Black Swan (2010)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Featurette-Making Of-Black Swan Metamorphosis (49.03)
Rating
Year Of Production	2010
Running Time	103:43
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	?
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Darren Aronofsky
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Natalie Portman Mila Kunis Vincent Cassel Barbara Hershey Winona Ryder Benjamin Millepied
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Clint Mansell

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Danish Greek Norwegian Finnish Portuguese Romanian Swedish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     In one of the least surprising Oscar nights of recent memory Natalie Portman took home the 2011 statuette for Best Actress for her performance as the deranged ballerina at the core of Black Swan. Her performance had its critics, including an internet backlash, and the film itself attracted some criticism. Two things cannot be denied - it is an intense, sometimes overwhelming, visual experience and it was an equally stunning performer at the box office, returning over 300 million for its measly $15 million budget.

     Director Darren Aronofsky is no stranger to intensity in cinema. Perhaps with the exception of his spiritual opus (and greatest box office failure) The Fountain, all his films are delivered with a claustrophobia and relentlessly downbeat drive that can be equally enthralling and squirm inducing in audiences. His first film, the black-and-white thriller Pi, established his style - close in camera work, rapid editing and powerful use of music. Two other films of his that firmly belong within the canon of difficult cinema are Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler. Both are almost suffocatingly intense at times.

     Black Swan follows in this time honoured tradition. Natalie Portman plays Nina, a dancer with a renowned New York City Ballet company. She has devoted herself to her craft such that she lives with her mother Erica (Barbara Hershey), a former dancer who gave up her profession to raise Nina. Her mother still treats her as a child and her bedroom is decked out in pink with fluffy toys.

     It is a new season at the ballet company. Director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) has decided to open the season with Swan Lake, done in his own unique style. The former prima ballerina Beth (Winona Ryder) has been put out to pasture, very unwillingly, and the search is on for the lead in the production. Nina is the most technically perfect ballerina in the company yet Leroy has a difficulty in casting her. She is the perfect White Swan - elegant and precise - but is emotionally and sexually ill-equipped to perform the Black Swan, the "bad girl" of the ballet. Enter Lily (Mila Kunis), a young woman who is everything that Nina is not. Lily is heavily sexual, seemingly reckless with eating and drinking and smoking and lacks Nina's technical proficiency. Nina is selected for the lead but put under enormous pressure by Leroy to "let herself go" in order to perform the Black Swan. Nina, already in a fragile state, starts to break down, hallucinating bodily decay and bizarre events. Her relationship with Lily takes on a confusing, surreal nature underpinned by fear and jealousy when Nina starts to believe that Lily and others are trying to sabotage her so that Lily can assume the lead.

     Natalie Portman begins the film as a woman on the precipice of insanity and walks over the line as the opening night of Swan Lake approaches. She is plagued by self doubt and sees her doppelganger everywhere. It is a compelling performance. Whether it deserved to so easily triumph over Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine, Nicole Kidman in Rabbithole, Annette Benning in The Kids Are All Right or even Jennifer Lawrence in Winters Bone is a moot point - it is certainly the most dramatic and anguished performance amongst that group.

     Black Swan is at heart a Gothic melodrama/thriller with ample horror elements thrown in to the mix. Think Repulsion meets The Turning Point with a bit of giallo and you are not too far from the mark. It is that rare beast - a film about madness with the point of view consistently on the insane one. As with Aronofsky's previous films Black Swanwill either enthral the viewer with this heady mixture or induce a headache that will linger past the closing credits. There is no denying the status of the director as a modern auteur and the film is worth experiencing just to see his intensity and dedication at work.

Video

     Black Swan was shot on 16mm film, converted to 35mm for cinematic presentation. It was shown at the cinema and a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The aspect ratio has been retained for the DVD release. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     The purpose of shooting in 16mm was to achieve that grainy documentary-like look. This has been achieved throughout. The DVD reflects all the stylistic choices made by the director. There is a consistent grain throughout. The lighting is often dim however the image quality itself is not overly soft. It is as sharp as 16 mm can be and the flesh tones are accurate. Colour is used sparingly throughout the film. Whether it is in the drab greenish tones of the apartment which Nina and her mother cohabit or the sterility of the rehearsal space, the transfer has the washed out, dull look that the film presented at the cinema. The world Nina seems to exist in is a gloomy purgatory.

     There are subtitles in English for the hearing-impaired. There are also Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Greek, Romanian and Finnish subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

     Black Swan carries a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track in English running at 448 KB/S. There is also an English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 track running at 224 KB/S.

     The surround track is an impressive piece of work. Surround effects are used, particularly for the horror elements, throughout the film. There are sounds coming from the various channels which served to unnerve Nina as well as the viewer. The subwoofer engaged at various junctures to good effect. In particular, in the nightclub scene it pounds away suggesting to the viewer that the experience is overwhelming for Nina. The dialogue can be heard clearly throughout. There are no technical problems with the sound.

     The music is by regular Aronofsky collaborator and former Pop Will Eat Itself member Clint Mansell. He has worked and reworked Tchaikovsky's music for Swan Lake into a sometimes brooding and threatening piece. His original music provides an uneasy support for Nina's decline. Music for the nightclub scene is provided by the block rocking duo of The Chemical Brothers.

Audio Ratings Summary

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Black Swan Metamorphosis

     There is only one extra with the DVD however it is sizeable, comprehensive and interesting. The extra, titled Black Swan Metamorphosis, is divided into three parts. The first two are titled New York City and Purchase, New York, referring to the filming locations. The featurettes are behind the scenes and making of interviews and footage. Most of the contributors get an opportunity to talk about their work on the film. Aside from the actors and director a good deal of input comes from the producers and the technical department. In particular, the production designer gets to explain her work, both exciting and challenging on the film. The cinematographer is constantly on hand to explain his techniques. One of the great challenges was to work within the very limited budget. The third part of the featurette focuses on the special effects, particularly the complicated final scenes of Nina as the Black Swan. A very interesting piece.

     At almost 50 min this is a fascinating featurette with lots of onset footage and very little of the backslapping which accompanies most EPK's.

    The Region 1 DVD has the same features. The only review I could find of the Region 2 UK suggests that the lengthy extra is not on there. Buy local.

     Black Swan was, and is, film that will polarise audiences. It had an enormous presence at the box office and yet conducting a straw poll of your friends will reveal very little middle ground-people often loved it or hated it. Whilst can't say I "enjoyed" the film I did admire the style and intensity of the movie and was both eager and full of dread to see where it was going.

     The DVD is an excellent transfer of a film that, for stylistic reasons, carries more grain and portrays a dim and uninviting world. There is an excellent extra to add value to the package.

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