Black Swan received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with particular praise toward Aronofsky's direction and the performances of Portman, Kunis and Hershey. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 85% based on 318 reviews, and an average rating of 8.20/10.
It's excessive and psychologically imprecise, coarse where it should be refined and too much like a David Cronenberg horror movie in places where restraint and intellectual rigor are called for. Black Swan is a stage door melodrama putting new spins on cliches as old as "All About Eve" (and maybe Adam).
The Big Picture. Black Swan is a dark psychological horror film that delves into the world of ballet, mental health, and the price of success. The intense pressure and obsession for perfection leads the main character, Nina, into a state of hallucinations and mental strain.
After the 83rd Academy Awards, where Portman won Best Actress for her performance in the film as a ballerina, controversy arose over how much credit for the dancing in the film was being given to her and how much to her "dance double", American Ballet Theatre soloist Sarah Lane.
There are simply too many psychological issues going on with Nina. She shows elements of an anxiety disorder with obsessive compulsive behaviors. She also manifests self-injurious behavior and some signs of an eating disorder.
“I really just wanted to walk out,” says Sara Mearns, remembering when she saw Black Swan in theaters. Like Nina, Mearns is a principal dancer at New York City Ballet. “Everything that she was going through was completely wrong and opposite of what I had gone through and what I think every ballerina goes through.”
Can child stars go on to credible careers? 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.
It also received five Academy Award nominations, which included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing, Of those, its sole win was for Best Actress.
Thomas notes that Nina clearly came with the intention to change his mind, to try and seduce him, in the mildest sense of the word. Thomas wants Nina to lose herself, that is how she can become the Black Swan. Thomas forcefully kisses Nina and she bits him.
How long did Natalie Portman train for Black Swan?
Portman and Kunis started training six months before the start of filming in order to attain a body type and muscle tone more similar to those of professional dancers. Portman worked out for five hours a day, doing ballet, cross-training, and swimming. A few months closer to filming, she began choreography training.
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.
But speaking as a psychiatrist, Lamberti said the film did not accurately depict schizophrenia, as has been widely speculated, but "does present a reasonable portrait of psychosis." "People tend to be scared of things they don't understand," he said.
Nina was the white swan and Lily represented the black swan. The reason I think this is because in the movie the more Nina got involved with Lily the more of her bad side came out, she was less controlled.
this movie covers heavy topics such as emotional/mental abuse, depression, self harm, and others. it is violent and somewhat disturbing. there is also depictions of drug use and a few scenes where other characters touch the main character's body in a sexual manner. there is one sex scene.
Natalie Portman won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in "Black Swan" for several reasons. One of the main reasons was her outstanding performance, which received critical acclaim from audiences and critics alike.
in Black Swan Natalie Portman Michelle your vulnerability is truthful brave and raw no matter the part you elicit the audience's empathy. with a grounded open heart and this year you did so once again with your extraordinary.
The 39-year-old actress - who plays the supporting role of ageing ballet dancer Beth MacIntyre in the Darren Aronofsky-directed project - found being nasty to its lead star Natalie Portman tough because she knew how much she had worked to perfect the role of psychologically-troubled Nina.
Natalie Portman has transformed herself for many film roles, but nothing was as grueling as her Black Swan makeover. The actress shed an astonishing 20lbs from her already slight frame to play a ballerina in the 2011 film and admitted it put such a toll on her body that she thought she was going to die.
Natalie Portman, known for her roles in films like Star Wars or Cold Mountain, studied psychology at Harvard University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science.
Did Natalie Portman wear pointe shoes in Black Swan?
The way she wears her clothes and slouches around in her practice-kit is well-observed, and the minutiae of darning and breaking in pointe shoes is spot-on. Portman acted well in Black Swan, but if she has failed to acknowledge Lane's contribution, she may have acted pretty gracelessly too.
Soon after the L.A.-based Kunis was cast in "Black Swan," the film's choreographer, Benjamin Millepied, contacted the Los Angeles Ballet's artistic directors and asked if they could provide Kunis with ballet training. Instead of taking on the task themselves, they recommended Blacker for the assignment.
Did Natalie Portman learn how do you do ballet for Black Swan?
It's no secret that Natalie Portman had a dancing double for her Oscar-winning performance in 'Black Swan. ' It clearly would have been impossible for a ballet neophyte such as herself to learn some of the advanced techniques in less than a year.
