Review of Black Swan (2010) by Andrew O — 05 Sep 2015

Wasn't sure what to expect from this film going in and by the end I still wasn't quite sure how I felt about it. The film has its strengths but I feel I was just too rudimentary in its core mechanics and underline theme. The 'star' of the piece, Portman, is fine as Nina but its hard to be drawn into her dellusional mind state when from the very start she appears unstable and fragile. It lessens the impact the stress attaining the role of the black swan has because she appears succeptible to that sort of mental collapse from the first few times you see her. Hence the film plays out without any unexpected developments but rather more by escalating Nina's psychosis further until the climax which in fairness presents a decent conclusion.

It's a little purplexing to see why this film garnered widespread praise considering it is a little basic in it's execution and one dimensional throughout. It not bad by most standards but its hard to really appreciate Black Swan when I feel the scriptwriters could have gave us a more relatable Nina I could empathise with.