Perfection in art. Is it possible? Is it the purpose? Is it worth the pursuit? Darren Aronofsky's new film, Black Swan, shows the dangers of tempting that all too precious and fickle bitch that is "perfection." And while modern art eschews the perfect, a classical art like ballet has the balls to think it can achieve such a peak. Aronofsky has reached high and been found wanting in his previous film The Fountain, but here he seems to find a bastardized middle ground between that ambition and the more down-and-dirty (Dardenne Brothers-ripped-off) style of The Wrestler. It's pretty strange and powerful.Still, Black Swan, like The Wrestler before it, is dominated by its performances. Natalie Portman occupies the flawed hero role that Mickey Rourke played so well before. But instead of drugs, alcohol and old age being the Achilles' heel of our hero, Portman's has to wrestle with paranoia, insecurity and the pains of pursuing perfection. And she is incredible. She plays Nina Sayers, a young, fragile ballerina who lives with her mother in a small New York apartment. This season, her company, under the direction of the vicious Vincent Cassell, has chosen to produce Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. The ballet is about a White Princess who falls in love with a Prince but when a magic spell turns her into a swan, the Prince falls in love with another princess who resembles the White Princess, disguised in black. The White Princess is devastated and kills herself. The parallels between Nina and the White Princess are immediately obvious, and (spoilers! [not really though]) the story unfolds just like the ballet. But the trip is INTENSE.
