Black Swan (2010)

Around the awards season it's not unreasonable to have a fair degree of scepticism about likely nominations being thrown around. In this case, Natalie Portman is being touted as a shoe-in for the Best Actress Oscar, having already won the Golden Globe in the same category, for her role as a veteran ballerina in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. Happily, Portman deserves her nomination for this part, a vulnerable and damaged young woman who discovers many things about herself after being chosen for the dual role of the Swan Queen in a production of Swan Lake. It's implied that Portman's character Nina was always high-strung and obsessive to the point of madness, and we see her begin to break under the pressure of her starring role, struggling to portray the feisty and sensual Black Swan, and fearing that new dancer Lily (Mila Kunis) will steal way her chance for success after years of intensive training. The entire film is slightly unnerving, with the ostentatious displays of Nina's cracking psyche balanced by many tiny, background effects that cause the viewer to wonder if they just imagined the moving picture or distorted face in their peripheral vision. Tchaikovsky dominates the musical score, lending a sense of immense grandeur to the proceedings, and cementing the music of Swan Lake into even the most ballet-phobic male stereotype. The incredibly tense finale is a blend of thunderous music, beautiful dancing, and some truly breath-taking imagery as Nina loses herself in her role and allows her old self to be overcome. The hype is justified and in this case the film is as much a piece of entertainment as a piece of art.


And I'm sure this scene wasn't added to placate hen-pecked boyfriends...