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   Black Swan is my favorite movie of all time. This psychological thriller is one of the most iconic examples of the tortured artist trope, its 2010 box office debut earning $1.4 million. Presently, it has made $329.4 million worldwide. Black Swan follows Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) on her pursuit of perfection in her role as the Swan Queen in her company’s production of Swan Lake. She battles tension within herself, with her mother (Barbara Hershey), the artistic director (Vincent Cassel), and her rival (Mila Kunis). Black Swan is packed with genius symbolism, metaphors, and visual devices, which is precisely why I love this film so much. Also, the movie happens to be filmed in New York City, making it even better!

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   Before I start yapping, here is a brief synopsis of Black Swan:

   Nina begins the movie in a state of pure innocence, making her the living embodiment of the White Swan. She is highly obsessive and insatiable–Nina’s highest importance in life is achieving perfection, particularly in ballet, and receiving validation for her perfection. She is thrown into the ultimate fit of perfection obsession when Thomas, the artistic director, makes her the Swan Queen in the NYC Ballet’s Swan Lake, under the ultimatum that she must perfectly embody both the White and Black Swan. 

Nina’s mission of accessing the pure sin and evil that is the Black Swan sends her into an identity crisis, wherein she ultimately loses herself. This loss of self culminates in her Swan Lake performance, where Nina falls performing the White Swan, yet performs the Black Swan perfectly, and accidentally stabs herself, believing that she killed Lily, her ballerina rival. The movie ends with her death, where her dying words are, “I felt it. Perfect.”

 

   I notice different things every single time I watch Black Swan–and I’ve seen it 10 times. While the content never changes, my perspective does. The first watch is for entertainment. Do I enjoy the movie? Second watch, for chasing that feeling of known enjoyment. There is a need to experience the film again, noticing some thematic devices, yet it is still primarily for entertainment. Third, I’m starting to see things. Fourth, confirming that I’m noticing things. Fifth, I’m locked into figuring out the movie. So on and so forth.
 

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During my viewings, I’ve picked up on a few significant themes:

• Agency/control

• Perfectionism (of course)

• Jealousy

• Purity versus Impurity/Opposites

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Darren Aronofsky utilizes visual and plot devices to add depth to these themes throughout the film, overall contributing to the pure genius that is Black Swan.

While I have a lot to say about Black Swan, I will practice restraint and focus on a few narrative devices seen in the film that I think are fascinating.

 

The Winged Statue

   The Winged Statue, formally known as Fritz Scholder’s “Future Clone,” appears in the Charity Ball Scene, where Nina is announced as the new prima ballerina to the Ballet’s donors. This scene is infused with the Jealousy theme, with touches of Opposites, due to the tension between Nina and Beth. Beth was the NYC Ballet’s former star, forced into retirement by Thomas. Nina’s infatuation and idolization of Beth are established in the film’s exposition, where she defends Beth after her fellow dancers disparage the retired dancer:

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                                  VERONICA

      I know, I’m just saying, it’s time for something new.

                                    GALINA

                                 Someone new.

                                  VERONICA

  Yeah, like someone who’s not approaching menopause.

                                      […]

                                     NINA

                              I think it’s sad.

                                       [...]

                    Beth’s such an amazing dancer.

                                   GALINA

                          So’s my grandmother.

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   Nina’s idolization of Beth evolves into indications of jealousy after she finds out she’s the new prima ballerina. She is given Beth’s dressing room, where she steals Beth’s lipstick. Nina feels unsatisfied with herself; she feels as though she needs to become Beth to fit her newfound role as the ballet’s star, this feeling manifesting through stealing the lipstick. 

   Moving forward to the Charity Ball, Nina publicly makes her debut as Beth’s replacement, and she is visibly overwhelmed throughout the scene. She is a dazzling doll donned in white, stiff, with an impossibly straight posture, complete with strained neck muscles. As Thomas makes his announcement, Nina notices a bleeding hangnail–a nod to the Perfection motif, where physical wounds/transformations appear on Nina to indicate her opposite, the Black Swan, chipping away at her carefully crafted exterior. 

   After a disturbing scene where Nina tears the hangnail halfway down her finger (which was a hallucination), interrupted by Lily (dressed in black!), she stands alone at the end of the event, gazing with a small smile at the Winged Statue, Future Clone. Future Clone is a tall, black, androgynous statue with wings for arms. Its face and wings are etched away to reveal white. Or, perhaps, was the white etched away to reveal the black? Something to think about…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This statue reflects Nina’s transformation. It reflects the physical manifestations of darkness fighting through her flesh, gradually dragging itself to the surface, mirroring the hangnail scene moments before we see the statue. Also, the statue’s actual name, Future Clone, informs the audience that we, and Nina, are seeing her future self. At this point in the movie, Nina remains still confined to her box of purity and perfection, struggling to maintain the White Swan mentality–the familiar–while navigating through how she can find the Black Swan mentality–the unfamiliar. Essentially, the statue is a mirror without the glass, Nina’s reflection without barriers. And her smile at the statue before Thomas interrupts… Future Clone may resonate with her, whether she knows precisely why.

 

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Mirrors

   The Winged Statue leads me perfectly into the second central motif in Black Swan, mirrors. While Future Clone is Nina’s reflection in the physical world, Aronofsky employs literal mirrors to emphasize the duality within Nina and the closing distance between the two. Mirrors are a staple in dance–every studio has them, since dancers need to see themselves to ensure they are moving as expected. To ensure they are achieving perfection.

   So, it is unsurprising to see that Black Swan heavily features mirrors. However, the way Aronofsky uses them? That’s where things get crazy. Aronofsky utilizes mirrors to provide a visual of Nina’s inner struggle. Nina outside of the mirror is herself in her current state, whether that be in the beginning, where she is clinging to her preconceived notions of perfection, or at the end, where Nina loses herself, as Thomas encourages her to do:

 

THOMAS

The only person standing in your way is you. It’s time to let her go. Lose yourself.

