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Dec 03, 2010 By John Everhart Web Exclusive

All of Darren Aronofsky’s films stem from singular obsessions. Be it Pi, with math as an apocryphal glimpse into transcendence; Requiem for a Dream, in its junkie’s quixotic self-delusion; or The Wrestler, with the pursuit of fleeting fame for some divine redemption, the protagonists in Aronofsky’s films sacrifice everything for the single-minded pursuit of their objectives. Black Swan is no exception

It’s facile to call it the feminine yin to The Wrestler’s masculine yang, as it’s a far more psychologically complex film, with the young ballet dancer Nina Sayers, played superbly by Natalie Portman, replacing the aging Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) as the lead in the prestigious Swan Lake production. Her competitor Lily (Mila Kunis), provides a femme fatale-esque foil, with the intimation of subterfuge, but this is, at its core, a dark journey into Nina’s psyche.

Ultimately, masculinity and femininity blur into an unearthly androgyny, with a denouement that completes a metamorphosis as stunning as when Jack Torrance essentially became one with The Overlook in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. As audacious a claim as it may be, Aronofsky now assumes a Kubrick-like position in modern cinema, traversing disparate genres while maintaining his decidedly idiosyncratic, and brilliant, tonal signature. Black Swan, for now at least, is his crepuscular crown jewel. (www.foxsearchlight.com/blackswan)

Author rating: 9/10