Black Swan

Courtesy Link.

Since my crappy theatre doesn't get movies until a month after they are released, I have a bit to wait to see this. Has anyone seen it? Is it good? A few things on the page remind me of Perfect Blue which I really enjoyed.

I saw it today. It's excellent, with amazing acting by all the main actresses, and it really pulls you in. Lovely design and feel to the whole piece as well. I'd highly recommend it.

It's fairly creepy in terms of the atmosphere, though - if you don't like psychological horror, watch it during the daytime. And while it's not gory in a graphic way, there were definitely scenes when I avoided looking at the screen.

Isn't it true that this is only in like, 19 theaters, and yet it's gotten enough revune to be in the top ten movies right now?

It looks awesome, and I defintely want to see it, but I don't think any of the theatres around here have it. :<

I'm hoping it gets a wider distribution since there are no theaters, at the moment where I live that are showing (there is one that might be playing it soon though). Here's hoping Aronofsky doesn't get screwed again by the Oscars, the film gets a decent amount of nominations and then it gets one of those re-releases into more theaters.

Where are you? I'll probably have to drive a few hours to see it. :P

I'm pretty sure it's in more than 19 theaters, because it was in one in my city and we're not particularly large. But it's definitely a limited release and isn't making a great deal of money.

We saw it yesterday and it was pretty good. Here Georgia, they only played it in three cities, luckily, we didn't have to drive too far to see it.

The movie itself was delightfully disturbing and Portman was wonderful. My grandmother didn't like it as much as I did due to her weaker stomach.

It was AMAZING! Soooo creepy and frightening and intense! And yes, Natalie Portman was absolutely amazing in it. Looooved it!

This is definitely the first good performance I've seen out of Natalie Portman, and hopefully not the last.

The movie was astoundingly good. I might actually go to the theater by myself to see it again since I can't find anyone to go with.

You mean the first good performance since The Professional?

My friend Jimmy said Mila Kunis goes down on Natalie Portman, which is all the incentive I need to see this film.

It was brillant. It was done exceptionally well. I saw this on the trope page for the movie, but is it true at the end of the credits that Natalie Portman wakes up screaming in her bed instead of the performance happening? Anyway it was a great movie and the music fit perfectly.

iirc that editor was just making a point about how hard it was to tell what was real and what was in Nina's head.

Thank you for clearing that up. Anyway, did anybody during the end dance think something horrible and unwatchable was going to occur and then realize that Nina's ending was supposed to be like the Swan Queens and opened your eyes when realizing this. That's what happened to me while I was watching it. The scene was beautiful and the least grisly part of the film(which was the point).

God, this movie was so good.

I especially enjoyed the soundtrack, what with Clint Mansell and the Chemical Brothers and all.

My theatre got it, and it was fantastic, fantastic, fantastic!

My skin was absolutely crawling at the scene where feathers came out, and the scene where she peeled the skin off her finger, and when she looked at her toes and...! God, it's so great to see a movie that's not afraid to invade your personal comfort zone.

Oh, and by the way, when we were driving home my sister proposed the theory that Lily was a figment of Nina's imagination. I think...well, first I mentally smacked myself for not thinking of that first (I mean, I'm a Troper!) but the more I think of it there are some scenes that are contrary...what do y'all think?

Also, Inception is to Paprika as Black Swan is to Perfect Blue.

edited 29th Dec '10 8:11:14 PM by Latia

I don't think Lily is entirely a figment of Nina's imagination, but all of the Lily-as-rival stuff is solely in Nina's head. Lily as an actual person is wild and unrestrained but a decent and friendly type all the same; she tries to make friends with Nina, apologizes when Nina gets mad at her, gives her sincere encouragement and praise on her dancing, and the only really bad thing she does is drug Nina's drink on the assumption that Nina needs some help cutting loose.

All of the bits with evil-Lily trying to steal Nina's role as the Swan Queen are just in Nina's head, which we can see from the way that Lily's regular characterization (including at the end, when she praises Nina's dancing before the closing act, and freaks out when she sees that Nina's been stabbed) is completely contrary to it.

Ok, so I finally got around to seeing it. It was really good and I liked it a lot. I don't think it was my favorite Aronofsky film, at least right now as it might grow on me. That title will still probably goes to the puddle of depressing known as Requiem For A Dream  ^*

The acting was really good. Kunis and particularly Portman surprised me because they've usually been ok at best for me. The film also did a good job taking a story type that's been done repeatedly, and doing it in an interesting and creepy way. Also, props to Barbara Hershey for doing a good job on the mother. It was a good amount of true protection for her child, as well as throwing on her own ambitions and being overly controlling and smothering. Actually, one scene with the cake being "our favorite!" and then threatening to trash it when Nina doesn't want to eat any right away, in particular, hit too close to me in regards to my own mom.

The Body Horror, which didn't give me nightmares, was still freaking creepy. The skin peeling scene, Beth stabbing her face, when Nina starts pulling and later growing out feather with those freaky red eyes. The toes were also a nice touch because not only did it work well for the story but point shoes and such can really screw up a person's feet.

Geggggggghhh x.O Also, minor, BUT why did they have to keep using scissors to cut Nina's finger nails? Blergh. Why not finger nail cuts or an emery board. I kept thinking something horrible was going to happen, like a lobbed off finger ;-;.

