Black Swan

Beaucoup d’encre a coulé par rapport à ce film et il devient difficile de parler de celui-ci sans répéter ce qui a déjà été dit. Pour moi, Black Swan représente, du moins pour le domaine qu'il aborde, une contribution majeure au cinéma mondial. J’apprécie l’audace du réalisateur à situer l’histoire dans l'univers des ballerines. Car, rien qu’en République tchèque, quel est le pourcentage de la population au-dessus de dix-huit ans qui s’intéresse au ballet ou qui se rend au théâtre au moins une fois par an ? Il est vrai que je vais moi-même très volontiers au théâtre, mais c’est surtout pour les pièces et les opéras, le ballet n’étant pas tellement ma tasse de thé – ce pour quoi je n’ai aucune excuse. J’avais des appréhensions concernant Vincent Cassel parce que même si c’est un acteur que j’apprécie, je le trouve a priori meilleur dans les rôles de malfrats et de cinglés. Sauf qu’il m’a finalement épaté en jouant son personnage avec brio. Mila Kunis, je ne la porte pas énormément dans mon cœur, mais il faut dire que ce rôle de ballerine spontanée et dérangée lui va comme un gant. Winona Ryder fait partie de mes actrices préférées depuis plusieurs années et ça me fait de la peine de ne la voir jouer que des rôles de seconde zone ces derniers temps. Pour ce qui est de Natalie Portman, elle fait des prouesses et mérite sans hésitation quelques lauriers. Rien à ajouter du côté de la splendide BO et pour conclure, on peut dire que l’année 2010 nous aura finalement apporté un grand cru qui marquera certainement l’histoire du cinéma. (01/01/2011)

An unexciting attempt at psychologically sophisticated art. Slightly irritating in places, unconventional thanks the interesting ballet setting, but an attempt nevertheless. Someone should tell Aronofsky that he is not the Kubrick of the 21st century. I admire the difficulty of ballet as an art, as well as Tchaikovsky's magical music, but this film is so empty and uses so many horror tropes that it's maddening. Hype of the year. PS: If it wasn't for Natalie Portman, who put so much effort into her role, I'd go even lower with the rating. (25/12/2010)

Although Black Swan appears to be made from the same dough as The Wrestler, it is only half true. Yes, it fits quite well superficially - the concept is actually similar, intimate body camera, ruthless details, long tracking shots, scenes of mutilation in the name of foolish desire (again, it is a desire expressed by roaring crowds). But it cannot be overlooked that in one important respect, Black Swan is antithetical to The Wrestler. While The Wrestler was a film where the inside of the hero remained hidden and it was a documentary record of gradual doom, in Black Swan everything is outward, the pain is written into horror expressive scenes, the heroine's psychoses are "Freudian" amplified and accentuated by various dreamlike chimeras. Everything inside happens on the outside at the same time, and the viewer is trapped in the snares of an unreliable storyteller. Where reality ends and Nina's fantastical projection begins is sometimes difficult to decipher. Some of the scenes are suspiciously conventional (you can see it well in all the horror jump scares and phantoms) and I couldn't shake the impression that for the mutating surface, Aronofsky missed what was not visible in The Wrestler, yet was physically felt - an intimate plane of pain "out of desire" leading to the final grand gesture of self-destruction. Black Swan is essentially ancient during the ending, but it didn't affect me nearly as much as Randy's last “ram-jam". Everything is in place here (a famous camera, a devastating Natalie and a magnificent musical accompaniment), yet ecstasy did not come. I think Aronofsky was able to go deeper in the past without theatrical props. (17/01/2011)

You can stone me, but Aronofsky is repeating himself for the third time and it's getting old. Although he once again emphasizes the physicality and the decay of the soul and body, the film lacks any sort of more prominent moment that I haven't seen from him before. The lacerated fingers do hurt, but what I saw here was more so pseudo-art, where he gracefully tiptoes around but doesn't get to the core even once. The metamorphoses at the end amused me unintentionally rather than making me feel any kind of gradation or even catharsis. However, I can understand the standing ovation the film receives. (26/12/2010)

After the solid but not entirely satisfactory Wrestler, Aronofsky consolidates his position among my most favourite directors. The first hour of Black Swan is pretty similar to Wrestler – we follow very closely (almost intimately) one person at a turning point of their lives, we feel their emotions and every one of their injuries. This is not always very pleasant, Aronofsky knows how to transmit pain from the screen to the viewer like few others. This “introduction” would already be enough for four stars, but the last half hour shattered, disarmed and decimated me; utterly so. I felt a constant chill on my back and I shivered like an aspen tree; my eyes an ears were unable to perceive anything but the film. No other film this year has made me feel like this. 100 % (22/12/2010)