Black Swan

I enjoy classical music and have frequently attended the opera and concerts. I can sit through an opera and enjoy the stirring music and thrilling singing and not be deterred in the slightest by the most improbable of story lines. But I have never had the same interest for ballet. I can appreciate the obvious; that high class ballet involves exceptional skill, courage and dedication but I would have little aptitude for recognising good ballet dancing from that which is merely competent and I am hopeless at deciphering a ballet story line simply from the choreography. However I do enjoy the famous music moments; in particular the passionate music of Tchaikovsky.

In all my years I have only attended the ballet on three occasions. The first was a mixed performance of classical and modern excerpts at Covent Garden, London which included an appearance by Rudolph Nureyev back in 1975 which I thought would be a good first, and perhaps only, exposure to the art form. The other two occasions, by coincidence, were both to performances of 'Swan Lake'. The first was in Guangzhou, China in 1981 when I attended as virtually an obligation to my hosts so as not to cause offence. Even to my untrained eye the dancing, by a local company, seemed at best struggling. The second occasion was several years back when Matthew Bourne brought his all-male, or rather mostly male, version to Australia. I found this production very entertaining and whilst still not really appreciating the plot, the stunning climax where the swan (black or white, I don't recall) is brutally attacked moved me literally to tears.

And so to 'Black Swan'. Natalie Portman is the uptight and obsessed ballerina desperate to be cast as the Swan Queen. Mila Kunis is the carefree and seemingly effortlessly talented new arrival to the ballet company who both fascinates and terrifies Portman from the outset.

I knew that I would gain enjoyment from the film if only for the music and it's there by the decibel load. Although the film provides two brief and almost identical explanations of the Swan Lake plot it was little more than my already cursory understanding and I found myself wishing I knew much more about the work. It is pretty obvious that the film provides a parallel contemporary narrative. I'm sure I missed much of the nuances and ballet references in the film's plot through my lack of knowledge and as a consequence the second half was a somewhat baffling thriller/horror experience for me.

'Black Swan' must have one skinniest casts lists ever. I have never seen so much skin and bone held together by ballet tape in my life. Sadly I think my own body mass index exceeds that of the entire cast combined.