RadixJournal - Aronofsky’s Black Swan

00:00:00.000 All right, let's get going. So, we're going to talk about Black Swan 2010, directed by Darren Aronofsky.

00:00:14.620 I think we should talk about the movie itself to begin with, because there's a lot of interesting

00:00:21.420 things on the surface, and diving down another level, I think there's some interesting things

00:00:28.680 in terms of something that's not exactly esoteric but implied and I think he might

00:00:38.500 be saying some interesting things there and then I think there are some other

00:00:42.120 interesting symbols going on at that bottom level but this movie was a phenomenon when it was

00:00:52.120 released, it might be Aronofsky's most successful movie in terms of critical acclaim and audience

00:01:03.720 popularity. Natalie Portman actually won an Oscar, I think deserved. To be honest, I've never been

00:01:13.400 that impressed by Natalie Portman, but as an actress, she's a beautiful woman, but she seemed

00:01:20.340 to be perfectly cast and she really does it well i think everyone's kind of met a a a woman or a

00:01:27.760 girl like um uh nina sayers uh a frigid obsessed dedicated to her craft neurotic etc and she does

00:01:39.940 that extremely well it's kind of a one note performance though i would say yeah but that's

00:01:48.480 not that's not the fault of the actress of course i think that's more has to do with the script and

00:01:53.580 the direction and so forth yes someone said she's playing herself i'm not sure about that i i i was

00:02:01.020 more impressed than some others you know it's all a matter of taste but it was critically acclaimed

00:02:07.300 and this movie was a phenomenon i actually missed it when it was released in theaters uh 15 years

00:02:14.580 ago i'm very glad that i've seen it now a couple of times and i enjoyed it quite a bit and the

00:02:23.300 other thing is that this seems to be a sort of pie movie a bit like caught stealing he went back to

00:02:31.380 some themes from pie there's actually one little character in the subway that is a homage to pie

00:02:37.620 and um it's that same old ghost in the subways of new york apparently that are

00:02:44.500 all in this aronofsky universe uh the it's interesting pi is 35 millimeter black and white

00:02:53.380 uh this is a major movie in in color obviously but the the black and white color scheme

00:02:59.700 is very deliberate and um done very well uh i would say it the movie seems to combine

00:03:08.600 some horror elements uh i mean even the cutting her nails with the nail clippers and just the

00:03:18.020 sound effects i found myself wincing and uh maybe got a little queasy actually and uh it's actually

00:03:27.760 a problem it's a problem with some of his films there's a kind of level of unpleasantness yeah

00:03:34.720 and maybe is that maybe that's cheap almost is what you're saying i i guess in pie he drills

00:03:39.920 through his he gives himself a sideways lobotomy with a screwdriver yeah maybe nothing's that

00:03:46.800 grotesque the wrestler is another film which has similarities and especially the ending but they're

00:03:53.840 Also there's cutting, he's making these little wounds.

00:03:57.100 It's kind of a death by a thousand cuts in some ways.

00:04:00.580 There's something just unpleasant

00:04:02.420 about people cutting themselves in films.

00:04:04.720 It's something that directors will do

00:04:06.960 and it's forcing the viewer

00:04:08.620 to just be uncomfortable essentially

00:04:11.320 because no one really loves the sight of blood,

00:04:13.920 especially when it's a ballerina or something

00:04:17.840 cutting herself with a piece of glass.

00:04:20.760 Whereas it's more tolerable when it's Rambo

00:04:23.560 shooting someone from afar or something or yeah i i guess what i was saying is that this film

00:04:28.760 it i think it combines a lot of different genres and one it there are horror elements to this and

00:04:36.060 she is going into a psychosis she's becoming schizophrenic due to all of this pressure

00:04:42.440 and so what's real what's really happening is questionable and so he he combines that with

00:04:52.080 some, let's say, Kubrickian or Polanski-like elements as well. And then I think what also

00:05:00.460 makes it an interesting film is that there's a little bit of, you know, all about Eve going on

00:05:06.820 as well of the rivalry, the backstage rivalry, what happens behind the curtains is more

00:05:13.860 dramatic than what happens on stage, that kind of thing as well. There is a very strong

00:05:21.420 mirror theme that you see when she's in the bathroom or in her home, her mother's home.

