The Animal Within: Black Swan

But I was still cursed with my duality of purpose; and as the first edge of my penitence wore off, the lower side of me, so long indulged, so recently chained down, began to growl for licence. Not that I dreamed of resuscitating Hyde; . . . no, it was in my own person that I was once more tempted to trifle with my conscience. However, this brief condescension to my evil finally destroyed the balance of my soul.

- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde



I am very excited about the new movie from Darren Aronofsky called Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman playing Nina Sayers (The Swan Queen), and Mila Kunis, playing Lily (The Black Swan). You might remember Mila Kunis as Mona Sax in Max Payne (2008), a mediocre revenge pic. Black Swan, as far as I can gather from the trailer, looks to be a very deep movie about the human condition. We talk flippantly about the dark side of our natures, a theme touched on often enough in the humanities, but what we tend to gloss over in casual conversation the arts need to emphasize, so in our times of leisure at the cinema, we can come to see the full dimensions of what God comes to save us from; and to those who have dipped their fingers into the icy, chilling water of spiritual death, they can feel that numbing sensation they felt when once they so dabbled.

Nina Sayers is a professional ballerina for the New York City ballet. Her entire life is consumed with the art of the dance; her drive and ambition deliver her to the upper echelons of competition within her profession. When Thomas Leroy (Cassel), the artistic director, needs to choose the best ballerina for the production 'Swan Lake', his eyes land ineluctably on Sayers. But the smooth transition of Sayers into the lead part presents some problems. The part demands of the character a duality of personality, with the White Swan exemplifying all the traits of purity, spotlessness, and innocence, and the Black Swan the polar opposite, representing sensuality, a sort of twistedness, a bent-ness. Things are further complicated when Leroy's attention is fixed on Lily, who exudes these qualities effortlessly. Nina, in her drive to win the part, and pushed along abusively and obsessively by Erica (Hershey), her mother, begins her slow descent into the darker, and so spiritually perilous, regions of the more sinister and foul part of her nature.

I have high expectations from Aronofsky, who has Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, and The Wrestler under his belt. The trailer for the film is very affective, with Natalie Portman looking like she'll deliver the performance of her career. Along with P.T. Anderson, Aronofsky gets me very excited about whatever movie output they'll eventually have. This movie will be sure to illuminate the whole universal motif of the duality of human nature and what happens when someone is lead irrevocably toward the path of spiritual destruction. As soon as the movie hits theaters in Biloxi, I'll be sure to buy a ticket, and get more than my money's worth.