Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Movie Synopsis - Black Swan



Movie Review - Black Swan
Movie Trailer - Black Swan

The movie is about the story of Nina Sayers. Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) was a young talented ballet dancer of a prestigious New York City ballet company. She lived with her neurotic mother, Erica (Barbara Hershey), a former ballet dancer who stopped her career early because she was pregnant with Nina.

The ballet company was preparing for their latest production, The Swan Lake. After the retirement of the present lead dancer, Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder), the director, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), had to cast a new lead dancer that will take on the role of Swan Queen. The lead must be able to dance for both the White Swan and Black Swan characters. Both the swans have opposite characteristics.The White Swan being innocent and fragile while the evil twin, Black Swan was vicious and seductive.

On the day of the audition, Nina did badly but she wanted to role so badly. So she visited Thomas just before the result was announced to ask him to reconsider and give her the role. He told her that her dance technique was very suitable for the White Swan but she lacked the skill to take on the role of the Black Swan. He then forced a kiss on her and she bit him on the lips. Later when the result was out, she was chosen as the Swan Queen. On the night where Nina was publicly introduced as the new Swan Quenn, the angry Beth confronted Thomas and Nina. When she stormed out of the hall, she was hit by a car and got seriously injured.

Since getting the role, Nina started to witness strange happenings around her. Thomas, meanwhile, becomes increasingly demanding on Nina's dancing technique as the Black Swan. He told her to simply lose herself in the role. Nina was later compared to another dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis), whom Thomas described as having the qualities that Nina lacks. One night, Lily appeared at Nina's door and invited her for a night out. Nina was hesitating at first but after much persuasion, she decided to join Lily even though her mom didn't allowed her to do so. While out, Lily offered Nina a capsule of Ecstasy. When she returned home, Nina fought with her mother. She locked herself in her room and made love to Lily. The next morning, Nina woke up alone and were late for her rehearsal. When she arrived, she saw Lily dancing the role of the Swan Queen. she confronted Lily and accused her for not waking her up because she wanted to take the role away from her. Lily was puzzled by Nina's statement. Lily told Nina that she spent the night with a man whom she met at the club. Lily then realised that she fantasized the whole part about having sex with Lily.

Nina's hallucinations worsen during the rehearsals and at home. She had a violent fight with her mom injured her mom. Her mom became very worried about her. She felt that Nina recent success in getting the Swan Queen role was giving Nina too much stress. Her mother then tried to prevent her from attending the opening performance. Nina forced her way through and got there in time for the opening dance. 

The first act went well until Nina was distracted by her own hallucination. As she returned to her dressing room, she found Lily dressed as the Black Swan. Lily then admitted to Nina that she her wants to play the Black Swan. Lily then transformed into Nina. Nina then attacked "Nina" and pushed into the mirror shattering it. She grabbed a piece of the glass and stabbed "Nina" in the stomach. Nina then realise that she killed Lily. She hid the body and returned to the stage. She danced the Black Swan role passionately. She then lost herself and transformed into a black swan. At the end of the act, the crowd gave her a standing ovation. When she leaved the stage, Thomas and the rest of the cast congratulated her on her stunning performance.

While she was in her dressing room preparing for the final act, Lily came to congratulate her on her performance as the Black Swan. Nina was shocked. She looked at the shattered mirror then she noticed a wound on her body. She then realized that she actually stabbed herself. She went back on stage and danced passionately as the White Swan. In the final moments of the show, the White Swan threw herself off a cliff. While she was falling, she spotted her mother weeping in the audience. The theater was filled with echos of cheer as Nina fell. Thomas and the rest of the cast ran to congratulate Nina on her astounding performance but they saw that Nina bleeding profusely. As Nina lied there wounded, she stared up at the stage lights and whispered "I felt it - Perfect - It was perfect," as the screen faded to white with the audience still chanting her name.

Movie Review - Black Swan
Movie Trailer - Black Swan 

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