00:05:29.480 And also when there's ballet practices going on, you're sort of in a house of mirrors the

00:05:35.700 entire time. And obviously that mirror theme mirrors the twin theme going on

00:05:44.100 uh, between Nina Sayers and Lily. So I, I would say that this is one of, I would say this is one

00:05:54.700 of Aronofsky's most successful films, uh, just in the sense of it all works together. Uh, there's

00:06:03.460 enough about Nina that is very sympathetic, that she works as a straightforward protagonist.

00:06:10.080 the horror elements don't really get out of control and they are integrated into the plot

00:06:16.080 and it's also a tragedy but I guess that you would probably place this alongside the melancholy of

00:06:25.020 the show at the melancholy you feel towards a sacrificial animal being slaughtered but you

00:06:34.320 definitely feel it you admire her you admire the wrestler when he decides to go to the mat one last

00:06:42.580 time and does you know the ram robinson dives from the uh from the ropes and there is something

00:06:50.240 heroic about the self-sacrifice and there's something heroic about nina's self-sacrifice

00:06:55.660 as well she sort of lets it all out she reckons to use union language she's reconciling with her

00:07:02.980 shadow self and she understands that perfection isn't about getting all the details right

00:07:09.220 perfection is about release spontaneity realism in a deeper sense of that word

00:07:18.740 and it's not you know even if a a singer misses a note or two or his voice or her voice cracks

00:07:26.900 once or twice that happens to everyone it's not about being perfect so much as it as it is about

00:07:33.300 really embodying that character um communicating with the audience in a way that words don't

00:07:42.740 suffice um you know it's the magic of art so i i think there's it's just impossible not to admire

00:07:52.260 nina at the end of her performance she lets it all she lets it all hang out and she sort of

00:08:00.420 can't ever equal that first night performance and dies on stage along with the character of

00:08:09.540 the white swan who commits suicide at the end of swan lake uh it's great it's a great film

00:08:17.940 I have to say that those those are my initial impressions yeah no I it's definitely among his

00:08:27.180 better films I would say I would say it's this and wrestler I kind of feel bad when I'm too

00:08:33.580 critical of him because I feel like he gives us so much to analyze and I think there were other

00:08:39.020 better filmmakers because I think part of the the role of the filmmaker to your point I think this

00:08:44.700 is one of his better films.

00:08:45.800 But I think part of the role of the filmmaker 1.00

00:08:47.800 is really communicating to the Thumos, 0.92

00:08:50.140 communicating to us emotionally. 0.98

00:08:52.000 Whereas I think that every symbolist 0.97

00:08:55.580 like Darren Aronofsky or Jewish filmmakers 0.96

00:08:59.520 often are symbolists, 1.00

00:09:02.040 they're operating at this sort of logos level

00:09:04.220 where they're kind of putting the film together

00:09:07.420 in a kind of symbolically logical manner.

00:09:10.700 But when they're really gifted,

00:09:13.260 they were able to communicate it emotionally as well both yeah exactly yeah yeah i i felt like

00:09:19.280 no one never no one doesn't really grab me i don't want to re-watch no i but it is an interesting

00:09:27.680 film uh on a logical level uh i i think black swan might even not be as interesting on a symbolic

00:09:36.840 level but is just very compelling on a human level or the emotional level as you were saying

00:09:44.640 her performance she is a kind of caricature of this like neurotic girl on the other hand

00:09:52.060 like we know people like it feels true like someone is definitely someone is like that and

00:09:58.160 someone was saying that natalie portman was playing herself i don't think that that's true

00:10:02.080 I think that she's not as neurotic.

00:10:04.460 She may have that aspect to her,

00:10:06.520 but she's certainly not as, like, kind of timid

00:10:09.280 and self-critical and neurotic as that girl was.

00:10:14.160 She represents something that is real and exists in the world

00:10:17.420 and is truthful in that way.

00:10:21.100 It feels like, on some level, a kind of caricature,

00:10:24.140 but it's not, because fact is stranger than fiction.

