Movie Review: 'Black Swan' employs disturbing beauty

“Black Swan”

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder
Rated: R

Director Darren Aronofsky gives me the creeps.

And I mean that with the utmost respect.

Films that can make the viewer uncomfortable - without resorting to gratuitous violence, gore, bullets or high speed car chases - are things of disturbing beauty. Aronofsky knows this territory well. From his debut, “Pi,” through “Requiem for a Dream” and “The Wrestler,” he's made some of the most squirm-inducing films of the past dozen years.

His latest, “Black Swan,” fits his cinematic modus operandi perfectly. The backdrop is the world of professional ballet, which is juxtaposed with personal stories that are as weird and gritty as those in any of his previous films.

Besides Aronofsky's own personal stamp, “Black Swan” has been influenced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s  masterpiece, “The Red Shoes,” and it brings to mind two Roman Polanski films, “Repulsion” and “The Tenant.” In both of those movies, Polanski explored the world of inner madness and had viewers deciding for themselves what was real and what were paranoid delusions. “The Tenant” isn't well known but ranks in my top 10 films.

In “Black Swan,” Natalie Portman stars as Nina Sayers, a young woman who has dedicated her entire life to the study and practice of ballet; it's an art that takes a whole lot of discipline. She lives with her obsessive stage-mother mom, played by Barbara Hershey. The character makes Faye Dunaway's Joan Crawford in “Mommy Dearest” look like mother of the year.

Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) is the artistic director of  Nina's ballet company. He's an egotistic Svengali-like character, but it's clear he does know his business. His latest artistic vision is to do a version of the most classic of all ballets, “Swan Lake,” that will be “visceral and real.”

Nina is hoping to get the lead role(s). Traditionally, dancers who have played the Swan Queen also have played her evil sister, the Black Swan. Nina revs up her rehearsal schedule and also finds out that Thomas expects more from his leading ladies than good dancing.

She starts coming unraveled with the stress of her dedication to her art, the expectations of her director and the unbearable pressure from her mother.

Aronofsky, in his usually creepy style, throws in quick and surreal scenes of Nina's ever increasing private hell.

Then there is the good news and the bad news. She lands the role of the Swan Queen, but Thomas doesn't think she is right for the Black Swan. He thinks she can't let herself go enough sexually to make the role convincing. Instead, he casts
Lilly - played by Mila Kunis - as the Black Swan.

Kunis played the self absorbed character Jackie Burkhart on “That '70s Show” and gradually made her way into film. She is disarmingly beautiful and a good actress. I barely recognized her in her first major film role in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” She is now a far cry from her ditzy Jackie from TV.

Kunis and Portman are both great in “Black Swan.” Their rivalry is well written, and with Aronofsky's direction, it's hard to tell if Lily is really an evil backstabber or a supportive friend. It makes for, as mentioned, some intensely creepy scenes.

Winona Ryder has a small but important role as Beth Macintyre. Beth is Thomas' former go-to leading lady and, as such, his former lover. Now in her 30s, she is deemed too old to play leading roles. The aesthetics of ballet are a harsh mistress. Beth is relegated to the role of  the Dying Swan. It's a heartbreaking symbolic angle in the film. To add insult to injury, she is also displaced from the prime dressing room she had enjoyed for so many years. Thomas is a harsh master.

As a matter of full disclosure, I know very little about ballet. I've wondered why they didn't just hire taller people rather than make everyone dance around on their toes. I don't know (or care in the least) much about basketball. Boxing is a brutal sport which I do know a bit about but am not a a true fan.

But watching Michael Jordan play basketball or Muhammad Ali in the ring, I always marveled at the utterly fantastic body movements they were capable of.

To their credit, both Portman and Kunis do credible jobs as ballet dancers in “Black Swan.” For the close-up shots of the toe dancing, Aronofsky used professional ballerinas, but in the wide shots, it's Portman and Kunis. Their arm and upper body movements are fluid and believable.

“Black Swan” has made every critic's “Best of 2010” list and it deserves to be there. It's got the director's creepy vision all over it, but is also a thing of tragic beauty.

See it. Even if you hate ballet.[[In-content Ad]]