****REPOSTED FROM THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH NEW EDITS/COMMENTS****
There are rumors circulating out there that Natalie Portman is going to get a Best Actress nod, and I can see why. Most of the impact of this movie, like the ballet itself, comes from the subtle nuances of musical score and the ability of the actors to make the audience understand the emotional situation using only their faces. Portman was at the top of her game here. I think she did a better job on the silent portions of her role than she did during the speaking parts. It's been a few years since I originally posted this on my old blog, but as we know (or probably know. She did, in fact, win the Best Actress award that year.
The movie seems to be an interesting mix of commentary on the pressures placed on these performing artists, a teen-oriented thriller, and a dramatic telling of the progression of mental illness. Only the last part really presents a problem for me: there are frequent parts of the film that are a jumbled mix of reality and fantasy, where the line is so blurred that I couldn't always follow what was actually happening and what was only happening in Natalie Portman's head. Even with successive viewings, there's still only a vague line between fantasy and reality, and it's kind of cool.
I really enjoyed this. The film is visually kind of stunning, although the whole thing works on this really limited color palette of white, pink, black and gray with a couple hints of red. The musical score is awesome, even though it's mostly straight from the ballet Swan Lake (and I think there are a couple songs from The Nutcracker, but I've only been to the ballet once).
Oh, kudos to the genius that came up with the concept of having the highly neurotic and very inappropriate mother thrown in to this mix. Made me glad I'm not the only person in the world with one of those.
