. When replacement member to the ballet company, Lily arrives, Nina's thirst for being the perfect Swan Queen starts to turn very psychological

Review: 

I'm still not fully sure what I think of the film. At the end of the film I turned to my cousin and said the words, 'What the f- just happened?' and not in the good way like I did with Inception.

Yet I didn't rate this film the 3 Stars I was going to instead raised it to 4 because it's beautiful, stunning and Natalie Portman has won me over in possibly one of her greatest roles I have ever seen her play. I've never seen a film like Black Swan, so I think it's left more of a mark on me than it will on most people because I'm not use to getting this mucked up and scarred. It's not getting the whole 5 out of 5 because I think the story messes up often and I don't mean it messes up the audience. I think there are some gaps that needed have been filled with something more and it's definitely without a doubt not for everyone.

Natalie Portman was fantastic nonetheless with no faults at all- but I am slightly biased as Miss Portman has been one of my role models since the minor age of 4 from when I watched Star Wars I: Phantom Menace at the cinema. Mila Kunis was marvelous and perfect and has a big future ahead of her now after this role

This is the first film I've seen from Darren Aronofsky and can see that he's a dedicated Director with beautiful ideas. Once he finished Film School, he knew he wanted to make two specific films: One about Wrestling (The Wrestler 2008) and Ballet. The ballet and choreographer in this film is beyond gorgeous and I think Natalie Portman did a great job with her ballet skills. Losing 20 pounds and training every day for more than 3 months, it's clear that the role meant a lot to Natalie. The story meant a lot too, after work on it for 10 years. After watching her acceptance speech more than about 4 times now, I must agree that Natalie's Golden Globe is thoroughly deserved. I have to agree with Claudia Winkleman on Film 2011 on Wednesday night when she said that the camera angles really get you 'behind Nina so that you feel uncomfortable and claustriphobic', because you really do see everything for Nina and you yourself start to loose your mind. I don't want to give anything away in this review because I hate spoilers so I'm not going to go into detail of the plot, but there are difference scenes with mirrors, trains and many other scenes which are perfect and so different to the normal side of films you often see. Ok I'm blabbering now and this review is hardly good because it's so hard to explain. I guess you have to see it to know what I mean..

All this has made me realise it's not a bad film per say. But I think I got far too much excited than I should have and then maybe I would have enjoyed it more.

I recommend Black Swan to anyone who likes Ballet- be aware Ballet is merely the little story that keeps the plot together. Anyone who likes to be left wondering what they've just seen and having their mind played with would enjoy this a lot. But it's probably not for the faint hearted and anyone who doesn't like awkward scenes when watching a film with family a friends (you know the scenes I mean)

Black Swan official trailer 1 HD