* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Much of the movie runs on this.
** Exactly how much of Erica's abuse is all in Nina's head? Erica is certainly a stern parent, but she does encourage Nina to do well and is genuinely pleased for her daughter when she succeeds. The only time she intervenes is when Nina is rightfully losing her mind. But then again, Nina seems to be afraid of her and Erica does like controlling her daughter. It's possible she (intentionally or not) bullied Nina into the eating disorder that's hinted at, qualifying for psychological abuse at least. Her self-destructive tendencies and unsuccessful sexual repression put the squicky possibility of rape on the table too.
** There's evidence that Nina could have a massive victim complex. She assumes that her mother is living vicariously through her and that Lily is trying to replace her - when there's no actual confirmation for either. It's just Nina's paranoid mind telling her this. She never stands up to her mother and allows herself to be babied just so she can play the victim. On the other hand, she is very weak-willed and there are other people who are rude and abusive to her - so it's not surprising that she'd assume everyone else is.
** At the beginning of the movie, Nina appears happy, chatting with her mother casually while eating her grapefruit. Her psychosis had not really begun until she was up for the casting of Swan Lake. Maybe her problems with her mother did not really begin until Nina started rebelling against her good ballerina daughter image. Some undercurrents of conflict may have been there, but the rift between them did not truly open until the Swan Lake role.
** Regarding Lily, does she have any ulterior motives? Getting the prima ballerina drunk and high when they have practice in the morning certainly raises eyebrows - especially when she's just named as Nina's understudy. On the other hand, Lily is new in the city and clearly wants to make friends. So a night of drinking might be the only way she knows how.
** The ending is hugely subject to this as to whether [[spoiler: Nina actually died. The argument that says she does points to Tomas saying "what did you do?" and a shot of Lily looking horrified, showing that there is clearly some injury. Natalie Portman meanwhile feels that Nina didn't die, and it's merely a symbol of the 'little girl' in her dying. There are a few that have pointed out that Nina would not have been able to dance with such a huge stab wound - meaning that the final performance could have been all in her head too. Or else the wound was not that severe and was only aggravated by the dancing]].
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6C3cHGvcwM "Night of Terror"]] is [[EpicRocking eight minutes worth]] of pure, concentrated DarthWiki/NightmareFuel. To say it goes well with the nightmarish scene accompanying it is an {{understatement}}.
* BestKnownForTheFanservice:
** Creator/MilaKunis makes out with Creator/NataliePortman and goes down on her. As Natalie Portman [[http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/12/29/this-weeks-cover-the-oscar-race-is-on/ put it]]: "Everyone was so worried about who was going to want to see this movie. I remember them being like, ‘How do you get guys to a ballet movie? How do you get girls to a thriller?’ And the answer is a lesbian scene. ''Everyone'' [[GirlOnGirlIsHot wants to see that]]."
** Beside the lesbian scene, there's also Nina openly masturbating in her bed and later in the bathtub. Despite the intended FanDisservice element, Nina's actress does it in rather sexual positions that make it appealing to some.
* CrossesTheLineTwice: Nina smashes (breaks?) her mom's fingers in a door partly by accident...and then again on purpose the next day!
* FridgeLogic: Presuming that [[spoiler: Nina actually stabbed herself, how did she manage to dance with a piece of glass stuck inside her? One possibility is that the wound wasn't actually that bad ''until'' she pulled the glass out, causing the bleeding to worsen.]]
* GeniusBonus: The premise of Nina struggling her MadonnaWhoreComplex is very reminiscent to one of the scholarly interpretations of the ''Theatre/SwanLake'' ballet opera. In the opera, the Prince falls in love with the White Swan because of her purity, but was allured by the Black Swan's seduction (an imposer in disguise actually). The fact that both the swans are traditionally played by the [[ActingForTwo same dancer]] helps enforce the theme.
* HarsherInHindsight: Thomas' sexually aggressive behavior toward Nina (which is all but said to be how he is with all his prima ballerinas) was definitely squicky in 2010, but it's been made worse since the #[=MeToo=] and Time's Up movements.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Thomas watching Nina's dance rehearsal and noting her lack of seductiveness, asks her dance partner "Would you fuck that girl?" He just laughs, indicating no. The dance partner is played by Creator/NataliePortman's choreographer Benjamin Millepied, with whom she began a RomanceOnTheSet. They are now married and have two children together. Portman addressed this in her Golden Globe acceptance speech: "He's the best actor! It's not true! He totally wants to sleep with me!"
** A guy Nina chats up (against her mother's will) is played by Sebastian Stan. Her mother is played by Barbara Hershey. Fast forward to ''Series/OnceUponATime'' where Hershey is the Queen of Hearts and Stan is the Mad Hatter - and she personally has him beheaded.
