A twenty-something prima ballerina, Nina wakes up every morning in a pink room filled with stuffed animals, practices at a prestigious ballet company during the day, and comes home to her mom, who gets Nina in her pajamas, tucks her into bed, and places on her nightstand a tune-churning jewelry box complete with a spinning ballerina. There's too much going on to simply label her a stage mother, but there's no doubt she's passed perfectionism down to her daughter, of whom she has painted portraits hanging in her room, not totally unlike Crazy Joe Davola's Elaine wall. (Alright, they're different things, but Seinfeld is my default after thrillers.)
Along with motivational speaking, his technique involves sexual manipulation, and he bases Nina's self-exploration on that. She has the pure and innocent white swan down, but her black one is too obedient. To achieve perfection within the role, she must bring out what she considers one of many imperfections of her own -- passion. Thomas tells her to lose herself.
Now, the fun and less scary part that was comforting when I was the only one still awake last night and was scared to walk past a mirror, Rodarte did the ballet costumes! The only screencaps online are from the trailer so it's hard to find good photos of the black swan costume, which, in an overly analytical way, is so perfect.
The crown!
Left is the ballet's white swan, the more vulnerable one on the right is from a dream sequence where she imagines herself as the part before she gets it.
Photo by Autumn de Wilde, with sister Laura on the left. And sister Kate's (I like referring to them that way because then they sound like nuns who love Japanese horror movies) sketches:
Enlarge to enjoy in all their glory.
The black swan was wisely made darker in ways less obvious than color, one being that feathers grew out from under one side like mutation while the white swan's feathers delicately shaped the symmetrical bodice. The black swan also wears a veil, but it's hard to get into that without spoiling part of the end. It is entirely possible I'm reading too much into this, too, but details are so important with Rodarte!
The sisters have mastered the act of combining fantasy with a harsher and disturbingly familiar reality, and were perfect to help Nina blur the lines between herself and her role. Along with suiting Swan Lake so well and helping to parallel the story of the swan with Nina's own breakdown, the costumes also accentuate her darkness once she indulges most fully. She experiences the consequences of this indulgence while back in the white costume, giving us a contrast that defines her idea of perfect. What's terrifying is that by that point we're so wrapped up in her head that it actually makes sense.
Photos: release, natalieportman.com, the Black Swan website, Cinema Blend, fearless_123 on livejournal, and Black Frame PR.
