Black Swan: Worth a watch, but not for the faint-hearted.

Starring Natalie Portman, who spends the vast majority of the film looking constipated, having people creep up on her and having very painful-looking and blood producing accidents, Black Swan is not for those with a weak stomach. The film follows the story of a young and dedicated dancer, Nina Sayers (Portman) in New York, who is finally gets her big break when her creepy ballet teacher Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) gives her the role of both the Black and White swan in Swan Lake. Nina has, thus far in her dancing career, been poised and exact, so Thomas urges her to get in touch with her ‘dark side’ and become more of a black swan, as she is pitched against her alternate, Lily (Mila Kunis), who coincidentally keeps popping up in Nina’s dreams. Through her attempts to become more in touch with her own ‘Black Swan’, Nina becomes more and more shrouded in mental illness and her perception becomes increasingly unhinged from reality.



The majority of Black Swan should be watched through one’s fingers. There are some truly cringeworthily gruesome moments and this film is not for the squeamish, nor is it for young budding ballerinas or homophobes. It has its perks – the film cleverly follows the plot of the actual Swan Lake, in which the White Swan’s prince falls in love with her twin, and there’s this whole ‘oh my gosh that makes sense now’ moment where Lily and Nina go to a bar and a guy asks if they’re sisters. But overall, the film was just too nightmarishly odd for me, and it’s hard to know when there will be a nice bit of ballet or whether someone will suddenly fork out their eyeball or something. Not for the squeamish or weak-hearted, and a definite no-go for family viewing, unless your parents are cool about racy lesbian sex. If not, it’ll make a very awkward watch.