** Under the influence of an abusive or at the least unscrupulous mentor, a talented but troubled person obsesses over becoming perfect for their role by immersing themselves in their 'darker' side. However, they find themselves feeling increasingly torn between their two 'selves', becoming prone to lashing out in anger and distress, clashing with their co-workers, alienating themselves from their family and developing an odd bond with a rival they aren't completely sure about. They end up trying to destroy everything about their old, 'weak' self to embrace their new self with...mixed results, at one point even shrieking at their parent that their old self is "[[ThatManIsDead dead]]" following a violent confrontation. Finally, they end their tale [[spoiler: on the ground, bleeding out from a wound to the side, having given their all to their role]]. Now, are we talking about Nina Sayers, Anakin Skywalker or [[Film/StarWarsTheForceAwakens Kylo Ren]]? (Portman having previously portrayed Padme Amidala in ''Star Wars'', who turns out to be both Anakin’s wife and Kylo's grandma).
* JerkassWoobie:
** Beth is rude and mean to everyone she meets, and clearly has a drinking problem. But it's obvious she's heartbroken about being replaced in the lead role - as it means her GloryDays are officially over. And then she gets into a car accident - which gives the possibility of her never dancing again. If Thomas treated her the same way he treated Nina, then it increases her woobie status.
** Nina herself goes off the deep end as the film goes on - becoming increasingly paranoid and a bit full of herself. It's not even until the last few minutes of the film that we get confirmation [[spoiler: she hasn't actually killed anyone]]. But given the huge amount of pressure she's under and the difficult relationship with her mother, her behavior is very understandable.
** Erica at best in the second and final act, when you take into account that despite being a hardcore StageMom that royally screwed up Nina emotionally and mentally, it's clear she becomes a concerned mother wondering what is wrong with her daughter. It hits ''hard'' near the end when she's injured (unintentionally) by Nina and she can only do is worry and cry over Nina's deteriorating mental state.
* MemeticMutation: Putting "WHORE" on every single scene of characters looking at the mirror in [[https://twitter.com/nightsfeel/status/1432332400554618886 other shows and movies]], such as ''Film/Joker2019'', where the meme popularized from.
* MisaimedFandom: There is a small group of people who view Nina as "thinspiration", in spite of the fact that her implied eating disorder is ''not'' meant to be positive. She's literally shown ''making herself throw up'' at one point.
* {{Narm}}: Nina seeing doppelgängers of herself everywhere might not come across as very disturbing and might make you think that’s [[IdenticalStranger just]] Creator/KeiraKnightley.
* ParanoiaFuel: Fucking mirrors are ''everywhere''. And your new coworker? Don't trust her. [[spoiler: Well, actually you can, but your delusional mind may convince you otherwise.]]
* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/SebastianStan has a very small role as one of the men Nina and Lily meet at the restaurant. A year after this movie came out, Stan got his breakout role as Bucky Barnes in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''.
* SugarWiki/SheReallyCanAct:
** While she had been doing critically acclaimed films for a while (such as ''{{Film/Closer}}''), Natalie Portman was still being dogged by the reputation of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels, as well as other notable films in which her performances were divisive, such as ''Film/VForVendetta'' or ''Film/TheOtherBoleynGirl''. Her Oscar winning performance and sheer dedication to this role meant that people no longer thought of those other films when questions about her talent came up.
** Mila Kunis wasn't necessarily considered a 'bad' actress, but she was best known for [[ComedyGhetto comedies]] like ''Series/ThatSeventiesShow'' and ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. The softness and sensuality she brought to Lily, and the character's popularity confirmed that she had plenty to offer as an actress outside the sitcom world.
* SpiritualSuccessor:
** The movie is often considered by many observers to be the best Western remake of ''Anime/PerfectBlue''.
** Also the film ''Film/TheWrestler'', according to Aronofsky. It's pretty much that movie's foil: ''Wrestler'' is about finding beauty in a brutal sport while ''Swan'' is all about the brutality of a beautiful artform.
* TearJerker: "It was me... I was perfect."
** Nina continually breaking down throughout her performance as her mental illness begins to thoroughly overwhelm her, especially at the moment when she realizes that she stabbed ''herself'', realizing that she's gone completely off the deep end. For anyone who's struggled with mental illness, this can be incredibly and uncomfortably familiar.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Beth, the former Swan Queen, implied to have psychologically tortured herself over being perfect the way Nina does, only has a handful of scenes. Due to Winona Ryder's OneSceneWonder performance, the character's potential feels rather wasted.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Just because the film is about ballerinas does not mean it's meant for little girls to watch. There's lots of NightmareFuel, BodyHorror, SanitySlippage, and ParanoiaFuel to go around.
* TheWoobie:
** Poor Nina. Sexually repressed, emotionally stunted, self-abusing, smothered by her mother, suffering from an apparent eating disorder, and, oh yeah, she's also ''completely batshit insane''!
** Lily if you think about it too. She's new in town and seems friendly enough, but none of the other dancers pay her much attention. She tries to be friends with Nina and get accused of trying to steal her spotlight. [[spoiler: It turns out she didn't and if she did, she was a GracefulLoser about it. She also thinks she'll be getting to dance the lead role in ''Swan Lake'' - only to have the opportunity taken away at the last minute]].

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