History Film / BlackSwan

* {{Fingore}}:
** Nina breaks [[spoiler:her mother's fingers when she tries to barge into her room]].
** There are several instances where Nina's nails are clipped so short they bleed or she rips some of the skin off her fingers.

* DiesWideShut: [[spoiler:Nina... possibly.]] Also [[spoiler:Lily, when Nina hallucinates that she killed her.]]

--> '''Thomas:''' You could be brilliant, but you're a coward.
--> '''Nina:''' ''(hurt whisper)'' I'm sorry.
--> '''Thomas:''' Stop saying that! That's exactly what I'm talking about! Stop being so ''[[PrecisionFStrike fucking weak]]''!

* BittersweetEnding[=/=][[spoiler:GreatWayToGo]]: [[spoiler: Whether or not Nina died from her chest wound, she at least - in her own damaged mind - achieved perfection]].
--> '''Thomas''': Nina, what did you do?

* BloodIsSquickerInWater: Blood mysteriously drips into the bathtub over Nina's face as she submerges herself, right before [[spoiler: [[JumpScare her doppelgänger suddenly appears]].]]

* BolivianArmyEnding: [[spoiler: Nina has a huge chest wound and may die. YourMileageMayVary, though, as she could have died when the screen faded to white. [[EpilepticTrees Or that the size of or existence of the bloodstain was a hallucination]], [[RuleOfSymbolism given that it only started to seriously increase when Nina is about to jump onto the mattress]]. [[AllJustADream Or that the events of the entire movie were just a hallucination]].]]

** Nina breaks [[spoiler: her mother's fingers when she tries to barge into her room]].

* FootFocus: There's a lot of attention given to the feet, which is understandable since they're so important to ballet. That being said, we also see [[{{Squick}} just how much ballerinas]] [[{{TruthInTelevision}} put their feet through]].There's also a close-up of Nina's feet near the end [[spoiler: in which they are becoming ''WEBBED''.]]

* FrenchJerk: Thomas ticks quite a few boxes. He [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys might]] even be considered [[EstrogenBrigadeBait estrogen brigade bait]], although in a twisted sort of way.

* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler: Nina]]
-->''[[spoiler: I was perfect...]]''

* {{Homage}}: In addition to ''Swan Lake'', there's also some to EdgarAllanPoe[='s=] [[spoiler: ''William Wilson'', about a man with an opposite-natured doppleganger. Wilson kills the double, who's been foiling his wicked life for years, but winds up killing himself because the "twin" was actually the physical form of his conscience. There's even a giant mirror at the end to hammer the point home]] and possibly ''PerfectBlue'', what with [[spoiler: the evil twin wearing a similar costume being stabbed with glass at the end, although "Blue"'s was accidental]].

* [[spoiler: TheKillerInMe]]: Again, possibly.
* [[spoiler: KillTheCutie]]. Although it's not explicit.

* PlotBasedVoiceCancellation: During the Night Of Terror [[spoiler: an arguement between Nina and Erica is drowned out by Nina's music box]]

--> '''Erica:''' What happened to my sweet girl??
--> '''Nina:''' She's ''gone''!

* WomanInWhite[=/=]WomanInBlack: Nina and Lily, respectively.[[spoiler: Later, Lily becomes the WomanInWhite and Nina the WomanInBlack]]

->''I just want to be perfect.''
-->--'''Nina Sayers'''

* MissFanservice: Lily embodies sex in everything she does.

* TheHecateSisters: [[InnocenceVirginOnStupidity Nina (maiden)]], [[MyBelovedSmother Erica (mother)]], [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Beth (crone)]].

** "Live a Little."

** "Live a Little"

* MindScrew: TheMovie. What's real, what's a hallucination, and what's a visual metaphor? In this movie, it's hard to tell, and increasingly it's hard to tell if there's even a difference. Did the movie even happen at all, or will Nina wake up screaming five minutes after the credits?

''Black Swan'' is a 2010 DarrenAronofsky film. Good lord, is it a Darren Aronofsky film.

* FreudWasRight: Nina could use a few hours on the couch with the good doctor. [[DoubleEntendre No, not doing that!]].

* DrugsAreBad: This guy also made ''RequiemForADream'', you already expect this to happen when you watch it.

* FootFocus: There's a lot of attention given to the feet, which is understandable since they're so important to ballet. That being said, we also see [[{{Squick}} just how much ballerinas]] [[{{TruthInTelevision}} put their feet through]].There's also a close-up of Nina's feet near they end [[spoiler: in which they are becoming ''WEBBED''.]]

** "I'm fine."

** "Live a little."

--> '''Thomas:''' Stop saying that! That's exactly what I'm talking about! Stop being so ''fucking weak''!

* JumpScare: All over the place, particularly in the scene where Beth is standing ''right'' behind Nina in the lobby after the party, and many times during the "Night of Terror" sequence. Often combined with [[MirrorScare Mirror Scares.]]

* BigEater: Lily (who loves her hambugers extra bloody), at least compared to Nina who's been starving herself.

* {{Jerkass}}: Thomas. Veronica probably counts too, being bitchy and somewhat [[AlphaBitch libby-esque]] towards Nina.

** Nina literally means "little girl" and is often used in diminutives of Russian names, showing how babied she is by [[{{MyBelovedSmother}} Erica,]] as well as connecting her to Swan Lake, which was a Russian ballet. And when chanted by a crowd it sounds something like bird-noises. Her last name, Sayers, could be something of a ShoutOut too: Zelda Sayres, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, was an ambitious ballerina who came very close to making it big professionally, but who was also schizophrenic.
** Lily is harder: It's similar sounding to Odile, the name of the Black Swan from SwanLake. The name is also reminiscent of Lilith, infamous demon and seductress of the night. The Lily flower symbolizes purity and the colour white, as well as death and resurrection- all of these are particularly appropriate at the end of the film. On a probably unintentional but still interesting note, "lily" is the translation of the word "[[{{GirlsLove}} yuri]]".

* NoOSHACompliance: For the fall at the end of Swan Lake there's only a single mattress for Nina to fall roughly 10 feet onto.

* ShoutOut: The transformation sequence is reminiscent of TheFly:

** Then her knees start bending the other way.
* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: Winona Ryder (though she appears in the international trailer).

* SpookyPainting: Erica paints these ''over and over and over'' again!

* VomitIndiscretionShot: Several, although there are also a few [[VomitDiscretionShot discretion shots]] as well.

* LastNoteNightmare: The piece of music featured over the ending credits, "A Swan Song (For Nina)" starts out sad, but becomes ''extremely'' dark part way through. It ends on a high-pitched screech, which is overlapped by the [[TheStinger sound of wingbeats]]. The wingbeats, aren't featured on the soundtrack album itself, but it's still pretty unsettling.

* OhCrap: Nina wakes up and begins to...um...[[ADateWithRosiePalms follow Thomas' instructions]]. Just as she nears [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean her happy moment]], she turns to her right...and sees her mother asleep in the chair. Needless to say, this kills the mood.