"I felt it. Perfect. I was perfect."

A ballet dancer Nina gets the role of Swan Queen in Swan Lake. She is perfect for the role of White Swan, which is why she needs to invest in the Black Swan. Slowly she gets deep into the role, and starts to lose her mind.

When Black Swan came out, I thought it was ridiculous. I don't know why, I guess I was a bit immature then. But I didn't know what it was about, I didn't know anything about it, except that it was about ballet and some really trivial things. And now, well, I've grown as a human being and as a movie viewer. 

And of course there's that one other reason that made me interested in Black Swan right now. The story of Black Swan mixes artists and mental illness. I've found myself to be very fond of that combination in fiction. Any kind of art is always tough for its artist, but it gets almost agonizing when it's taken to a certain level. Not every artist who practices their art daily feel like this, but not everyone is putting their whole soul to the work. Some artists do that. And I think dance is a very painful form of art. If you put your soul into it, it can be really tormenting mentally, but it's also painful physically - especially when we are talking about ballet. Even when you're just looking at pictures of the ballet dancers' footwork, it might feel painful. I can't imagine how hard and excruciating the pain can be.

I actually want to compare Birdman (Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) to Black Swan. Here's the review of Birdman, if you feel the need to read that before reading my comparison. 

Both of the movies have an artist as a main character, a ballet dancer and an actor. Both of them are losing their mind, even though it's slower and less clear in Birdman. And both movies have the same kind of structure, in a way that it's focusing on practice / previews, and the premiere is what really shows us, what has happened to our main characters during their course. Then again there are differences in the characters. Nina and Riggan Thomson are at completely different stages of their lives. Riggan Thomson is well past his middle age, and it seems that his career is over, and that's why the play is important to him.  Nina is young and still lives with her mother. Partly the story of Black Swan is focusing on her growth, but maybe mostly the fact that she's still partly a little girl, who is going insane and craves the things adults have. She (also) craves for successful career and fame. Of course she also craves for perfection. Perfection was mostly what she aimed for, all the time, which was the problem. That's why she took everything so harshly, that's why the role of Black Swan was so hard to her, an that's why the role had so great impact on her.* So Nina still doesn't have the things Thomson once had (apart from the perfection, I don't think Thomson had a problem with that). That's one the key differences between the characters - you know, other than their gender. 

I haven't really seen so many movies directed by Darren Aronofsky. I've only seen The Fountain, which was astonishingly beautiful and heartbreaking. Black Swan was surprisingly different. Of course you can see Aronofsky's metaphorical handprint on it, I'm not saying the movie has nothing in common artistically speaking with The Fountain. The story and the themes just are so different. I think I should see the other movies directed by Aronofsky to be able to truly compare the themes found in the movie.

And suddenly my review got a really analysis-like feel to it. Just few days ago I was defending myself online, saying how my posts are reviews and not analyses...

Anyway, I loved the actresses chosen for their roles. I say actresses, because female characters were way more significant to this story than the male characters. Natalie Portman was astonishing, and she portrayed her character so very well. There might be actresses out there, who are just as good as her, or even better, but I truly think Portman was exquisite choice for this part. Mila Kunis was also very good choice. The contrast between Portman and Kunis was magnificent. Both of them also played well the character, and then the "other version" of the character. Nina's character sometimes so herself, but different, the Black Swan. The difference between the real Nina and the Black Swan Nina was good. I can't say if they were too different, in the way there was nothing same in them, because the other one was shown so little.

Clint Mansell's score was also amazing. It mixed really well with the music of Pjotr Tšaikovski. Mansell is a great composer - his music seems always so different. Compared to Elfman, Zimmer, and other really, really often used composers, because you are almost always able to recognise their style.

Many of my friends were complaining a lot about Black Swan. Mostly it was about how confusing this movie was. I actually have no idea what they mean, because everything they had said, some scene they didn't understand, etcetera, were pretty clear, when you look at the bigger picture. Sure, even though you know what some confusing and even "disconnected" part is happening, it might still feel a little odd or useless.

Anyway, I liked Black Swan. It was magnificent, beautiful, disturbing and distressing.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

9 / 10

*Of course someone else could say that I'm wrong, and they have their own reading of Nina. And yes, I may very well be incorrect on many things, and I blame that on the fact that this is my first time of viewing this. I'd need many more viewings to be able to read Nina on many different