00:10:27.620 Sometimes you'll see, in a Hollywood film,

00:10:29.700 you'll see a caricature, and then you'll live your life. 0.99

00:10:32.080 and be like actually there are people that are this ridiculous and miserable or whatever they 0.92

00:10:36.900 like oh it's definitely in classical music as well and it's even sadder when they don't ever 0.88

00:10:43.160 make it uh i mean i i remember someone telling me this i mean it's it's like i mean this is a

00:10:50.780 baseball metaphor but it holds completely with classical music and both baseball and classical

00:10:57.620 music are sort of museums in some way. But anyway, if there's a thousand high school athletes who

00:11:04.740 want to be a baseball player, well, 90% of them will never play another game of baseball after

00:11:12.260 they're 18. So there was a line from what is I'm forgetting the name of that movie came out 20 or

00:11:19.500 2011. You're always told you can't play the child's game anymore. Sometimes you're told at 18.

00:11:25.980 sometimes you're told at 40 but you're always told so 90 of them are saying no one you can't

00:11:31.500 money ball yeah money ball movie written by aaron sorkin but it had some good lines in it anyway

00:11:36.540 90 of them don't make it anywhere past high school some who go to the minors go to college

00:11:43.480 90 of those can't make it uh past college and if you make it to the minor leagues 90 of you

00:11:51.800 will never have an at bat or throw one pitch in the major leagues so you go from a thousand

00:11:58.220 high schoolers who all think that they're going to be a major league star to one you just have

00:12:05.080 90 cut at every that it's it's pretty harsh it's just as harsh in the world of classical music

00:12:13.280 and you know there it's you know there's certainly athletics to to ballet but there you're performing

00:12:20.860 the same repertoire around the world you're doing the same things over and over uh but just to be

00:12:26.140 good enough to be in a you know regional symphony orchestra you have to be that obsessed and neurotic

00:12:34.460 and so it's it's even sadder for the ones who aren't you know on stage at la scala or something

00:12:41.900 but they're they're uh the fourth violinist in cleveland they are equally obsessed as the ones

00:12:51.020 who just have that little bit of talent that gets them over the edge so you sort of have to be like

00:12:55.880 that and it's very cruel i would say maybe ballet is is which is sort of the i don't know the almost

00:13:02.920 the least popular of the you know symphony opera ballet um the big three and you know lincoln center

00:13:10.700 in new york city but um you know you're you're 30 years old and you're past your prime i mean

00:13:17.320 it's extremely harsh and cold and the amount of investment that you put in without any

00:13:23.860 guarantee of um having your day in the sun it's just tremendous and i i think he really i think

00:13:33.540 he genuinely got at that uh that like coldness or the fact that you just have to sort of like

00:13:42.120 swing for the fences and you're probably not going to make it it's a it's a harsh world you

00:13:47.640 you kind of are dedicated to the art to the institution of the ballet to the institution

00:13:53.800 of being in a symphony and so there's something heroic about it um you know even that you know

00:14:00.460 that the third trombone in the you know houston symphony orchestra he's sort of as dedicated to

00:14:07.560 beethoven as as anyone and there's you know i i don't know i i admire these people

00:14:13.520 i like nina i stage mom as well the stage mom is a real thing yes for every performer there's a

00:14:24.720 stage mom yes yeah your harshest critic and i think that was it was good in the film because

00:14:30.380 i mean she's living with her mother in her apartment now you don't you can't make a lot

00:14:34.300 of money as a ballerina and so it living in new york city you'd have to do something like that but

00:14:40.920 there there is something sad about her room is pink and she has all these stuffed animals in

00:14:46.680 her room and it is you know i i don't know how old she is maybe 25 or thereabouts um but yeah

00:14:56.040 She's been penalized by the protectiveness of the mother to some extent.

00:15:00.920 Yeah, she's still like a 12-year-old, you know, in her mother's eyes.

00:15:04.300 And it's, yeah, sad.

00:15:08.440 One meaning of the name Nina is little girl.

00:15:11.400 So that could be intended as well.

00:15:13.340 So one meaning of her first name Nina is little girl.

00:15:18.600 There are other meanings that are interesting as well that we can look at later.

00:15:22.560 But I think that that meaning, which is salient and maybe you could say kind of first meaning of that name.

RadixJournal - September 22, 2026

Aronofsky’s Black Swan

Episode Stats

Transcript