I had to see Black Swan again. I’m sure for all those who did not pay attention to the title as shown above that you’ll be thinking I saw it merely for that scene with Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. You know, that FAMOUS scene that is sure to win best kiss at the MTV video awards. Well I’m here today to mention that scene, and the fact that it was one scene among many.

The truth is that I had not seen a psychological thriller like this one in a long time. I thought that the plot within the plot idea was very amusing in a positive and engaging way. What I mean by this is when Natalie Portman says her performance was “perfect” in the end, she alluded to the idea that the film in itself and the plot of her life for the weeks the script covered were identical with her performance in Swan Lake as the Swan Queen.

Natalie Portman plays Nina Sayers, a shy and innocent ballet dancer who is, as her mother describes, “a sweet girl” and “the most dedicated dancer in the company.” She’s been there the longest and the company, by my understanding very renowned and the best in New York City (a city dedicated to culture), is performing a rendition of Swan Lake.

The plot of the piece involves a prince who falls in love with a girl trapped in the form of a white swan. Only true love from the prince can set her free. The white swan embodies innocence and beauty which can be interpreted by our society as what guys call “cute” rather than “hot.” Enter the black swan. The black swan embodies the “bad girl” type of vibe. She is sexy, outgoing, and uses charm in a seductive way. Their movements are different in the dance as they should be. The black swan seduces the prince causing a devastated white swan to kill herself.

This is the plot of the movie and it took until the end for us as an audience to catch on. This is the case with most thrillers yet I have not seen one where the play within a movie act is used with identical plots. The big picture and small picture are proportional.

The company director played by Vincent Cassel sees something in Nina that most others do not. She is very talented but he feels that she is too “technical” to be convincing in the role of the black swan. She seems too high strung for the role, her movements aren’t seductive and her personality only fits the lighter half of the part. Mila Kunis on the other hand, who ironically does the voice for Meg Griffin (the toilet of the Griffin family on Family Guy), plays Lindsey. She is everything Nina is not, she is the woman in a black dress fantasy most guys have. She is the perfect black swan. Nevertheless, Cassel chooses Nina for the part of the Swan Queen. This decision is difficult for the viewer to understand yet it just adds to the plot.

Nina and Cassel have many sexual encounters on screen as a part of an effort for Cassel to mold Nina into his vision of the Black Swan. She goes through this and all the while dealing with her obsessed mother, who is a nice terror factor, contempt from the other dancers, and most of all, the awareness Lindsey’s presence and talent. She is growing paranoid and suffers delusions throughout the movie. Her performance of a dancer who’s determination for success drives her into madness was beautifully done. Her mother asks where her sweet girl went, “SHE’S GONE!” was the perfect answer given in that context. This dialogue happens just before Nina and Lindsey (I’m not gonna censor this) make out on screen and even go to 3rd base. Sexual tension driven by madness I must admit is quite a nice touch.

During the course of the movie, a common motif is the scratch marks on Nina’s back. We believe the marks to be from scratching and self mutilation out of nervousness, which would be believable in any normal circumstance. Yet at the same time, this is exactly what we were expected to believe. A film delusion takes place here. Her personality change throughout the movie causes her to physically appear to become the black swan. Under her petite and adorable white body which has a certain virgin purity to it, black wings come out of her shoulders. I liked the subtle contrast now that I think of it.

Anyway, late in the movie, she’s an actress in not just the play. The play has consumed her life. She sees Cassel and Lindsey having sex and she has the delusion of killing Lindsey with a shard of mirror glass. The truth of the matter was, she stabbed herself as she goes into her final act. She finishes on stage and Cassel congratulates her. He sees her wounds and asks her about it, her reply: “It was perfect.”

The movie ends, the crowd gets up and leaves, the teenagers say what they would do to Mila Kunis and some of the girls say the same thing. Me, I thought and pondered the movie after throwing away the tissues. (Forget I said that)

I saw it again, this time for its cinematic value and artistic allure as opposed to the first time when I went with my buddies to catch a horror film with hot flexible women. I figured this movie should not go to waste and was henceforth, deserving of my critiques. For those of us who are not squeamish, I recommend you go see this film. Sure it has its moments of startling fear that’ll make you jump but if you appreciate art or cinema for what it is, you should see it. The acting among the main characters was convincing, the plot was engaging, and the cinematography was that of a burlesque period masterpiece.