Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The Evil Twin



Black Swan, the new film by Darren Aronosky, is a mix of all sorts of camp and melodrama -- horror, ballet, crazy mother genre, bad teacher genre, and Swan Lake. Everyone knows the story of Swan Lake -- one ballerina must play both the White Swan and the Black Swan. Of course, all of us contain both of these sides and of course, most of us are defined more by one side than another. I'm a classic Black Swan, the darkness more apparent than the light. But Natalie Portman who plays Nina in the movie, is all White Swan -- a good girl to her core. She has to tap into her inner darkness to play the negative of the White Swan which leads her down some creepy roads having to do drugs, sex, and self-mutilation.

Nina's mother, a chilling Barbara Hersey, oversees every aspect of Nina's life. A tale of suffocating intrusive caretaking, Nina longs for perfection in her professional life in order to validate both her and her mother's life. I've known this type of girl my entire life and truth is, she is my negative. The longing for perfection, the anxiety-filled misery that accompanies it, well, when the music starts to swell and the metaphorical audience shows up, she shows up ready to take the stage and do whatever it takes to fulfill the dream, Nina's last words -- "It was perfect."

6 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I've been seeing the previews and thinking it looks pretty interesting. I'll probably see it on ppv.

the walking man said...

If you be mostly be the black swan then there be no word for me.

Shea Goff said...

As always, thank you for sharing this.

And Merry Christmas.

I have something I need to email you but I have long lost your email address amongst change.

Thus, if you think you would be interested in an email please email me at sheagoff@gmail.com

Again, thank you and Merry Christmas.

jodi said...

Darling, You/French Kitty. Me/Hello Kitty. You/Black, Me/White. I could go on and on. We are each others mirrors as I have commented before. Or maybe each others alter egos! Perfection is too stressful for me and I gave it up LONG ago. Have a Merry Christmas, Honey. xo And Good Tiny, too!

Scott said...

Michelle,

I've been thinking of seeing that film...maybe this weekend.

Hope you're doing well and having a great holiday season, Darlin'. Take care!

Lana Gramlich said...

I like Aronosky, so I'd like to see this film.