Black Swan. Rated MA 15+ (strong sex scene, themes and violence). 108 minutes. Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Screenplay by Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz and John McLaughlin.
One of the greatest ballets in the international repertoire, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is also one of the most popular – with ballet companies all over the world never failing to offer up a season of it when they need the guarantee of cash in their coffers.
The leading role of ‘The Swan Queen’ also presents a magnificent opportunity for a prima ballerina, who must be able to not only interpret and display the innocence and vulnerability of the white swan ‘Odette’, but also the seductive, deceitful and destructive qualities of the black swan ‘Odile’. As ballet roles go, this one’s an absolute doozy.
The same can be said for the lead role of in Aronofsky’s (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler) film about dancer ‘Nina’ (Natalie Portman) preparing to take on the challenge of interpreting the Herculean role. To say Nina has ‘a few issues’ would be stating the obvious – but Heyman, Heinz and McLaughlin’s screenplay relishes the concept of ‘obvious’ at every possible turn. When it’s not crashing about the rehearsal room with camp, melodramatic references to ballet company hierarchy and behind-the-scenes bitchiness, it’s banging about at home with Nina and her ‘Mom’ (a grotesque Barbara Hershey).
But the boys save their Freudian, pop-psychology best for the scenes involving Nina’s rival ‘Lily’ (Mila Kunis playing it as though she’s in West Side Story), and the company’s recently dumped prima ballerina ‘Beth’ (Winona Ryder), who shamelessly (and thanklessly) escorts the film into the realm of ridiculously unrestrained, schlock-horror territory.
As for poor old Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky’s monumental score which has been plundered to provide the film with its ‘score’, has never sounded worse, and the apparently revolutionary production of the ballet everyone is killing themselves to present is beyond amateurish – particularly its banal choreography and its 1970s variety hour-inspired art direction.
Ultimately, if you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to stand in front of a firing squad, then this one’s for you. The rest of us will wake up the next morning still contemplating who on earth could have believed this shambolic delinquency was worth subjecting us all to.
This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.
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