Dont take your kids, even teens. I was terribly disappointed.



I am still in shock that the critics were raving so much about this one,, made NO sense. The last twenty minutes were good, the rest was irrelevant drivel and gratuitious sexual matter.


...this is just my opinion. I do realize different audiences relate to different things,,,,,,the parent in me didnt care for this one at all however I am sure there are certain audiences which will


perhaps clubbers or the sexually 'free' type of audience will be refreshed by it,,,(shrugs)

it's genius.

I dunno how 'sexually free' I'd classify myself as but Natalie Portman is the TlTS so I'm down for some gratuitous sexuality if she's doing it.

painful expressions , odd maternal relationships, masturbation, homosexual sex, suicide,,,


I just didnt get how any of it tied into an actual PLOT,,,,

wow..and I thought it had something to do with Swan Lake...

She's not well ... her mother is not well ... high pressure in the quest for perfection, bulemia and mental illness is pretty surreal ... from what I could tell that WAS the plot. She didn't know what was real and was trapped in her own terrifying mind.

I thought it was brilliantly done.

it wasnt exactly one flew over the cuckoos nest, that movie made it a bit more clear what the backstory was as well as which parts were part of the main characters imagination and which were 'real'


I guess it was too 'surreal' for my taste, I prefer more story and less ,,,,,,, crazy,,,

at least ONE stable character would have been nice,,,

I want to see it out of curiosity, but the only theater showing it near me is 40 miles away. So I will wait for DVD. But I do like some of the artsy type movies, such as Mirror Mask.

I would not advise taking anyone younger than college age, not really appropriate subject matter( I found out the hard way).

i really enjoyed this film. . it was defintely for adults. Not happy about the ending, that part left me dissapointed. .

I'd like to see it..it looks interesting. : )

Ok, so my best friend and I watched it the other day.

All in all this was not something I've really ever seen before. It was hard to tell just WHO was the ****ed up one and who was sane in this. Natalie Portman is phenomenally psycho in this though, from all she goes through and the interactions she has with not only her mother (wacko) and teacher (creepster) but the other dancer (Mila Kunis, who is incredible).

Sure it's not polite or pretty but lets be honest, is there anything polite or pretty about insanity. Whether it was her own or forced onto her by the wackjobs around her is unclear but that doesn't stop you from seeing it as she did. I kinda like that they don't really tell you, they just let you see what she would see. Not a movie for kids, but anyone who took their kids to this obviously didn't read the synopsis.

Epicly ****ed up, but scarily beautiful I'd say. Natalie deserved that Golden Globe, and if I dare say it she better get an Oscar.

lol you couldn't tell by the previews?

no, none of the trailers I saw had anything sexual or homosexual in them

they were all edited to make it look like a woman suffering from split personality,,,,,that was it

I am kind of confused about what it was that was award worthy personally,,,but congratulations to them


perhaps for colored girls will be in the emmy category, I thought the plot was much better evolved and connected and the acting range much more impressive,,,

yea, i agree with you there, i just thought it looked weird from the start...like a supernatural weirdness...

I felt like I was taking crazy pills,, lol,, thats for sure

I ranked it right up there with the prolonged empty plot and acting of Blair Witch Project,,,,but main stream seemed to love that one too

Schizophrenia nicely depicted.

I thought this film was brilliant.

Darren Aronofsky is a filmmaker who, over the course of five films, has thoroughly explored the various ways in which people can be consumed when their passions become self-destructive obsessions. It seems to be a bit of an obsession in and of itself for Aronofsky, and frankly, I've been with him every step of the way. The best cinema is the kind that makes you feel something, which Aronofsky's work does in spades. Taking up residence in the darkest recesses of the human psyche is no picnic.

Nina Sayers has toiled for years and years in Thomas Leroy's New York ballet company. Having fallen on hard times, Leroy exiles his lead dancer and hopes that a fresh face in the company's upcoming version of "Swan Lake" will renew interest and revenue. Nina believes that she has what it takes to tackle the role of Swan Queen, and while Thomas chooses her for the part, he is adamant about her being able to nail both the pure innocence of the White Swan and the dark, sultry essence of the Black Swan. He doesn't feel that she is yet capable of pulling off the latter, but he suspects that she has the ability bottled up inside. Nina, ever the perfectionist, just needs to let herself go and perhaps explore her sexuality. Unfortunately, she's had to deal with an overbearing mother who has sheltered her to the point of psychological damage. Experiencing what she needs to in order to embody the Black Swan, combined with the pressure of the role and the paranoia over new girl, Lily, possibly being after her spot, may just push Nina over the edge.

"Black Swan" has been cited as a companion piece to "The Wrestler", and in many ways, it is. They even share similar instances of a pseudo-documentary shooting style. However, whereas the latter utilized such a style to create a heightened sense of realism, "Black Swan" takes the approach and creates a claustrophobic hell akin to something like Polanski's "The Tenant". It's a disorienting portrait of the madness that infects many who possess the desire to create art. Nina's sanity is in question early on, and from there, we are kept on our toes in relation to what is hallucinated and what is real. Speaking of being kept on one's toes, we get an up close look at how hard ballet is on the human body. As if the psychological turmoil wasn't enough for poor Nina, the physical toll is just as prominent.

As the ballerina seeking the pinnacle of perfection, Natalie Portman achieves that which her character so desperately desires. Her performance is a milestone, not only in her career, but in acting, period. Every ounce of praise directed toward her is richly deserved. Nina goes through a ringer of emotional changes, be it the sweet, delicate girl she starts out as, the rebellious grown-up Lily unleashes in her or the manic frenzy she's reduced to when things really get out of hand. Portman never misses a beat. When I first heard that Mila Kunis had been cast as Lily, I wasn't exactly thrilled. I'm happy to say that I was wrong about her, as she is terrific here. She made me forget all about her role on "That 70's Show". Vincent Cassel is also fantastic as Thomas Leroy, and his relationship with Nina is one of the film's strongest aspects. He had serious doubts about her, but he believed in her all the same. Enough so that he put his doubts aside and took the biggest possible risk on her. Barbara Hershey is unnerving as Nina's overprotective mother, and Winona Ryder makes the most of her brief role as Beth, the aging star whom Nina replaces.

Matthew Libatique's cinematography is beautifully realized. Combining the raw grittiness of the pseudo-documentary material with the nightmarish imagery of Nina's hallucinations and the elegance of the ballet, the film is a joy to behold. Clint Mansell's music, complete with elements from "Swan Lake", is also amazing, just as much a character as any breathing person on screen. I was disappointed that Mansell didn't have more of a presence in "The Wrestler", so I was happy to have him back in full force with "Black Swan".

Aronofsky is my favorite director to come along in the last 20 years or so. "Pi" was a solid debut, "Requiem for a Dream" is an utter masterpiece (still my favorite film in general), "The Fountain" is an underrated gem and "The Wrestler" is a strong character study. I'm pleased, but not surprised, to say that "Black Swan" is another film that further solidifies his position as a master filmmaker. As for Portman, she doesn't need the "Best Actress" Oscar to solidify how great she is.

The fact that the film is R Rated kind makes it obvious that it wasn't intended for kids.