Black Swan (2010)

A ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan.

Director:

Darren Aronofsky

Writers:

Mark Heyman (screenplay), Andres Heinz (screenplay),

Stars:

Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel

Top 250 #187 | Won 1 Oscar. Another 57 wins & 124 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Natalie Portman	...	Nina Sayers / The Swan Queen
Mila Kunis	...	Lily / The Black Swan
Vincent Cassel	...	Thomas Leroy / The Gentleman
Barbara Hershey	...	Erica Sayers / The Queen
Winona Ryder	...	Beth Macintyre / The Dying Swan
Benjamin Millepied	...	David / The Prince
Ksenia Solo	...	Veronica / Little Swan
Kristina Anapau	...	Galina / Little Swan
Janet Montgomery	...	Madeline / Little Swan
Sebastian Stan	...	Andrew / Suitor
Toby Hemingway	...	Tom / Suitor
Sergio Torrado	...	Sergio / Rothbart
Mark Margolis	...	Mr. Fithian / Patron
Tina Sloan	...	Mrs. Fithian / Patron
Abraham Aronofsky	...	Mr. Stein / Patron (as Abe Aronofsky)

Storyline

Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.

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Plot Keywords:

ballerina | dancer | swan lake | ballet | dance | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Italian

Release Date:

17 December 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

El cisne negro

Filming Locations:

Bowling Green, Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,762,429 (UK) (21 January 2011)

Gross:

$106,952,327 (USA) (29 April 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Cross Creek Pictures, Protozoa Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Blake Lively and Eva Green auditioned for the role of Lily.

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Goofs

The small black feather that Nina pulls out of her skin.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Nina Sayers: I had the craziest dream last night. I was dancing the White Swan.

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Connections

Spoofed in How It Should Have Ended: The Best Picture Summary 2011 (2011)

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Soundtracks

"The Nina Frequency"
Written by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons
Performed by The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers perform courtesy of EMI Records Limited
Contains "Swan Lake" written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

User Reviews

An epic and nightmarish delight

Natalie Portman lives a dream and a nightmare when she gets a chance to dance Swan Lake in Darren Aronofsky's new film

Black Swan is a very bi polarized film. Portman dances as the white swan flawlessly, but her 'brilliant' choreographer has doubts about her as the black swan. She needs to 'live a little' and be less mannered, but the closer she gets to that point, the more the walls start to close in all around her.

Darren Aronofsky, though he comes close to being heavy handed, has delivered a project which is fiery, spectacular and clever. He sells us ballet as something dark and off putting, starting from his decision to reveal what dancing does to peoples bodies. One mistake and you can crack a toe nail under your body weight, but I don't wanna oversell it. To look at Black Swan in another way, it is an operatic horror film, It has incredible style, but uses it not so much to dazzle but to confuse and intimidate. The paradox of Black swan is that it creepiness is kind of seductive, because it draws you in (much like the way vampires are supposedly romantic)

But style is only half the picture (not even). The rest is in the cast, and mostly in Natalie Portman. She is slow to get started, but she grows quickly and the result is arguably her best performance yet. I've never loved her that much. She's always struck me as more of a girl than a woman, but I guess all she needs is to get a little blood on her hands, and you have an award worthy performance. Vincent Cassel, though he gets some questionable lines, is also at his best. I would have almost liked to see more of him, because you get the sense that his role has a bit more room to grow.

Black Swan does quite a bit, but it's not for everyone. Do not go into this expecting to be emotionally enriched. From the beginning, it is staged to be a mind-twirl, delighting in playing tricks on the audience. Some might call it cheating, but that would be the wrong way to look at Black Swan. It's quite epic, and with year coming to an end, I think it's fair to say that it is among the best of 2010.