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   As the film progresses, the distance between the physical Nina and her reflection, called “the Double” in the script, gets smaller and smaller. Initially, Nina and the Double are distant and mirrored–she dances from afar, neither version of herself too close, and her Double does exactly as she does. However, the Double starts moving closer, surrounding her, acting on its own accord–an ominous presence haunting her. It’s as if the Double is gaining consciousness, awakening from a deep sleep through every deviant act Nina commits. 

   The barrier between Nina and the Double finally breaks when Nina hallucinates Lily in her dressing room applying the Black Swan makeup during the first (and only, probably) Swan Lake performance and believing that Lily is about to replace her as the Black Swan, Nina attacks, leading to a gruesome tussle. During their fight, “Lily” turns into the Double, and the pair crash into a mirror, shattering it(!!!). As the Double chokes her, Nina finds a glass shard and stabs and kills the Double, her eyes red and black, like a swan’s. She goes on to perform the Black Swan Coda flawlessly, transforming into a swan on stage, complete with mesmerizing, black wings. 

   The murder scene is such an important scene! It marks Nina’s complete transformation into the Black Swan, forgoing any sort of balance associated with the Swan Queen role, and is fortified by Nina’s self-inflicted death (which is a crazy reveal!). 

   By far, Black Swan’s use of mirrors to visually convey Nina’s transformation is one of Aronofsky's most impactful devices. The gradual escalation… The intense finale… 

Dare I say, perfect.

 

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Nina’s Mother

   Considering all this, I must talk to you about Nina’s mother, Erica. We know where Nina ended up, but how exactly did she get there? It wasn’t entirely her doing–her mother raised her that way. Erica raised Nina as extremely sheltered, treating her like a little girl her entire life. In the film, we see Erica bathing Nina, dressing her, cutting her nails, and dictating what she does. Erica lives vicariously through Nina due to her own failed dance career, and is trying to control Nina in her image–she made Nina into her own little doll. 

   Their apartment is a significant indicator of this power dynamic, unrelenting exertions of power versus desperate cries for agency. Nina’s room is childlike; all pink, hoards of stuffed animals, and a jewelry box. Her mother disrespects her privacy, watching over her like a hawk, even when she sleeps. Erica even has an entire room covered in hand-painted art of Nina, where we see her sobbing as she paints in one scene. 

   Let’s hone in on the jewelry box–a large, ornate box with a spinning ballerina set to “Swan Theme.” While we don’t see it until an hour into the film, it’s a significant object due to its insight into Erica and Nina’s relationship. After Nina has a fit of rageful jealousy watching Lily dance the Black Swan in rehearsal, she returns home and places the jewelry box on her bedside table, seeming to use it in an attempt to settle down. However, Nina abruptly turns and throws the box to the floor, breaking it, and goes on a rampage of throwing her stuffed animals in the trash. Later, Nina has a massive breakdown, rampant with hallucinations, including one where her legs break into a swan-like form, resulting in her blacking out. When she wakes up, her broken jewelry box is back on her dresser, the song playing, and the ballerina spinning with only one whole leg remaining. 

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   Erica is there when she wakes up, revealing that she called Nina out sick from Swan Lake’s first performance. Nina immediately rages, especially when she realizes that her mother trapped her in the room, and attacks her. 

 

ERICA

What happened to my sweet girl, huh?

NINA

She’s gone!

 

Nina’s mission to find the Black Swan within her was not truly about finding the dark side of her; it was about finally gaining agency. She had to break free from the mold her mother forced her into to find her true self. In losing herself, she found herself. 

 

What is Perfection?

   Let’s circle back to Black Swan’s primary concern, perfection. What is perfection? At the beginning, it seemed that, to Nina, perfection meant appeasement. Doing what was expected of her. Doing no wrong, never stepping a toe out of line. Being the complacent, “sweet girl” her mother wanted. 

   By the movie’s end, it’s clear that perfection is not all those behaviors. To Nina, perfection is the freedom to do and be as she pleases, not to be who other people want. While we don’t see her life before the movie’s frame, we know that Nina is sheltered. A people pleaser, especially for her mother. This existence is suffocating, as evidenced by every scene in the movie besides one: when Nina defies Erica and goes with Lily to a club. The club scene is the only scene where Nina truly has fun, dancing all sweaty and daring, kissing random men, and doing all sorts of drugs. It’s the complete antithesis to everything we knew about Nina, yet it’s where she appears the most like herself. Happiness, freedom, truly living, coaxed out by Lily, the Black Swan.

   The only other scene where we see Nina that happy again is when she performs the Black Swan Coda. There, she has already defied all expectations established for herself, and is relishing in the liberation the darkness offers. Perfection was never the White Swan, or even the Swan Queen; it was always the Black Swan. As she dies, Nina recognizes this; she “felt it. Perfect.”

 

THOMAS

In death, she finds freedom.

 

Sources

Black Swan. Directed by Darren Aronofsky, performances by Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Barbara Hershey, Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2010.  

Heyman, Mark, Andres Heinz, and John McLaughlin. “Black Swan.” The Internet Movie Script Database, IMSDb. 

Box Office Mojo. “Black Swan.” IMDbPro. https://www.boxofficemojo.com. 

ClipCafe. “‘Black Swan’ quotes.” https://clip.cafe. 

Smithsonian. “A Surprising Portrait of Fritz Scholder, the Nation’s Most Celebrated Native American Artist Opens in New York.” https://www.si.edu. 

The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations. “Black Swan.” https://movie-locations.com.