Black Swan [DVD] [2010]

(The above was a " Star Wars" joke. Being married to the galaxy's baddest and most well known sith lord Darth Vader. * wink wink.) Nina Sayers/ Natalie now flirts with the line of good and evil herself. Based on the popular Ballet Swan Lake. Her director "uses" her and her fellow dancers for pleasure. She is kept inside this bubble by her mother-almost sickeningly. When she goes to audition for the lead her director isn't sure she can master both the Black Swan( dark/evil one) and the White Swan Queen. So he gives her the part, but tells Nina she has to loosen up and let her self go. " Live a little". By the End Natalie lets loose on everyone and lives the part so much that it embodies her completely -physically and mentally.

I thought this was a really great movie. The music, dancing, and acting were all amazing and Natalie Portman blew me away with her acting and transformation into the Black Swan. I've always generally like Natalie Portman as an actress, but this was by far the best acting I've seen from her in that I only saw the character, not the actress. And as for the XXX comment, there was no actual nudity that I can recall and only one brief steamy scene with Natalie and Mila (I wouldn't allow my younger children to watch that one scene), but I've seen way more explicit stuff on basic cable and the scene did actually tie into the story line. If you like psychological thrillers, this is a good one.

I saw Black Swan in the theatres and loved it so much that I could barely wait for it to come out on dvd so I could watch it again and again! Natalie Portman's portrayal of the main character, Nina Sayers, was "5 Star" and I cannot envision anyone else in this role and making it as believable as she was able to do. I know she didn't do much of the dancing and blah, blah, blah -- but the movie is so engrossing that you don't care about any of that when you're watching it. The only issues I had with the movie were very minor: it seemed to drag on just a bit and the girl-on-girl scene should have been omitted. Otherwise, if you want to see a good thriller that will knock your socks off and you can barely tear your eyes away from, then I'd definitely recommend that you pick this up...TODAY!

I found this to be a well done exploitation of mental illness without a clinical feel. It had that arty foreign film feel I enjoy once in a while. The director did a good job as did the actors. Beautiful costumes, cinematography, and good special effects topped it off. I had never seen this movie prior to purchase and didn't have high expectations. I purchased it because I love Tchaikovsky and ballet. i used to dance around the house to Swan Lake as a child and continue listening to it often as an adult. The movie took me by surprise and I enjoyed that. The older I become, the less surprises in life. This was a good one.

I bought the movie because everyone would not stop talking about how amazing it was. The film is sold as a psychological thriller/ horror but it is more of a drama. If one were to remove the very few elements of horror from the film brought by the imagery of her physical transformation into the black Swan, this film would simply be the best psychological drama about ballet ever. I psychological thriller drama would be the film Identity, psycho, the hand that rocks the cradle, the secret window, and many others.

Every generation has a film that defines it's era, Black Swan is this generation's film. It is a brilliant portrayal of the external and internal pressures placed on modern day female professionals to achieve perfection. The brilliance of the film is not just Natalie Portman's acting but the realistic ways in which controversial social issues impact an individual's psyche and the need for these internal struggles to be acknowledged by the individual if professional perfectionism is to be achieved.

This BD version of BLACK SWAN is a huge improvement over the DVD version. The picture quality is improved and the special features are far more extensive, going into even further detail about the making of the film. The main menu, where you access those feature, could have been designed better. It's a little cumbersome navigating around to what you are looking for. Overall though, the BD is a massive step up from the DVD, and well worth the extra money.

No matter how many times I watch this movie, I'm just as bewildered as the first time! It's so unusual, there are so many dynamics at play, the mom and daughter relationship, the dancer and teacher relationship, etc. I love Natalie Portman and I think this is the craziest role she's done! But she really was amazing with both the dancing and acting. I personally like it but it's not a movie that can span across all audiences.