Black SwanCast: Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Genres: Drama and Thriller
Running Time: 1 hr. 43 min.
Release Date: December 3, 2010
Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a young dancer with a prestigious New York City Ballet company. She lives with her overbearing mother, Erica (Barbara Hershey), a failed dancer turned amateur artist who tries to control much of Nina's life.
The ballet company is preparing for a production of Swan Lake. The director, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), has to cast a new principal dancer. The lead must be able to portray both the innocent, fragile White Swan and her darkly sensual, evil twin, the Black Swan. Nina is selected to compete for the part alongside several other dancers. The director does not intend to cast Nina as the Swan Queen. When Nina visits him to request the role, he tells her that her rigid technique makes her ideal for the White Swan, but that she lacks the passion to dance the Black Swan. When he forces a kiss on her, she bites him. Thomas sees her potential and gives her the role.
Nina displays a number of psychotic symptoms, including strong delusions and elaborate visual hallucinations. She begins to feel paranoid that Lily, her understudy, is determined to take the lead away from her. Thomas, meanwhile, becomes increasingly critical of Nina's "frigid" dancing as the Black Swan, and tells her that she should stop being such a perfectionist and simply lose herself in the Black Swan role.
One evening Lily appears at Nina's door and invites her for a night out. Nina is hesitant at first but joins Lily after having an explosive argument with her mother. During the night, Lily offers Nina Ecstasy which lowers her inhibitions. Nina becomes sexually interested in not only the men at the bar, but Lily as well. Upon returning to the apartment, Nina has another fight with her mother. She barricades herself in her room and Nina hallucinates having sex with Lily. Nina wakes up alone and late for rehearsal the next morning, and rushes to make it on time. When she enters the studio, she finds Lily dancing as the Swan Queen in her absence. Furious, Nina confronts Lily, and asks her why she did not wake her up in the morning. Lily states that she spent the night with a man whom she met at the club and teases Nina for fantasizing about her.
The night before the ballet's opening, Nina continues to experience strong hallucinations. Nina awakes the night of the opening performance, locked in her bedroom with her mother. Nina's mother tells her that she called the ballet company and informed them that Nina wasn't feeling well and will not be able to perform. After violently forcing her mother to let her leave, Nina arrives at the theater to discover that Thomas has asked Lily to dance the Swan Queen in Nina's place. Nina ignores this development, prepares for the performance and convinces Thomas that she is able to dance.
The first act goes well until Nina is distracted during a lift by a hallucination and the glare of the overhead lights. The Prince drops her. Distraught, Nina returns to her dressing room and finds Lily there, dressed in the Black Swan costume. As Lily announces her intention to play the Black Swan, she transforms into Nina herself. Nina and her duplicate wrestle. Nina shoves her duplicate into the mirror, shattering it. She grabs a shard of glass and stabs her duplicate in the stomach. Upon realizing what she has done, Nina sees that the body is Lily's. Nina hides Lily's body, returns to the stage and dances the Black Swan passionately and sensually, growing black feathers, her arms becoming black wings as she finally loses herself and transforms into a black swan. At the end of the act, she receives a standing ovation from the audience, appearing normal from their point of view. When she leaves the stage, she finds Thomas and the rest of the cast congratulating her on her stunning performance. Nina takes Thomas by surprise and kisses him with a seductive power.
Back in her dressing room preparing for the final act, the dying of the White Swan, Nina is interrupted by a knock at her door. She opens it to see Lily, who has come to congratulate her on her performance as the Black Swan. Nina realizes her fight with Lily was another hallucination, but sees the mirror is still shattered. She notices a wound on her body and realizes that she stabbed herself, not Lily. Back on stage, Nina dances passionately and seamlessly as the White Swan. In the last moments of the ballet, when the White Swan throws herself off a cliff, she spots her mother weeping in the audience. The theater erupts in thunderous applause as Nina falls. As Thomas and the rest of the cast enthusiastically congratulate her on her performance, Lily gasps in horror to see that Nina is bleeding, and some of the cast run to get medical help. Though Nina lies wounded (and perhaps dying), she is content and satisfied with her performance. The film closes with Nina staring up at the stage lights while whispering "I felt it - Perfect - I was perfect," as the screen fades to white and the audience chants her name.
