Natalie Portman is excellent in the lead, ably supported by Eliza-Dushku-as-Faith-alike Mila Kunis in the role of her nemesis/double/dark side/what-the-fuck?!, with Barbara Hershey as creep personified as her pushy mother in a small but memorable role. Vincent Cassel is reassuringly Gallic as the ballet director, pushing Portman to breaking point in order to get her to play the role of Black Swan convincingly.
Black Swan is one of those movies you can't stop discussing as you leave the cinema, talking about how great it is and also comparing notes on what you think it was all about. There were no definitive answers as to why Portman was seeing images of herself reflected in mirrors in different poses, or why she had a fantasy about sleeping with Kunis, or why Winona Ryder kept stabbing herself in the face with a nail file! It was real (cliché alert) edge of the seat stuff that had me squirming and occasionally watching through my fingers. The film really gets inside your head and toys with what you're expecting while drawing you in with masterful direction and a gorgeous score, adapted from Swan Lake. I hope every movie I watch at the cinema (and at home for that matter) is as good as this and the others I've seen this January.
No comments:
Post a Comment