Movie Review: Black Swan (WTF?!)

xoxo

Well, for Mother’s Day, my fiance got me “Black Swan”, the movie I’d been dying to see for ages. The movie is about a ballerina, Nina, who dances for a NY dance company at the Lincoln Center. She earns for herself the starring role of the Swan Queen in renowned production, “Swan Lake”. However, this isn’t a simple narrative story, this psychological thriller is a metaphor that tells a deeper meaning.

What that meaning was…well…I’m not entirely sure…But apparently I wasn’t the only one confused by the movie as evidenced when I googled, “The meaning behind the movie Black Swan”. There were a variety of answers, and honestly, maybe that’s what good art is…something that can be interpreted and perceieved a variety of ways.

At first, I wasn’t sure that I liked Black Swan – I mean, there’s just this element throughout the entire movie that just makes you feel…um, very uncomfortable. I don’t know if it was Nina and her mother’s neurotic perfectionism and the overwhelming pressure to succeed, if it was the scenes of Nina’s first experiences masturbating, and/or how Nina a young adult in her mid-twenties acted like a 12 year old girl with no backbone. You really have to see the movie for yourself to know about the oppressing feeling of discomfort. I mean, whoever the director was did an amazing job capturing the feelings and emotions and forcing them onto the audience.

My boyfriend hated it. He said it was creepy and paranoid. Yes, I would have to agree…I left the movie feeling creeped out and paranoid as well. When we got back to our apartment from his mom’s (where we watched the movie) I felt extremely creeped out and paranoid just closing the blinds and drawing the shades, as if the horrendous black swan were on the other side of the glass staring at me. All I can say is that it was an intensly artistic and meaningful movie. I can’t say that I loved it because who wants to be uncomfortable? But when faced with “perfection”, which seems to be one of the central themes of the plot, how can you not admire it? I don’t know if this is much of a movie review…But as I fold the laundry I intend to pop the movie back in and take a second look at this poetic expression to discover the message that I find behind it. And like any good art, you’ll see your own reflection in it and interpret what it means for you. If that makes you uncomfortable…maybe that’s a good thing.

xoxo