The ballet company is preparing for a production of Swan Lake. The director, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), has to cast a new principal dancer. The lead must be able to portray both the innocent, fragile White Swan and her darkly sensual, evil twin, the Black Swan. Nina is selected to compete for the part alongside several other dancers. The director does not intend to cast Nina as the Swan Queen. When Nina visits him to request the role, he tells her that her rigid technique makes her ideal for the White Swan, but that she lacks the passion to dance the Black Swan. When he forces a kiss on her, she bites him. Thomas sees her potential and gives her the role.
Nina displays a number of psychotic symptoms, including strong delusions and elaborate visual hallucinations. She begins to feel paranoid that Lily, her understudy, is determined to take the lead away from her. Thomas, meanwhile, becomes increasingly critical of Nina's "frigid" dancing as the Black Swan, and tells her that she should stop being such a perfectionist and simply lose herself in the Black Swan role.
One evening Lily appears at Nina's door and invites her for a night out. Nina is hesitant at first but joins Lily after having an explosive argument with her mother. During the night, Lily offers Nina Ecstasy which lowers her inhibitions. Nina becomes sexually interested in not only the men at the bar, but Lily as well. Upon returning to the apartment, Nina has another fight with her mother. She barricades herself in her room and Nina hallucinates having sex with Lily. Nina wakes up alone and late for rehearsal the next morning, and rushes to make it on time. When she enters the studio, she finds Lily dancing as the Swan Queen in her absence. Furious, Nina confronts Lily, and asks her why she did not wake her up in the morning. Lily states that she spent the night with a man whom she met at the club and teases Nina for fantasizing about her.
The night before the ballet's opening, Nina continues to experience strong hallucinations. Nina awakes the night of the opening performance, locked in her bedroom with her mother. Nina's mother tells her that she called the ballet company and informed them that Nina wasn't feeling well and will not be able to perform. After violently forcing her mother to let her leave, Nina arrives at the theater to discover that Thomas has asked Lily to dance the Swan Queen in Nina's place. Nina ignores this development, prepares for the performance and convinces Thomas that she is able to dance.
The first act goes well until Nina is distracted during a lift by a hallucination and the glare of the overhead lights. The Prince drops her. Distraught, Nina returns to her dressing room and finds Lily there, dressed in the Black Swan costume. As Lily announces her intention to play the Black Swan, she transforms into Nina herself. Nina and her duplicate wrestle. Nina shoves her duplicate into the mirror, shattering it. She grabs a shard of glass and stabs her duplicate in the stomach. Upon realizing what she has done, Nina sees that the body is Lily's. Nina hides Lily's body, returns to the stage and dances the Black Swan passionately and sensually, growing black feathers, her arms becoming black wings as she finally loses herself and transforms into a black swan. At the end of the act, she receives a standing ovation from the audience, appearing normal from their point of view. When she leaves the stage, she finds Thomas and the rest of the cast congratulating her on her stunning performance. Nina takes Thomas by surprise and kisses him with a seductive power.
Back in her dressing room preparing for the final act, the dying of the White Swan, Nina is interrupted by a knock at her door. She opens it to see Lily, who has come to congratulate her on her performance as the Black Swan. Nina realizes her fight with Lily was another hallucination, but sees the mirror is still shattered. She notices a wound on her body and realizes that she stabbed herself, not Lily. Back on stage, Nina dances passionately and seamlessly as the White Swan. In the last moments of the ballet, when the White Swan throws herself off a cliff, she spots her mother weeping in the audience. The theater erupts in thunderous applause as Nina falls. As Thomas and the rest of the cast enthusiastically congratulate her on her performance, Lily gasps in horror to see that Nina is bleeding, and some of the cast run to get medical help. Though Nina lies wounded (and perhaps dying), she is content and satisfied with her performance. The film closes with Nina staring up at the stage lights while whispering "I felt it - Perfect - I was perfect," as the screen fades to white and the audience chants her name.
