Black Swan

Wow.

Just wow.

I saw the eagerly awaited film this afternoon and it really is incredible.

Natalie portman is just amazing, her portrayal of both the white and black swan is just mesmerising.

I loved the costume throughout the film; the ballet tutus, the shrugs, the perfect pink ballet shoes and the contrast of the monochromatic theme that is adamant in every scene is stunning. The colour changes throughout the scenes as Portman's character, the ever angelic Nina, begins to mutate into the dark, black swan.

Nina is a ballerina in a heavily competitive ballet company in NYC, her life is dance and nothing else: never has the saying, born to dance, been so right for this woman, this woman who strives for perfection so much so it becomes part of her downfall.
Nina is given the main character of the Swan Lake performance, the Swan Queen, a part she has wanted and worked for for such a long time, yet she hasn't got the role as she wants it completely, when Lily (Mila Cunis), another dancer in the ballet company, is always over her shoulder. The role for swan lake requires a dancer who can play the virgin like, ethereal white swan yet one that can turn and switch into the dark, sexy black swan. At first Nina seems to struggle with the formation into the black swan but after a night with the personified black Swan, Lily, she grasps the role and doesn't let anything get in her way.

Visually the film is just stunning. You understand certain choices of camera placement, fashion choices, lighting ideas: everything about the film hints at comparisons and the sheer starkness of black and white- the two sides and differences.

There were certain parts in the film that my eyes couldn't move from the screen, and others, where my eyes were covered with my hands. The film was everything I expected, Portman's portrayal of Nina is astonishing, and like I said visually this film is by far one of the best I have seen in a long time.