Black and White

Dangerous Perfection


I love going to the movies.  It offers a promising way to get lost in another world, to let go of your individual worries and get lost in those of someone else.  Bask in the success or misery of the main characters, a way to take on their issues as if they were your own.  For me, I usually go to the movies to see romance, to enjoy light-hearted movies, the ones that stimulate my happy endorphins.  However, occasionally I will go to the movies to see the darker, more riveting movies; these too offer a temporary escape from reality.  Sometimes these worlds that we get lost in at the movies are more frightening and disturbing than our own, as the movie plots take real problems and exacerbate them.  This is certainly the case with the psychological thriller Black Swan. The movie is a perfect (no irony intended) example of the dangerous quest to achieve perfection. 

Natalie Portman is terrifyingly talented as Nina Sayers, a psychotic ballerina trying to find and define herself by her dancing capabilities.  She is a ballerina struggling to perfectly capture both the white and black swan characters in Swan Lake, all in a single two-hour performance. 

The White Swan is a pure, elegant ballerina who is constantly contradicted by the evil seductress Black Swan– Nina must strive to be both, and not just be both, but capture both contrasting personalities perfectly.  She undoubtedly pushes herself to the limit, reaching her fatal breaking point at the climax of the movie. 

The goal of perfection drove Nina to death, literally.  She gave herself an ultimatum, be perfect, accept nothing less.  Too many aspects of her life were affected by the intangible goal to be perfect- her eating, her relationship with her mother, her romantic relationship, her attitude about herself and her attitude towards life.  And unfortunately, the list goes on and on. 

Despite the fact that much of Nina’s struggle was internal, the audience was able to see the ultimate showcase of the terrifying, self-defeating nature of her strive to achieve perfection, in her frail, anorexic, ballerina, body. 

Black Swan captured … “the pain of Nina, a crazed, neurotic, and psychologically disturbed woman, via her body. Furthermore, I presume that beyond allowing her to physically manifest Nina's inner turmoil, losing so much weight also allowed Portman to connect with the character on a deeper and more truthful emotional level. Psychoses aside, Portman's rail thin physique was also crucial to painting a realistic picture of the ballet world.”

 Granted, Nina’s drive to be perfect was far from effortless.  Regardless, however, the want and need to be perfect, no matter how one tries to achieve this goal, is self-defeating, as showcased beautifully by Natalie Portman in Black Swan.