Nina Sayers is a Caucasian female who is presumed to be in her early to middle twenties, although her actual age is unknown.

What age is Nina in Black Swan?

Synopsis. The movie opens as Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), a young ballerina in her mid twenties, is dancing the prologue to Swan Lake. Swan Lake is a ballet in which a princess is turned into the White Swan and can only be turned back if a man swears eternal fidelity to her.

What mental illness does Nina have in Black Swan?

Additionally, Nina's constant fixation on achieving perfection displays elements of an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. The movie provides no explanation of Nina's diagnosis, nor does it show her receiving treatment, which left interpretation of her mental illness to the audience.

Why did Nina's eyes turn red?

The night before she is set to perform, Nina becomes convinced that Lily is going to take her place. Her paranoia and mental strain cause her to hallucinate that she's physically turning into the role of Odile, the Black Swan, complete with red eyes and black feathers protruding from bird-like skin.

How old was Natalie Portman when Black Swan was filmed?

With her Ivy League credentials and a performance in Black Swan that's put her in line for an Oscar, Natalie Portman proves it can be done... At 29, Natalie Portman has already been in the business a long time.

Black Swan - What it all Meant

Is Nina schizophrenic in Black Swan?

Nina has a huge ambition to be Swan Queen; however, she still finds difficulty to play as the Black Swan. Anxiety disorder becomes one of the causes of Nina's schizophrenia. It happens when Nina always feels anxious because of her ambitions to become a Swan Queen.

How much does Nina weigh in Black Swan?

After admittedly subsisting on very little for the duration of the shoot to keep her weight hovering around 98, a 20-pound drop from her already petite frame, Portman's first meal after they wrapped was pasta, "for breakfast, lunch and dinner," she told Collider. "I ate it all the time."

Did Nina stab Beth in the face?

It isn't clear if it is real or if Nina was the one who did it — the latter is more likely. When she returns the things she took from Beth's (Winona Ryder) dressing room, the shoe knife becomes a weapon of self-harm, as Beth repeatedly stabs herself in the face.

What triggers Nina's mental illness?

Aronofsky clearly enriches the film with a storyline that points to Nina's first psychotic break, likely triggered by a combination of her genetic heritability, childhood experience of abuse, age, and the heightened environmental stress placed upon her as principal ballerina.

Did Lily and Nina sleep together?

Maybe she had the first one at the bar with Lilly and the two guys, because Lilly confirmed they existed the next day. NOT REAL: Therefore, Lilly and Nina did not have actual sex (we know this because after sex, Lilly said something to Nina about being a ‘Good girl’ and then tried to smother her. Not real!)

Why does Nina have scratches on her back?

Nina's increasing neuroses are manifested in a bizarre, unconscious kind of self-mutilation. Repeatedly she picks at the skin around her fingernails and scratches her back viciously. She has awful hallucinations in which she sees herself tearing bloody strips of skin away from her fingers.

Did Lily drug Nina?

Undone by Erica's haranguing, Nina impulsively goes to a bar with Lily, where she's persuaded to take a disinhibiting drug that Lily insists will just relax her and only last for two hours, “most.”Tempted by her desire to be free of her mother, and by Thomas's insistence that she “touch herself” as homework to help her ...

Did Nina's mom abuse her in Black Swan?

Nina is a teenaged girl, and she is being sexually abused by Thomas and her mother.

What did Lily give Nina?

At a restaurant that evening, Lily offers Nina a capsule of ecstasy to help her loosen up.

How much did Natalie weigh in Black Swan?

The actress ended up weighing 95lbs while she was filming Black Swan - but she didn't enjoy being that skinny.

Why was Nina bleeding Black Swan?

The final twist reveals that Nina had hallucinated Lily's death and instead stabbed herself in the abdomen. However, given the artist she is, she continues performing the ballet's final act as a dying Odette, landing on a mattress with thunderous applause.

Why is Black Swan so disturbing?

Destruction of the body is the basis of all horror, but Black Swan's body horror serves a dual purpose by not only freaking out the viewer but also using symbolism to represent the decline of Nina's mental state. Though it isn't as overt as most other horror films, Black Swan is no less terrifying.

What drug did Nina take in Black Swan?

Nina and Lily drink and take ecstasy in one scene. It shows the effects of the drug but in a very dark and unappealing light.

Is Black Swan a good portrayal of schizophrenia?

Accuracy of Portrayal

Although symptoms would not occur as rapidly as they do in Nina Sayers in most common cases of schizophrenia, it is plausible. Therefore, Black Swan is a decent portrayal of a person's descent into paranoid schizophrenia.

Why does Nina pick her skin?

These tics, such as skin picking and nail biting, often appear during times of stress as a method to center oneself. This is one of the most explicit instances that illustrate Nina's own difficulties with OCD, due to the sights of the scratches and the verbal confirmation from her mother.

Who kills Beth in Black Swan?

(at around 1h 22 mins) In Winona Ryder's final scene in the movie, where she is in the hospital with metal bars in her legs following her catastrophic accident and Nina returns the items she stole from Beth's room, Beth appears to go insane and stab herself graphically in the face right in front of Nina.

Is Nina a virgin in Black Swan?

In the movie, it's VERY strongly suggested that Nina is a virgin, and that she lies at one point when the director asks about the men she's slept with. The scene in the film where the director asks her if she's had sex is not in the script.

How much weight did Mila Kunis have to lose for Black Swan?

She doesn't obsess over diet and fitness though, and has only pursued drastic weight loss in the past to prepare for film roles. Mila did lose 20 lbs for her 2010 role in Black Swan, but these days she's back to her normal weight, and she prefers it that way!

How did Natalie Portman lose so much weight for Black Swan?

At the time, Natalie revealed that she was eating little more than carrots and almonds but that she was being put through her paces spending eight hours per day rehearsing. "There were some nights that I thought I literally was going to die," she told Entertainment Weekly.

Is Black Swan about anorexia?

Based on the movie scenes she experiences Anorexia nervosa. The hints of this clinical condition is when she refused to eat cake that her mother have bought. Based on Halmi et. al (2005) this eating disorder has relationship with perfectionism and also obsesive- compulsive personality disorder.