In director Darren Aronofsky's psychological drama Black Swan Natalie Portman is fearless as a driven, obsessed ballerina. This intense film touches on a number of themes including parental obsession, sexual repression, self-mutilation, self image and the search for perfection.
Portman's tour-de-force performance as a young ballerina who is dominated by her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey) at home and the ballet company's artistic director (Vincent Cassel) at work. Nina must compete with the prima ballerina Beth (Winona Ryder) and understudy Lily (Mila Kunis) for the chance of a lifetime, to play the Swan Queen in a production of Swan Lake. The role requires to perform as both the white swan and black swan and we soon see that the duality of the role is spilling into Nina's personal life.
Black Swan is an intense, passionate and highly melodramatic triumph by Aronofsky that takes you inside the world of ballet and shows the grueling work and sometimes manic obsession that goes into creating beautiful art.
At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars
*warning - this film features some graphic sexual scenes and is for adult audiences. This not an updated version of The Red Shoes
*note - in researching the film I found some stunning poster art used at various film festivals and some alternate poster art. I thought they were compelling enough to share here.
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