Natalie Portman and Swan Lake, one of my favorite actresses and one of my favorite pieces of music. How could I not rent this one?
Natalie Portman plays
Nina Sayers, a young ballerina whose purity makes her ideal for the role of the
white swan in Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky's ballet, Swan Lake, but who lacks the seductiveness and
unpredictability needed to dance the black swan. (The movie explains the story of Swan Lake,
but if you don't know it, you probably won't like the movie anyway.) Nina tries
so hard to develop the characteristics needed to dance the black swan that she
becomes batshit crazy, complete with bizarre behavior and hallucinations. She ends up dancing the black swan (and
imagines herself with black feathered wings) with amazing success, though at a
price.
To be honest, I'm
not sure what that price is, but there is a price.
The plot was plausible and the characters bizarre but consistent with the story. The music, of
course, is wonderful. As far as I could
tell, all of it was taken directly or adapted from the original Tchaikovsky
score. The scene where she dances the
black swan was so thrilling, I watched it twice.
But when all is said
and done, it's a chick flick. To me, that's a negative. And in the final
credits, they didn't even mention Peter Illyich. That's disgraceful.
Rating - +++ it gets your pulse up as much as a jog, but only if you like the music and the
actress.
No comments:
Post a Comment