Black Swan

One of the kind of films I enjoy the most is a thought-provoking one. I think if a film manages to get into someones mind, and stay there, and keep them wondering and keep them interested for a long period of time, it is a success. Everyone involved has helped to contribute to this- the writer or writers have written a plot so intricate and evocative that the audience are still thinking about whether what they saw was real or not, the actors have portrayed the writers words with such passion and believability that they make the audience hate them, root for them, sob when they die, and  share their ambitions. The director has brought this out in the actors, and shown the shots that evoke such reactions from the audience, and has put the exact music with the writers words that will intensify the audiences emotions.

The film that has brought out such reactions in me is Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. The story is of a girl, Nina (Portman), who gets the part as the Swan Queen in a production of Swan Lake, but must get in touch with her dark side to play the part of the black swan. Her coach, the director of the company, starts to take advantage of her to make her engage with this darker and more passionate part of hr personality. This is aided by an exotic dancer, Lily (Kunis) from California who is a bad influence on Nina, and takes her out, gets her drunk and seduces her. The audience is then made to question whether this really happens or not, as it has already been implied that Nina is mentally unstable- with problems with self harm and bulimia- and Lily belittles her and denies anything happen- making Nina look and feel like a little girl with no life experience.

The music played a massive part in this film. Understandable really, considering it is based on a ballet dancer and her struggle to get more in touch with her dark side to play the Black Swan in the given performance, Swan Lake. The music is particularly noticeable in the films final scene, in the build up to the end of the performance and the film, where the volume increases and increases, and the audience cannot take their eyes off the protagonist. Another particularly noticeable scene for music is when Nina is in the bath after visiting her predecessor as star of the company, she hallucinates the former star directly above her in the bath. The music used is very high pitched, and fast, and makes the audience jump out of their skin. In another scene nearing the finale, Nina has completely changed from the girl she used to be and this has been symbolised by a broken music box playing a cracked version of Swan Lake. The music in this scene has been used to effect as it reflects the suffering that Nina is going through, as her character has completely broken from the character the audience knows.

The next key element to this film that I noted was the villains. There is one  clear villain, the ballet companies director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassell), who takes advantage of the stars of his company and who pushes Nina to her limit in his quest to make her become a more passionate person and the black swan. He does succeed in his mission, but this also brings out the characters demise, and along with the emotional struggle he is putting our protagonist through as well as the sexual abuse we see him inflict on the girls, the audience sees him as a villain. The other villain is Nina’s mother Erica (Barbara Hershey), who pushes her to work harder to achieve what she is working towards, the Swan Queen. She is also making Nina regress into childhood by keeping her closeted and holding onto things small girls have, like cuddly toys and a musical box that plays the theme of Swan Lake. As Nina gets further over the edge these things either get thrown out or smashed up, symbolising the protagonists demise. There is also a character that the audience is unsure is a villain or not, Lily (Mila Kunis). Lily is a dancer in the same company as Nina, who talks to her and socialises with her, seducing her after a night out (although the film later goes on to say this was in Nina’s head, the audience is unsure). The character is ambiguously good because she seems like a friend to Nina that is helping her to get in touch with the part she is performing, and then makes Nina really get to know herself sexually. The audience then doubts Lily, however, because she makes Nina late for rehearsal very late in the production, and then is caught dancing Nina’s part, followed by being made the understudy, and denying any sexual contact with the protagonist, making Nina doubt whats going on in her mind and possibly leading to her demise.

The next element I explored was that of atmosphere within the film. In the film I am studying here, Black Swan, I discovered a great many examples of this. The most notable one is, without a doubt, the two lead female characters- Nina and Lily. As their relationship opens, there is awkwardness and a little hostility- I believe that Nina feels threatened by Lily. As the relationship progresses, however, this tension between the women gradually dissipates, specifically when they are out socialising and, of course, when they have a sexual encounter. The tension does come back however towards the end of the film, when the audience is doubting Lily’s intentions towards Nina.  

The next aspect I studied was that of the use of shock tactics to scare the audience and make them jump. I noticed this in the film particularly when Nina’s hallucinations were on screen- for instance in the bath, Nina hallucinates Beth (a previous star ballet that Nina looks up to greatly) directly above the water staring down at her. The shock factor is used an awful lot in this scene in particular, as Beth keeps appearing after Nina has visited her, showing herself mutilating her body, which is an issue that Nina herself has to battle.

The final convention of thrillers that I covered was that of mystery. The mystery in Black Swan is very complicated, as it’s not very obvious, but very cleverly portrayed. I believe that the mystery in this particular thriller is that of Nina’s mind. The audience doesn’t really understand what is going on in Nijna’s mind or the struggle that she is going through by battling bulimia as well as self harm issues, as they or not portrayed obviously or very much- they appear to be under control until the very end of the film when she commits suicide.