Black swan analysis + review

Article by Angela Pasajol

Black swan is a psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky where the film follows Nina,an aspiring ballerina who gets the lead role in their upcoming stage,Swan Lake.We witness the eerie and ominous events that she experiences in her journey to become flawless at her craft.

The use of colour in the black swan

At the beginning of the film until the middle,we see that Nina wears pale and bright colours in contrast to her colleagues that don dark,murky colours such as grey and black.This could tell us that the harsh and competitive industry of dance hasn't gotten to her yet and she still has the drive and hope to push forward.This also tells us that she was pure and untouched.She hasn't morphed into the mature black swan role.

In the opening scene we see that she is shrouded by darkness while wearing a white dress, connoting to how the corrupt world hasn't gotten to her yet.Nina is youthful and childlike in this stage of the movie.Her name, “Nina” is also a play on words with the term nina in Spanish,meaning female child.

Her attire shifts from grey in the middle of the film after showing defiance to her mother who shelters her from the real world,persistent on controlling Nina's life and even tucking her in at the age of 28.This shows how Nina wasn't able to experience and mature fully due to the controlling and suffocating nature of her mother.This also shown when we see that Nina was the only subject that her mom drew and her excessively vigilant nature of always asking what she is up to.This lack of flexibility must've led her to mature late and experience adulthood.

The symbolism of colour through wardrobe is also shown with the other major characters,for instance the director of the play,John,is always seen wearing a black and white combo.Even the shot taken at his spacious penthouse,the color pallette of his abode is also black and white.Combined, they create grey which as said above connotes to uncertainty and uneasiness.John acts as a catalyst for Nina to truly shine and get her exposure from the public but he's the cause of Nina's decaying purity.

Evidence:John's penthouse.Peoples homes usually tell us about the person.

Furthermore,Lily,Ninas rival and second in line to play the swan queen is always wearing black.This foreshadows that lily will indeed turn out to harm her and be one of her adversaries.

The theme of maturity in the black swan

After witnessing the former main lead Sarah throw a fit and leave,she immediately goes to her fitting room,stealing some of her possessions.Most notably her lipstick and quickly stashes it into her pocket.This shows how she was still reluctant to grow into a more mature person and wanted to conceal her thoughts of being independent.This scene is then followed by Nina applying the said lipstick on the subway whilst staring into the black tunnel that passes by her.This symbolizes that she's ready to embark on her journey to accept her more mature,darker side.

In addition to that,when Nina breaks down in tears as she receives the role of swan queen,she confines herself in the bathroom and then receives a threatening message in the mirror written in bright,red lipstick.Since it was written on the mirror,it could be a reflection about how she detested the idea of growing up and that is why her transformation was so prolonged.

Evidence:profanity written in lipstick.

Furthermore,throughout the entire film we see that she had rashes and Nina's skin always seemed to be peeling,bruising or injured.While this means that she could have a really severe dermal problem,this could be a literal representation of her metamorphosis into growing up manifesting physically.The change isn't only internally but externally as well.

Lily,her colleague and potential rival(at the time) visits Nina's place to apology for interfering with her role as the swan queen.This interaction is interrupted several times by her mother who demands to know everything that is going on and prevents Nina from leaving the house with others.Throughout the movie we never see Nina with friends.All the shots she has are either with her mother or her colleagues who seem to have disdain for her.This effectively portrays how isolated she was and how consumed Nina was with work and demonstrates the reach of the mothers possessiveness.

Though Nina disobeys her mother and goes out with Lily.She then experiences many firsts after being drugged by Lily(she experiences her first rave and then spends the night with lily,even forcefully kicking out her mother from the room).This transition to maturity is shown in the dialogue as well when Nina's mother exclaims

“Where did my sweet girl go”

“Shes not here mom”

After Nina spends the night with lily,she then starts wearing black and way darker colours. This shows that she was no longer innocent and rebelled against her mother,becoming into her own person.Nina even goes to smash her music box which her mother uses to lull her to sleep and throws away all the stuffed animals she owns.

Evidence:Nina wearing grey implicitly suggesting her change to become a more mature person.

The idea of losing control and the cost of being perfect in black swan

The film uses shaky,often nauseating camera work to demonstrate how disoriented Nina was and to show how she was spiraling and losing balance to fall into something dark and sinister.

When Nina is introduced as the lead dancer in the hall we see that she stands in front of a statue with an uncanny resemblance to the role she was going to play,the Swan Queen.The statue bears no arms (literally).Needless to say that she'll lose control and that accepting this role was her downfall.This is one of my favourite shots in the film because the use of this prop creates a foreboding atmosphere and the placement of it in the film was so subtle but said plenty to what was going to follow.

The black swan is a perfect example of a Greek tragedy,a hero dying due to a fatal flaw.In this case Nina's flaw is her drive for perfection.This shown through her dialogue as well.When asked her name,Nina responds with ‘I'm a dancer’ Showing how her entire identity was her occupation and her sole focus.This is also shown when the company's pianist has to walk out in order for her to stop practicing.”I've actually got a life”, he says before walking out.

Since Nina is an unreliable narrator we aren't sure if any of there events actually unfold.For example,when Nina's mother imprisons her daughter in her room to stop her from working due to her ill-health,Nina notes how there's no clock to tell whether she was late for her rehearsals.Psychology states that if you do not see any clocks around you,you're in a dream state.Nina was so consumed that she has lost her grip on reality

Moreover,her relationship with John is also an unstable one.A phrase he often repeats to Nina is “lose yourself” as if hypnotizing her to submit and go along with whatever he has to say.

Sarah,Nina's predecessor was called by the pet name “little princess” by John,which Lily points out Nina will be called the same but Nina denies this insisting that John was genuine and shared a bond with Sarah,but after playing her role as the black swan and as she starts to bleeds to death,one of John's last words to her was the same term of endearment “little princess”.This shows how easily replaceable she was to him and she was just a pawn to him for monetary gain to keep the theater up-float from its debts.

In addition to that,when she returns the items she stole from Sarah,she apologizes profusely and exclaims “I'm sorry.I just wanted to be perfect”. Similarly, her last words to John while bleeding to death were “I felt perfect”

In conclusion

I think the film was well-made.Everything from the sound effects which made certain movements sound like feathers .The makeup on the characters was iconic as well with many recreating it for Halloween. The use of light and the set itself really created an engrossing and tense story-line I couldn't stop thinking about for days.This was one of the most terrifying non-horror movie I've watched and usually the first recommendation i give out when others ask me for a psychological thriller movie to watch.