Disorder Reviews: Black Swan (2010)

Martintox

Mister Disorder
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Apr 3, 2020
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BLACK SWAN


Director: Darren Aronofsky
Producer: Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin
Screenplay: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin
Music: Clint Mansell (based on compositions by Pyotr Tchaikovsky)
Actors: Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder
Release Date: 3rd December 2010
Genre: Psychological Drama (+Psychological Horror)

Darren Aronofsky is recognized primarily for his surreal, emotionally driven filming style, as well as a plethora of renowned or controversial drama films. Titles such as Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Wrestler (2008), and Black Swan (2010) have received high critical acclaim and a plethora of awards and nominations. He has also produced movies such as The Fighter (2008) and Jackie (2016).

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To this day, I am absolutely baffled. I'm not the type to be emotionally invested in the work of people I don't know, but I have profound respect and appreciation for Darren Aronofsky as a filmmaker, polarizing as he can be. There are plenty of reasonable criticisms regarding his movies, and I have one myself, in fact: as much as I adore his use of editing as an extension of the psychology of the characters and as a way to emphasize the emotional subtext, he lays it on too thick sometimes. There is always a moment where he spells the themes out too much, and this can come from the cinematography as much as it can be the writing or the use of music. It happens only once or twice in a movie, but that "once or twice" is noticeable. Really, only Pi and The Wrestler show the full potential of his artistry once he makes a concerted effort to reign himself in. Yet, even with this rather flagrant issue, I thoroughly enjoy all but one of his major films, as I find myself particularly resonating with the thematic elements that are prevalent across his work.

I say "all but one", as Black Swan is a particularly shocking misstep in what was an otherwise incredible streak of movies. If some of Aronofsky's works can be described as "trying too hard", then this is the opposite -- not so much regarding the film itself, but rather the material used as its foundation. This film is straight up a rip-off of Persona, and not even a subtle one at that. There have been cases of this before, as with the many similarities between Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars, and arguments can certainly be made about the transformation of an original work into a new context. After all, a premise can be done many times in many different styles and contexts. When I say that Black Swan apes Persona, I am not simply criticizing the similarities between the two works; the problem is that the former does not do an adequate job to distinguish itself from its inspiration.

The thematic through-line of Aronofsky movies is that of the individual's self-destructive pursuit of an obsession: whether it's the rush of drug consumption (Requiem for a Dream) or the search for a way to escape the inevitability of death (The Fountain), characters thrust themselves into their deepest passions until they reach their breaking point, where they become either free or entirely consumed by these compulsions. The same principle applies in Black Swan: Natalie Portman (who, to her credit, turns out a great performance) plays Nina Sayers, an idol singer turned actress who grows increasingly insecure as various incidents occur during the filming of a crime drama series, in which a case centers on a production of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake". Part of the appeal, being an Aronofsky film, is that the character's self-doubt overtakes her perception of reality, particularly in the form of an alternate Nina who is still an idol singer, and seems to be operating completely independently from the real one.

The core thematic element is the notion of the persona -- for those not well versed in Jung, it can be described as a mask or "false identity" that individuals exhibit in the company of other people, which implies a divide between a person's true personality and that which they present to the world. In this case, Nina's persona as an idol singer persists in the social fabric even after the individual has changed. The exact same thing can be said of the movie Persona; as much as Aronofsky may have reworked the story into his own visual language, I don't believe he has added anything particularly meaningful to that original film. If it's not due to a lack of effort on his behalf, then it may be that the source material belongs too much in his comfort zone, and he has not felt the need to change much. I suppose he did try to shake things up, but many of the additional story elements (the social commentary on the idol industry or the attempt to mirror Nina's character arc with the story of the ballet) are left insufficiently developed, as the perspective can shift to something else entirely just as he's about to get into detail on one of these ideas.

If that wasn't enough, Aronofsky has outright reused sequences from Persona. There are multiple cases, but the most egregious example is the scene when Nina, rehearsing for the ballet scene inside the movie, sees the lights go out and explores the empty backstage only to stumble upon her own alternate self. From the framing of the shots down to the backing music, it is very clearly based on the part in Persona where Laura Dern's character, after taking a door in an alley, enters a dark backstage and catches a glimpse of herself from a past sequence. This is not to mention Black Swan's borderline comical reuse of Beck's "Black Tambourine" in the return to the dance club set where the rape scene was shot in the first half. Furthermore, the repetition of sequences with minor variations (so as to add ambiguity as to whether the events on screen are in real life, a part of the film, or part of the ballet inside the film) is clearly based on David Lynch's own surreal narrative techniques (not only in Persona but in Lost Highway and the Neon Genesis Evangelion series), but it only serves to muddle up the thematic reading and aggravate the viewing experience by its sheer frequency.

I have been profoundly negative thus far, but rest assured that there are some redeeming elements. The actors deliver perfectly good performances on the whole (Benjamin Millepied as the stalker is particularly memorable), and Clint Mansell does a surprisingly effective job in adapting pieces from "Swan Lake" into orchestral J-Pop hybrids. The use of a handheld camera effect (even in the animated sequences, surprisingly) is sometimes quite inspired, as it allows for subtle hints at Nina's deteriorating mental state in the same way that you would catch something strange out the corner of your eye. I don't see why Aronofsky felt the need to take from Lynch's style in this movie, but when he sticks to his own approach, flashes of his genius still show. Mind you, he still gets overbearing on occasion: the CGI transformation and the scene where Nina is pursued by her manager could have definitely been handled with more subtlety. For a fan of this director's prior work, it might still be interesting to give Black Swan a look; the issues I have regarding its transformation (or lack thereof) of Persona have done well to sour my perspective of it, but it's possible that someone may appreciate it a lot more in spite of that. In most regards, the classic Aronofsky style is still very much present. Even so, it has been a whopping two days [editor's note: two weeks now, this review was originally published on 18/03/2020] since I've seen it, and I am still left perplexed.

TL;DR: Perfect Blue's a meme, just watch American Psycho.

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PERSONAL RATING: ****
RECOMMENDATION RATING: ****
LETTERED RATING: GAMMA


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@Nick Calandra It seems that the insertion of images through the interface as opposed to direct use of BBCode in the full post page causes errors as well.
 

Fat Hippo

Prepare to be Gnomed
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I don't know what you're talking about, in truth Black Swan was clearly ripping off Dirty Dancing, and nothing else.