Black Swan: In the pursuit of greatness

Black Swan 

Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological horror film directed by Darren Aronofsky, starring Natalie portman as Nina, a devoted ballerina. This movie is a psychological drama about an obsessed ballerina who dreams of the role of the Black Swan. It's interesting to see the life of a ballerina and the struggles that they go through. Nina Seyers, the protagonist of the movie is a young naive girl who wants to be chosen as the new swan queen.

Obviously, it's not an easy task to get the role of the swan queen for the play therefore Nina puts her entire heart and soul into her dancing however there is something that keeps holding her back which is her inability to let go of perfectionism. Nina does end up getting the role of the Black Swan in the first half of the movie because she persuades her mentor by seducing him. 

The fleeting moment of happiness disappears when Nina soon falls under the fear of being replaced when the new girl Lily is introduced. Lily is basically everything that Nina is not, she is sensual, and her movements are fluid just like that of a black swan therefore Nina is visibly scared of her spot being replaced adding pressure on her which causes her to hallucinate.

Nina starts to destroy herself and ends up descending into madness, she injures her mother and hallucinates about transforming into a black swan entirely. The descent of Nina's madness in order to pursue greatness continues to persist until the very end of the movie where she truly embodies the Black Swan while giving her best performance.

The Black Swan is a beautiful yet horrifying movie to watch. Although Nina ends up delivering the performance that she always wanted to, it is also important to note that it was delivered at the stake of her life. The ending is beautiful yet enigmatic, there is an implication that Nina might have died in the end completely showcasing the tragedy of her character. I would like to mention a line by Nina's mentor that didn't make it to the final cut, this line is very applicable to their form of art signifying the reason onto why they should pursue greatness in their artform.

"What we do is beautiful, but fleeting. Dance is not immortalized like music, poetry or art. It doesn't grow old in museums and churches. It lives for now. For this moment only and this is your moment."

This blog was very much inspired by the video "The anatomy of the obsessed artist" by lessons from the screenplay on YouTube. Therefore, if you would like to understand the movie in depth then it is better to watch the video for yourself.





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