I kind of wish we had gotten to see more of Beth, but oh well. And finally, this was annoying me and but, the lesbian sex has been bugging me :/ I'm sorry, but I dunno, it was just sort of weirdly put in there, and felt pretty blatantly fanservicey. It felt they didn't really explore it to its full potential, which is something I really hate in stories. But, then again, I also found it rather uncomfortable with the doppelganger glaring at her. Ack, I'm not sure what to say about it.

Also, probably everyone will disagree with me (my friend sure as hell did), I thought it was not only supposed to be about her repressed sexuality, but also bisexuality. I thought she was given two different sides of it Lily and Thomas, both of which she was too afraid to pursue. But, I kept getting told it was also about the lesbianism, so I maybe wrong :/

Oh, sorry for this being too tl;dr. This movie made me have a lot to talk about :P

edited 1st Jan '11 11:32:00 AM by Jumpingzombie

^ No no no, it's great to hear movies that really motivate people to speak! Yeah, everyone's all "FUCK YEAH LESBIANS" but with the whole duality theme it can very easily have themes of bisexuality (and in fact it would fit better) But I think it has less to do with the kind of sexuality and more just sexuality as an offshoot of growing up. A major theme is how repressed Nina has been and how everyone sees her as an innocent little girl- hell, her name means "little girl", that can't have been an accident.

Haha, man that sex scene. Truefax, a friend of my sister's told her that "yeah, there was a sex scene, but it didn't really count." So, when it was all:

• Lily: -handjob-
• Me: Oh, wow, that was short. I guess Nikki's friend was right, that didn't exactly count as-
• Lily: OM NOM NOM
• Me: O_O

I guess he was talking about the fact that it was probably a hallucination, but....still.

^:D Yeah, there was a lot of stuff in this movie that made kept me thinking about it.

I think that is a better method of using the whole sexuality theme actually. In a way, the whole movie is like some really twisted, bizarre Coming of Age Story (technically speaking, those are allowed to be about a character of any age). Nina basically has to let go of her old imaturities (not really the right word) and embrace certain more, adult parts that have develop with her. Except all she achieves is going nuts and dying after proving herself "perfect". A reason I wanted more out of Beth is that Thomas said early she was "perfect" because of the right amount of chaos and other stuff. So, I sorta wished they had mirrored that more.

Now, Lily, I keep thinking and I agree with the poster who said she was only half a hallucination. The nice, sweeter girl who's trying to be nice to Nina is real and the conniving backstabber is the hallucination. Also, maybe sex scene Lily, though she didn't seem as malicious as backstabber Lily. A lot of her character was just Nina's perception of someone she barely knew and is also a reflection of the side of Nina herself that she doesn't know or is too afraid to go after. She thinks worse of it because it was something she was too scared to explore.

Also, going back again to pick at that little sex scene (which, I've got to be honest, it's probably the most annoyingly ambiguous/weird part of the movie because it could say a lot or a little about the characters), but if it was a hallucination, then I wonder when it started. When they go into the apartment, it's definitely happening, and this actually supports it the most for me. If Nina's mom really had seen Lily, that girl would have been flying out through a window onto her ass on the curb. Erica's a textbook smothering/overly-worrying mother. Her daughter comes home late, drunk, high, apparently just screwed at least two guys, the strange girl with her being the one who just dragged her out is the instigator. Bad influence and the mom would immediately jump on the idea that Lily was sabotaging her daughter the night before an important day. The scene in the car is weird because if it was real Lily, she shouldn't have been too surprised Nina was having wet dreams about her after putting her hand in her pants.

edited 1st Jan '11 8:05:17 PM by Jumpingzombie

If I were to hazard a guess, Lily started being a hallucination when they left the club. After all Nina had just taken ectasy and wasn't doing so well. In addtion, she was trying to get out of the club as soon as possible and Lily realistically wouldn't have found her that quickly.

This was probably the scene that cemented the idea of "Lily is trying to kill me" in Nina's head and what started the Black Swan!Lily hallucinations not just the night of the play but also in the sex scene with the Raven  ^*

Weirdly, if my ideas are correct, the biggest message of the movie might be " Don't Do Drugs Kids!"

I would agree that Nina was hallucinating Lily starting with after they left the club, since Lily herself said the next morning that she had gone home with one of the guys.

I disagree that the movie's about bisexuality because I didn't see any strong indication that Nina was actually attracted to Thomas rather than being sexually assaulted by him, and being unwilling to resist for fear of losing the part.

^I think Nina was, maybe not attracted to Thomas, but was sexually curious about him. It was hard to tell, but when he just walked away from her the second time he kiss/groped her, she seemed a very tiny bit disappointed. Also, the end where she finished her black swan dance and starts kissing him. It seemed to hint at repressed feelings.

I saw Black Swan...wow, that was an awesome movie. I felt a little crazy afterward, I'm not going to lie. My friend and I even started sharing personal anecdotes of weird mindfuck things that have happened to us in real life. It had that much of a psychological impact on us.

One thing that annoyed me was the fact that in this movie There Are No Therapists. While it certainly wouldn't have been as interesting, I thought it was unusual that the mother didn't think therapy would be an option after discovering her daughter scratches herself.

I'd also agree that the cake scene was very reminiscent to my own mom, which creeped me out a bit. It's probably why that scene stuck out a bit for me.

Also, I didn't mind the sex scene for some reason. It was sort of a "YAY LESBIAN SEX" moment, but I thought it made sense in the framework of Nina's psychology.

Edit: I will agree that Nina probably wasn't bisexual. She was just sexually repressed. Nina also didn't seem particularly attracted to Thomas or Lily, she was more interested in sex and pleasure.

edited 1st Jan '11 9:56:51 PM by snailbait