Exploring a new director is always an interesting thing to look up to. And when there’s Natalie Portman in the lead, the curiosity rises up one level. For all who admire Natalie Portman’s work this sure will be a treat to your eyes. Arguably at her career best, Portman as Nina Sayers is brilliant, poetic and makes you think.
Black Swan is the story of ballet dancer Nina who dreams, lives and breathes to become the next lead in Swan Dance. If one reads the IMDB description of the film, the word ‘thriller’ finds a place in its genre. But don’t watch this film waiting to decipher the conspiracy of suspense behind this thrill. Look at it from a human perspective, the way any human dreams and strives to become something, the way one juggles between passion and sanity. Director Darren Aronofsky really tries to get you inside Nina’s head and literally makes you feel the juggle first hand. Cinematography plays a very important role in this film, possibly the only one so far where camera is the sole deciding factor of how the story is told. Shots are tightly placed in the frame and most of them are taken handheld. You can really see how badly the director wants you to focus on Nina that he only lets those things come in frame that Nina is concerned with and nothing more.
Natalie is in the true sense one of the most gifted actors Hollywood has and with Black Swan in particular her brilliance is rightfully celebrated as she received the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2011. For most part of this thriller Portman hardly ever speaks but her face really speaks to the viewers. Nina in the film is expected to perform two opposite characteristics and Portman skilfully lets her do that.
Narratives of this film have key focus inside Nina’s head and especially the last scene ending with the quote “Perfect! I felt perfection” is exactly what will relieve you from partaking in her miseries and as she finds perfection with her life, the viewers find perfection with the film.
The F Word 
This film is supposed to be a surreal movie but through all that kind of mysterious and uneasy tone, it was one of the realest portrayal of human emotions and psychology. What you mistook as your sense of perfection and ambition is what kills you. You quite feel like an outsider to the movie until the climax and the revelation and it is then you realise you were feeling like an outsider because you weren’t indulging with the movie, but the movie was indulging with you. It was a cinematic bliss.
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What a peculiar observation! How you put it is quite accurate. Natalie was representing all of us all along, people who don’t realise how close they’re to the verge of breaking down if they keep seeking perfection which is seemingly positive but has some boundaries people don’t maintain.
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