With Aronofsky's steady hand at directing (The Wrestler), the film is almost a visual beauty. The tricks and illusions looked good enough to me, and they were really good glance at a hallucination.
But I wondered, what were the points of the segments? The character Nina had some of the most cliched, cheest hallucinations ever. That's what degraded the film.
The opening half is very good, with easy to follow characters. It's evident, right from the start, that Barbara Hershey is very protective of her Natalie Portman (Who wouldn't be?). Anyway, she is very secluded and almost immature. She still has stuffed animals in her room, and is very protective of her miniature ballerina music box. But that's merely just an opening to the "white swan" of the characters.
The "black swan" characters are more outgoing, wild, and successful in a way. There's a new ballerina in the troupe, and her name is Lily. She is competing for the role of the Swan Queen in the next ballet. The head, Tomas Leroy, or Toma, chooses Nina. Nina's not perfect, though.
First off, Nina is not as outgoing to play the role of "Black Swan". Fortunately, she is very good as the White Swan. (Which probably won her the role). The thing is, Toma wants one ballerina to play both swan characters. Upsetting to Lily, she challenges Nina mentally, socially, and sexually.
The twist is, these challenges are affecting Nina psychologically. She has hallucinations, unique dreams, and other thoughts.
As I stated above, the hallucinations and twists are cliched, and the degrade the film from perfection. Bummer.
3.5/4 Stars
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