Nina's mother appears to be living vicariously through her daughter's accomplishments, reminding Nina that if it were not for her, she would not be successful. Genetic link is an established risk factor for the development of schizophrenia.
Nina's disordered relationship with her roommate mother Erica, played by Barbara Hershey, sets the stage for Nina's psychological breakdown. Erica is narcissistic, spending all of her time painting pictures of herself and completely infringing on Nina's space and well-being.
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.
Nina's mother, Erica, is a former dancer living vicariously through her daughter. Even though Erica tends to Nina's every need, it's clear their relationship has crossed from affection to cloying codependency. Erica can no more let Nina grow up than Nina can live without her.
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!)
It has now been revealed that Ricky Mitchell, also aged 12, is the father of Lily's baby. Lily ended up telling Ricky the news after she was worried that one of her angry family members would go to him first.
Lily was the evil twin and the director of the play was the prince, Lily was seducing the director (Thomas) but Nina becomes the black swan and seduces him but ended up killing herself to finally free herself from the constant burden she puts on herself to be perfect all the time.
What are the scratches on Nina's back in Black Swan?
Early in the film the audience is shown a small rash on Nina's back; this has to do with a nervous tick she has developed where she scratches herself. When the mother finds that the rash has gotten worse, she strips Nina down to her underwear and pulls her into the bathroom to cut her nails.
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.
The Black Swan explained that, while killing her own doppelgänger, Nina fatally injured herself in the process. Earlier scenes also revealed scratch marks on Nina's back after her hallucinations showed a pattern of self-harm.
I originally replied that the combination of weight loss due to smoking, aging, bad eyebrows and a bad wig was the reason why she looked different. Just recently found out she got plastic surgery too, which I had no idea. I couldn't put my finger on why her eye area looked so different and now I finally understand.
Rachel Loewy, assistant adjunct professor of psychiatry at UC San Francisco, agrees that Nina's troubles could be consistent with a borderline personality disorder (in which a person has difficulty setting proper boundaries between herself and others) rather than a full-blown psychosis.
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.
The two fight, breaking a mirror. Nina stabs her doppelgänger with a large shard of glass from the mirror, killing her. The body reverts to Lily. Nina hides the corpse in the bathroom and takes the stage, dancing flawlessly as Odile and seemingly turns into a black swan, her arms covered in feathers.
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.
The black swan theory is a concept proposed by the Lebanese-born financial writer and researcher Nassim Nicholas Taleb that describes rare and unpredictable events that have a major socio-economic impact. The term “black swan,” used to designate these events, comes from a 17th-century historical fact.
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.
Another change: In the script, Nina sleeps with the director after she gets the part. It happens on p. 41 at the climax of a rehearsal. 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.
Hi. Her character did, but she didn't. That said, it was still extremely awkward for both of them, and they have spoken about their discomfort while shooting the scene quite a few times.
Lily wants to be the best dancer in the company, and she sees the new production of Swan Lake as her chance to show off her passion. The only thing getting in her way is her colleague Nina, the prissy perfectionist who's managed to captivate Thomas Leroy, the company's director.
"I had to look skinny in order to look like a ballerina," she explains. "You fake it. So, the best way to fake it is to unfortunately look like it." The Bad Moms star says she smoked cigarettes and went on a 1,200 calories a day diet to lose the weight.
In Black Swan, one of the most interesting relationship dynamics portrayed is the one between Nina and her mother, Erica. No father is present or accounted for at all in the film, so Nina and Erica live together and it becomes clear from the beginning that they are extremely focused on each other.
