Concrete Playground

Darren Aronofsky may have been lauded for his portrait of The Wrestler, but he certainly doesn't pull his punches in the ballet world. Turning the dial up to 11, Aronofsky brings glorious new meaning to the term 'melodrama' as he refashions the tragic tale of the Swan princess into a sexy, haunting and sublimely over the top cinematic romp.

Taking more than a few cues from Dostoyevsky's The Double, Roman Polanski’s Repulsion and of course Powell and Pressburger’s seminal The Red Shoes, Aronofsky and his screenwriters serve up Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), a timidly ambitious ballerina desperate for perfection. When ballet company director Thomas (Vincent Cassel) ousts his prima ballerina (Winona Ryder) and instead selects Nina to play the lead in his revamped production of Swan Lake, the pressure immediately begins to take its toll on his new princess. Thomas knows Nina is perfect for the virginal White Swan, but he forces her to confront her lack of sensuality and wild abandon required for the sultry Black Swan. This role is better suited to the free-spirited new recruit Lily (Mila Kunis), and this perceived treat to her new reign fractures Nina’s fragile psyche. Add to the mix a terrifyingly infantilising mother (a scene-stealing Barbara Hershey) and a history of stress-induced scratching, and Aronofsky has a veritable crucible of psychological factors to toy with on screen.

And toy he most definitely does, leading his audience into the depths of Nina's psychosis via Portman's utterly spellbinding performance. She is simply exquisite, literally and figuratively flapping about on stage, rail thin and wild-eyed. It is a testament to her committed preparation that Portman looks at home in the ballet company, and similarly she seamlessly slips into Nina’s protracted childhood amongst her wall-to-wall pink, plush toy filled bedroom. There’s even a music box, complete with a twirling ballerina.

Yes, everything is that black and white in Black Swan, and that's exactly how Aronofsky wants it. If you're searching for any hint of nuance or subtlety, you're in the wrong place. Aronofsky is more like a bull in a china shop, but therein lies all the fun. See Black Swan for Portman, for the production design and for the sheer, ballsy, maddening brilliance of it all.