See it in the theatre. This film deserves surround sound.

It's probably my favourite movie of the year.

BEST.MOVIE.OF.THE.YEAR.

A+

I essentially agree but don't think it is full-on, intentionally so. Aronofsky restrains to the extent that people could believe this is a serious, thoughtful, intense, movie designed as the contemplation of the sacrifices true beauty art and stardom, blah blah blah. It's not. If the thunderous orchestral overtones and the preposterous dead-pan complexions didn't make that clear the awkward situations which do not fit Nina's collapse into madness should. Any doubt I had that Aronofsky was playing with his audience by hinting at a serious film while portraying this psycho satire was erased in the one shot where Nina drags Lilly's body. That was full on camp, and it made me sad I was one of only three or four in the audience who actually laughed there. It seems Aronofsky will have to be laughing at his audience, not with them.

Also, this has about as much to do with American Beauty as it does Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.

Yeah I'm not seeing the camp reading... at all. The entire film is with Nina, and she completley lacks humor/perspective, she's too caught up in her own head for that

It's very good but it didn't knock me on my ass. I'd like to see it again though. Best part was the score and when it just followed Nina with it.

See Dummy is wearing the Dunce cap again.

Never compared it to AB, I said it was this decade's AB.

A stunning film in every sense of the word. Darren Aronofsky surpasses The Wrestler and matches Requiem for a Dream with the quality of Black Swan, which plays like The Red Shoes by way of The Shining. That description doesn't really do the film justice, however. Even describing the film's events as an examination of a descent into madness really doesn't fully prepare for what has been accomplished here. Everything that has been written about Natalie Portman's staggeringly good performance is true. Aside from clearly throwing herself into the role physically, Portman manages the difficult task of making Nina seem both controlled and ready to snap in a bout of hysteria at the same time. Although this is Portman's film and the rest of the actors are content to remain in her orbit, everyone is excellent from top to bottom. Vincent Cassel and Barbara Hershey do a great deal with roles that could've been familiar cliches in the wrong hands, while Mila Kunis delivers strong work as the foil with unclear intentions. Aronofsky and cinematographer Matthew Libatique's camerawork is hypnotic. A film not to be forgotten. A

In the same vein as Inglorious Basterds, why can't it be both?

lolololol

Whatever Fool, as AB was critically raved about by most.

Fair enough. I respectfully disagree, however, I feel its strong point as a serious film is not this rise to perfection, but rather the control her mother exerts on her. Honestly she was the most terrifying aspect of the film in my opinion. I will say if taken overly seriously it is far too silly at times, but I feel this could be just references to cheesy B-Movies over the years.

only if you don't take camp seriously.

The quoting seems messed up above - - is this the proper attribution?

If so, I would like to compliment Michael A on his astute analysis of Black Swan. Finally, someone has zeroed in on the film's fatal flaw.

Still don't buy the too simplistic answer of she was mad.

Her rational comment that her mother perfect little girl was gone and the last line, I was perfect... Shows that she wasn't completely mad. Which is what she always wanted.

She just did what she needed to dance the part of the Black Swan, perfectly.

it absolutely is. that scene with the cake? hysterical.

Not/Totally Wrong.

It seems makeshift had normal parents. Trust me, people like Erica Sayers exist, I know them personally.

Plus as the movie clearly explained. The mother was a former performer and stage mother who had to give up her career to have and raise Nina. And she was partly still living the life through her daughter.

Well yeah, it was a clear archetype of the obsessed mother figure trying to live through her daughter. What makes the relationship so brilliant is the overlooked performance by Barbara Hershey.

Why not? The Wrestler was about a self destructive artist, and it took itself seriously as a melodrama. Requiem was about people destroying themselves and took itself seriously. I haven't seen Pi, but I know it's about a scientist's obsession driving him in the mental abyss and I assume it takes itself seriously. The Fountain is pretentious as hell. It'd make perfect sense for Aronofsky to take Black Swan's plot seriously. If there's an argument for Black Swan that it shouldn't be taken seriously, it's not that Aronofsky is above melodrama. A serious Black Swan fits right in with his other films

There's some humor in Black Swan, but that doesn't mean its drama or tragedy is a joke - there's even humor in Requiem

Everyone's been throwing around the word melodrama, what then separates a melodrama from a drama?

Over-the-topness.

Maybe I need to see The Wrestler again, but besides the final moment, how is that movie over the top?

You seem to have stumbled into the wrong thread - - we're discussing a movie called Black Swan in here - - one mention by Shack is not reason to derail.