Black Swan: Dancing With Psychosis

Black Swan was one of the most acclaimed films of 2010.  It won Natalie Portman the Oscar for Best Actress and generated a lot of controversy with her double. The Portman double argued that the Oscar was undeserved because she was the one who danced most of the time. Director Darren Aronofsky praised Portman’s work and said she was only deputized in the most difficult scenes.

Leaving aside this controversy, Oscar deserved or not, Black Swan offers us a ballet on the big screen. A   psychological thriller set against the backdrop of  swan lake. Natalie Portman dazzles at all levels because her role is much more than that of a dancer. He is a complex character suffering from mental disorders who will be more visible as the inauguration date of the ballet approaches. 

Portman offers a truly compelling character, who captivates us from the first moments. Let’s not forget that the actress graduated in psychology from Hardvard University. This knowledge probably helped him prepare for his role.

The plot revolves around Nina, a young dancer who lives with her mother and works for a ballet company. The company wants to open the season with a renewed version of Swan Lake.  Nina wants to get the part. She is a very disciplined, methodical and demanding dancer. The role requires a more extravagant and wild side, however. The film evolves in parallel with the ballet and will immerse us in the personality and the upheavals of the protagonist.

Nina has no friends. She simply interacts with her ballet mates. Dancing is the only thing that matters in her life. Upon entering his room, we come across a very childish space, in pale tones and adorned with countless stuffed animals. It looks like a little girl’s room, of someone who hasn’t grown up yet. This piece is a reflection of the world of Nina, a very dependent young woman, controlled by her mother who has still not reached her maturity.

His mother instilled in him a passion for dancing. She may also have projected all her frustrations onto herself. Nina also makes her mother feel that she has never achieved anything, that she has never gone this far. The conflict that will be born between them finds its reason for being here.

Nina never disobeyed her mother. She has always lived with extreme control, never had the ability to decide for herself. This is the reason why  Nina has developed a complex personality. She herself pays for her frustrations and helplessness: she injures herself and makes herself vomit. Her mother is well aware of these problems, checks the scratches on her back, cuts her nails so that she doesn’t harm herself and makes sure she doesn’t spend too much time in the bathroom.

Nina was not a happy child. E lle n ‘ has not been a healthy development. Her mother over-protected her and also projected her frustrations onto her.  All of this made Nina an emotionally unstable person. This instability will reach its peak when the company offers him a role that will shake his own personality. Nina is obsessed with perfection. She will therefore do everything possible to reach it, even if it is detrimental to her health.

Black Swan, a dangerous dance

Swan Lake  tells the story of Odette, a princess who was transformed into a white swan by a spell. She needs the love of a prince to break it. Love that ultimately fails because its rival intervenes: the black swan. Nina’s company decides to reinvent the story a bit. The role of the two swans therefore falls to the same person.

Nina seems to fit perfectly with the role of the white swan, but not with that of the black swan. She lacks spontaneity, she is too disciplined. As in Tchaikovsky’s work, Nina has a rival, Lily. This is another of the dancers in the company. An unruly and carefree young woman who fits perfectly with the role of the black swan. Nina’s personality will then be destabilized. She will begin to obsess over her rival. This obsession will bring to light the most unstable and dark part of his personality.

Nina’s personality will dissociate as we step into the ballet and get to know the main characters.  It itself will not be able to recognize itself, nor to differentiate the real from the dreamed.

Mirrors will play an important role in the film. They present us the distortions that Nina appreciates,  the confusions and the most critical moments of the film. Mirrors indeed have a powerful symbolic charge. According to Lacan, we recognize ourselves in the mirror, in the other. The two swans live in Nina. They will be unable to achieve a balance, a harmony.

Nina does not have a father figure, her mother controlling absolutely everything. It is clear that his development has not been optimal, that his fragile personality has many shortcomings. The entry into the scene of the rivalry and the search for the dark side that the role requires will reveal the first symptoms of psychosis in Nina Nina will engage in an internal struggle with the two swans who live in her, while the relationship with her mother and those around her will be more and more difficult.

The other side of ballet

Along with the demands of the role and the rivalry with Lily, Nina has to face a less friendly face of ballet and the world. She had never had such an important role. She was therefore unaware of the darkness that surrounded her. During her night out with Lily, we see that Nina completely ignores the nightlife and drugs world. Having never been exposed to these situations and having always been under the protection of her mother, she is unable to control herself, to decide for herself, to know what is best for her.

We also see that relationships are not entirely healthy within the company itself. The dancers are replaced when they reach a certain age. Rivalry is present in each of them and they are capable of anything to have a role. In addition, the more powerful men, such as the director of the company, can abuse and pressure the dancers. Something that reminds us of the Me Too movement  , now present in the world of cinema.

The character of Nina also has a great similarity to Norman Bates, protagonist of  Psychosis , especially in his relationship with the mother. The overprotection and darkness of the performing arts lead Nina to imbalance, instability and self-destruction  .

Black Swan is a reflection of thriller psychosis   and embellishment for ballet. A dangerous search for perfection, that perfection that the spectators admire, that the assistants observed with astonishment during the premiere of the work, but of which they do not know the path. The result is perfect, but the road was filled with thorns.

Our thoughts

“My thoughts don’t seem to be mine” “Who am I” “I don’t recognize myself in the mirror”. These types of thoughts occur frequently …