Black Swan: The Lethal Pursuit of Perfection
Photo sourced from IMDb.
Lari Li
“I felt it. Perfect. It was perfect. I was perfect.” Nina Sayers
Like Morrison, Cobain, and Mozart, the life of Nina Sayers was something so great and blinding that there was no other future for it but tragedy. This film left me in shambles, and there are no words to describe the way my mind and stomach were rushing and turning after analyzing the film as well as looking through others’ theories. Themes of obsession, mother-daughter relationships, the cost of perfection, grooming, and mental health are prominent throughout this film. On a brighter note, you’ll appreciate the cinematography of New York paired with Natalie Portman and ballet. If you love a good thriller and want to see a journey of womanhood and the dark side of performing arts that never makes it to the stage, Black Swan is the film for you.
About the Director & Cast
American psychological horror film Black Swan (2010) was directed by Brooklyn native Darren Aronofsky. Having studied filmmaking at Harvard University, his trademark includes a technique known as hip-hop montage, in which a sequence of scenes are quickly flashed on screen to induce a certain effect on the viewer. The most common theme across his filmography is destructive obsession. Other notable works of Aronofsky include Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler.
Black Swan stars Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers, Barbara Hershey as Erica Sayers, Mila Kunis as Lily, Vincent Cassel as Thomas Leroy, and Winona Ryder as Beth Macintyre. English composer Clint Mansell created the soundtrack for the movie, featuring dramatic pieces and a nod towards Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's classic 1876 ballet score Swan Lake.
About the Characters
Nina Sayers is a ballerina in a prestigious ballet company that’s based in New York City. She lives with her mother, Erica Sayers, a former ballerina with an air of failed dreams to her. Erica is what viewers might consider supportive of Nina at first, but she becomes overbearing as the movie progresses in an attempt to live her cut-short ballet career through her daughter.
Thomas Leroy is the abusive, scandalous director of Nina’s company. After an affair with the formerly selected Swan Queen Beth Macintyre, Beth is forced into retirement. In search of a new Swan Queen, the girls in the company audition for the role. While all the other dancers remain cordial and somewhat carefree in the process, the stress gets to Nina.
Lily is Nina’s female nemesis, their association and mutual acknowledgment eventually turning into a twisted friendship. The Swan Queen needs to embody both the fragile and pure White Swan as well as her dark and sensual twin, the Black Swan. While Nina is the perfect embodiment of the White Swan, she lacks what Lily has when it comes to dancing the Black Swan, which is a pressing concern for Thomas.
About Swan Lake
Thomas’ season debuts with Swan Lake, a love story and tragedy of Prince Siegfried and Princess Odette, who’s cursed to be a swan by day, girl by night by evil sorcerer Von Rothbart. Like many fairy tales, only true love and eternal devotion can break the curse. Siegfried is entranced and immediately swears his devotion.
Von Rothbart shows up to a royal ball with his daughter, Odile, whom he enchanted to look just like Odette. In the night, Siegfried, thinking he’s found Odette once again, swears his love for Odile. By then, Von Rothbart and Odile mock him, revealing their true intentions. Odette eventually decides to fling herself into the lake, Siegfried following close behind. The curse is removed, and Von Rothbart collapses as well.
Thomas’ take on Swan Lake is slightly different. It’s about a fragile girl being trapped in a swan’s body, forever in the search of freedom. His play ends with one last desperate stand before the Swan Queen leaps off a cliff, finally achieving her twisted freedom. This storyline is important to keep in mind; it parallels Nina’s life.
About the Plot
What I describe below is what I wish I knew before watching, as the movie is hard to follow at times. The plot is multifaceted, and there is a lot of nuance and depth to Aronofsky’s directing choices.
Ballerina Life
Nina’s life starts off idyllic and perfectly fitting for a New York City based ballerina. With outfits consisting of neutrals and baby pink, a kind mother, and having impressed Thomas, she was set on becoming “One of the Greats,” (alluding to Whiplash (2014), a perfect movie about perfection. There are many parallels between Whiplash and Black Swan, but I digress. 100% recommend watching!). Through more auditions, Thomas makes it clear that Nina cannot embody the Black Swan.
“The truth is when I look at you all I see is the white swan. Yes you're beautiful, fearful, and fragile. Ideal casting. But the black swan? It's a hard job to dance both…In four years every time you dance I see you obsessed getting each and every move perfectly right but I never see you lose yourself. Ever! All that discipline for what?”
Female Nemesis
Once Nina sees that Thomas has also taken an interest in the new girl, Lily, she goes to his office to talk about her wanting the role. He believes she doesn’t have the ferocity or wickedness in her. Thomas ends up forcibly kissing her, and she bites him, leaving him in shock. This earned her the role of the Swan Queen.
