The Black Swan Review

[Westside Steve]

The Black Swan

Fox

R 85 min

 

OK gang, I'll freely admit that I'm not a huge fan of ballet. Oh I think I saw the Nutcracker Suite a few decades ago and had to take a quarter of "stage movement" when I was a theater major (Imagine me in panty hose) but that's about the extent of it.

So I really had no idea of the plot of Swan Lake.

Apparently there’s some seduction and treachery going on concerning a white swan queen and a black one.

As this film centers on a production of the ballet it seems the director wants both parts played by the principal dancer. OK?

That every dancer in the troupe covets role and it seems Natalie Portman has the inside track. She's flawless as the white swan but the director fears she doesn't possess the fire and passion to play the black one.

 

I've heard this referred to as a "chick flick" but that usually makes me think of Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts or a Lifetime movie.

This one's too stark, too disturbing to fall into that category. It's pretty surrealistic in parts and bordering on Sci Fi at times.

Other times it's more a very dark psychological drama but no matter how you categorize it there's no happy ending.

 

There's the erotic dynamic between her and, the creepy director, binge drinking, drugs and a lesbian encounter with her main rival for the role.

That's all mixed in with a really dysfunctional relationship with a neurotic mother (Barbara Hershey) as she slowly transforms, physically and emotionally into the suicidal creature that dances the finale.

 

So despite the raw emotion, the superb acting the avant-garde production and the awards I'm a bit undecided. It bothered me.

Are those things enough to make a great film or is it justly too damn creepy to enjoy?

Will a normal woman find enough to empathize with it the awful events on screen?

I guess it's possible.

I was never bored and often fascinated by the going on but just as disgusted. Does that make sense?

Anyway I'm going to wuss out with a B-/

Another day I may have gone as high as A- or as low as D+.

 

You can decide.

 

B-

 

WSS