Black Swan is a curious movie, very claustrophobic, rather sophomoric, and yet still quite compelling.
The title refers to one of the characters in Tschaikovski's Swan Lake ballet -- the evil black swan (Odile) who steals the prince away, leading to the white swan (Princess Odette) committing suicide. The story of the film mirrors this story, with Nina (Natalie Portman), filling the role of Odette, her ballet company director the prince, and a competitor dancer the black swan.
Aranofsky (the director) focuses so closely on Nina that the story becomes almost claustrophobic -- early in the film the camera trails Nina around like an obsessed puppy. As the big first-night performance approaches it opens up a little to allow the drama, conflict and intrusion of more characters. But as it becomes less intensely focused on Nina, so too does the apparent reality we are seeing break down. We're privy to Nina's deteriorating grip on reality as the pressure of her long-desired dual role as white swan (which suits her personality) and black swan (which, especially as interpreted by her director, most definitely does not fit her) twists her gentle, submissive personality out of kilter with the real world. Her confused fantasies are presented, visually, in a way that fits in perfectly with the rest of the film, culminating in a genuinely beautiful and frightening sequence where she literally transforms into the black swan. This progression is made possible partly by the fact that these illusions are woven into the story from the beginning, and increase progressively throughout the story.
What is less successful are the sound effects, which are horror film unsubtle. The unsettling monster scuttles, strange sounds, and threatening noises are obviously intended to help us feel Nina's dis-ease, but they tend to make the movie come across as sophomoric (a trait that Aronofsky struggles with).
More successful is the motif of dark mirrors (train windows, door windows, etc.) that we see Nina in, prefiguring her transformation into the black swan.
As a study of the pressure of performance on artists the movie is quite interesting and engaging, with three or possibly five perspectives: the end-of-career-abandoned Beth (Winona Ryder in a small but disturbing role), Nina, Nina's mum (Barbara Hershey, playing a mother frustrated by the sacrifices she made for her daughter, and thus living through her daughter's success), Lily (Mila Kunis, the competing ballerina who is driven by her lust and tempts Nina's "prince"), and Leroy (Vincent Cassel, the brilliant but cold ballet director, Nina's prince, who uses his dancers like machines, discarding them when they wear out, like Beth). These are all, from my understanding of the industry, reasonably accurate charicatures.
However, what Black Swan fails at, which cripples it as a movie, is providing any connection to real people. Like much of Aranofsky's work it is too clever for its own good. While the trials of artists may be interesting its difficult to be truly sympathetic to such prima donna behavior. The contrast between this arty movie about arty people and the simple Hong Kong dramas about everyday families couldn't be greater. Black Swan contains a stellar performance by Portman, creative direction, a clever script and special effects, but it lacks heart. Hong Kong dramas have rather cliched scripts, clunky acting, cheap sets and direction, but have enormous heart.