Lily is seen to have taken a special liking to Nina. She constantly tries to talk to her, and even invites her on a night out. Black Swan can be deceitful at times; it’s shown from Nina’s point of view, an unreliable narrator with hallucinations and paranoia. Throughout the first half of the film, I always thought Lily was out to get her. It wasn’t until during the official performance of Swan Lake that I realized Lily had been nothing but cordial to her, and that I was swayed by Nina’s point of view, in which she distorts reality to demonize her competition and keep herself “perfect” in her own eyes.
Nina vs. Erica
Nina rebels against her mother and goes out with Lily to a bar. She’s uptight at first, eating nothing while Lily eats a cheeseburger and takes foreign substances. Aronofsky’s infamous hip-hop montage is most prominent here, where Nina and Lily are on the dance floor under the influence. There are over 1,000 images fit into 45 seconds. Instead of other people in the club with her, all of the extras are of herself, Lily, and Thomas.
Sometimes, it’s hard to tell what part of the movie is real and what part is Nina’s hallucination, but I believe the beauty of the film is interpreting it on your own. Even one decided hallucination can completely alter the plot and interpretation of the film. You’re always one choice away from having a completely different opinion and view on the film than someone else. There’s plenty of filler drama in between, so you’ll always be on the edge of your seat while watching.
Anti-Nina
Nina walks past someone who looks just like her at the metro. Hair down, dressed in black. The complete opposite of Nina’s pink outfit and hair in a bun. She smiles evilly at her before strutting off. Nina ducks her head in the bathtub to calm down after a long day, and sees a mirror image of herself above the surface staring down at her.
The scratches on her back become worse, and she doesn’t know where they’re from. Sometimes, there’s a hand behind her in the mirrors scratching on her own. Black feathers erupt from her back. Is this what it takes to embody the Black Swan?
Analysis
Nina was perfect as the White Swan. Fragile yet disciplined, beautiful with love to give. Through Thomas’ dissatisfaction, Nina goes to extreme lengths to perfectly portray the Black Swan too. She becomes reckless and wicked, even stealing Beth’s things, throwing all her stuffed animals out, harming herself yet seeing hallucinations of her double harming her to maintain her perfect image. The movie depicts a loss of innocence perfectly paralleled with Swan Lake. From dressing in pinks and whites in the start to a complete dark wardrobe by the end, this signifies her transition. While it has the cover that Nina’s only losing her innocence to become perfect and embody the Black Swan for her part as the Swan Queen, it can be argued that it’s also part of the effects of getting groomed by Thomas and feeling the influence of her mature competition, Lily.
This film is also about the cost of success. In Nina’s eyes, it may have all been about pursuing perfection. To everyone else, it’s about embodying perfection, and the price to pay for it. She was already perfect in others’ eyes. Nina’s talent led to her collapse. The three biggest influences in her life all claw at an attempt to have her forever and take advantage of what she has. Thomas tries to be something more than just a director to her. Lily looks up to her and wants to dance like her. Her mother is overprotective and tries to live a ballet career through her. Nina was in their hands, and had to go to extreme lengths to achieve her freedom and escape their grasp, just like the Swan Queen she embodies.
Theories & Clues
There’s a scene where Nina is in bed, surrounded by all the pink and white stuffed animals in her room. The black swan plush on her nightstand is barely noticeable, and once she rolls over towards it, it’s obstructed from view, showing an attachment towards it. The stark contrast of black in a room of pink and white is suggesting her transition.
Did Nina die in the end? Nina’s known for harming herself, and in the final scene of the movie, she’s finished the last Act and lays on a mattress, blood soaking her stomach. Natalie Portman expressed her concern of Aronofsky’s placement of the blood looking too much like menstrual blood. Aronofsky assured her, saying the placement was intentional to symbolize Nina becoming a woman. Portman has stated that she believes Nina did not die, and that it’s a metaphor for Nina’s battle from childhood and maturity.
Another stance on Nina’s death is that the cut scene fades into a white light, suggesting heading towards the afterlife.
To get a handle on the thematic role that characters play, the etymology of character names were studied. Nina means child or little girl, while Lily means purity. Nina and Lily’s battles can be seen to symbolize the internal battle of a girl and the death of her purity into womanhood.
Conclusion
Aronofsky films are always bound to run your mind around. I absolutely loved every minute of Black Swan. The parallels and theories you can catch as you watch are bound to chill you to the core. The cinematography, the storytelling, and extraordinary choreography paired with the art of ballet made this a beautiful film. If themes of perfection, obsession, rivalry, mental health, mother-daughter relationships, or psychology resonate with you, Black Swan will make you feel seen.
Sources: 10 Subtle Clues About The Twist Ending In Black Swan
