Final Paper for Visual Communication

Film Analysis: Black Swan by Darren Aronofsky

Submitted by: Danielle Marquez, II AB Communication

COM 171 Section A

Submitted to: Ms. Isabel Kenny

 Table of Contents
I. Synopsis
II. The Main Characters
III. Analyzed Scene
IV. Conclusion
Film Details

Release Date: December 3, 2010 (Limited)

On DVD: March 29, 2011

Genre: Suspense, Drama

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Writer: Mark Heyman, John McLaughlin

Cast: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder,

Barbara Hershey, Sebastian Stan, Kristina Anapau Studio: Fox
Searchlight Pictures

Official site: blackswan2010.com

Running Time: 103 minutes MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong sexual
content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use.
I. Black Swan is a psychosexual thriller that depicts the unglamorous part of the Ballet

world. It is directed by Darren Aronofsky, who is known for his wild creative imagination. The

movie is inspired by Swan Lake, a famous ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. In the opera, a

princess is turned into a White Swan, falls in love with a prince but then commits suicide when

the prince accidentally pledges his love to the Black Swan. In the movie, the ballet company the

characters are in decides to put a modern twist on the tale. They decided to cast only one

person for both the White Swan and Black Swan- with the challenge of being versatile enough

to play two opposite roles. In the movie, the main character (Nina, played by Natalie Portman) is

casted as the Swan Queen. She has to play both the White Swan and Black Swan. The White

Swan comes naturally for Nina. She is fearful, innocent and controlled. However, it is a great

challenge for her to become the seductive, dark and mysterious Black Swan. To play the role of

the Swan Queen, Nina struggles to become the opposite of who she is, resulting in many

hallucinatory episodes that involve bodily horror (such as the ripping of skin and constant

appearance of an evil twin or doppelganger). She starts imagining things that are not

happening- like a lesbian fling with Lily (who she is obsessed with, due to her effortless

embodiment of the Black Swan which Nina desires.) Ultimately, she has psychotic episodes

where she truly “becomes” the Black Swan. Every time she makes a step in her transformation,

she has intense hallucinations such as having black feathers come out of her skin. The turning

point in her transformation is the night that she goes out with Lily and takes drugs. After this,

she dares to negate her mother’s wishes and her transformation is almost complete. At some

point near the end of the film, she develops swan legs, feathers and red eyes. She even

hallucinates about killing Lily, her biggest rival-but realizes that she just stabbed herself. The

ultimate symbol of Nina’s obsession with perfection is her killing herself (though, basing from the

horror in her face as she saw the wound, it was accidental) to truly play the role perfectly. She is

so engrossed and trapped in the world of Swan Lake that she forgets about the real world. She

really becomes both the White Swan and Black Swan, and in the end, she dies with them. The
film shows Nina’s metamorphosis into the Swan Queen, her maddening dance with perfection

and her obsession with it.

II. Nina is depicted as naïve, fearful and frigid. She is pressured by her controlling mother

(Barbara Hershey) who gave up dancing to have her. Rick Instrell’s analysis of Black Swan

mentions how we can use Jungian archetypes, or Storytelling archetypes to describe the roles

of the other characters in the film. According to Instrell, the archetypes we can find in the film

are:

a.) The Bad Mother (known to hinder development)

b.) The Shadow (often seen in the villain/s, shows dark, undeveloped side of personality)

c.) The Wise Old Man (a mentor)

d.) The Shapeshifter (symbolic of the self, always changing)

*Descriptions are copied from his analysis.

Nina’s mother embodies both the Bad Mother and Shadow archetype. Nina is not very

assertive because mother controls her by constantly monitoring her body and her life. She lives

her dreams through Nina, whose passion for dancing does not show as much as her drive for

perfection. Her sense of assertion and control comes in short bursts- the first instance being

when she asks her mentor, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) to reconsider her for the role of the

Swan Queen. In the end of her metamorphosis, Nina shows her controlling side by “killing” Lily

in her hallucination.

Beth MacIntrye (Winona Ryder), the aging ballerina is also seen as a Shadow because

of her dark, destructive personality (which Nina eventually finds in herself when she becomes
the Black Swan). Nina looks up to Beth because she sees her as “perfect”. She even steals

Beth’s things, hoping to become more like her. Beth’s appearance in the film is short but crucial.

She appears before Nina’s transformation (at the party where Thomas announces Nina’s role as

Swan Queen) and before Nina’s transformation is complete. (Nina visits her in the hospital the

day before the premier of Swan Lake.)

Lily can be both a Shadow and Shapeshifter character, as she represents the darker

side of Nina’s personality as well as the fact that it is still changing. In many instances, Nina

transforms from her normal, White Swan self to her dark, Black Swan sister. In one of the first

scenes of the movie (the scene in the subway) Nina sees Lily from afar and she looks like her,

except she’s wearing black. Nina is frustrated by the fact that it’s so easy for Lily to emulate the

Black Swan. She becomes even more frustrated when Thomas mentions how “perfect” Lily can

be without even trying.

Notice how all of the characters surrounding Nina are wearing black. The pictures below

illustrate Aronofsky’s not-so-subtle use of Black and White symbolism. The idea is always that

Nina seems to be surrounded or engulfed by dark forces that consume her. The plot supports

this too. She is sexually exploited by her mentor, pressured and controlled by her mother, Beth

(her idol) accuses her of using sex to get her role and Lily’s presence just frustrates her by

effortlessly being what she (Nina) wants to be and by giving her extra competition. (James,

2010) Her doppelganger or “evil twin” is also seen in black.

The Wise Old Man: Thomas being a mentor, telling Nina that “this is her moment”.

The Shadows (Right: Nina’s mother; Left: Beth MacIntyre, the aging ballerina)

The Shadow/Shapeshifter (Lily)

III. Analyzed scene: 00:35-6:38 (Around 6 minutes)

The film opens with the original soundtrack of Swan Lake, with the sound of a dark laugh

fading in with gushes of wind as the words “Black Swan” appear on the screen. This soundtrack

style is used throughout the film. The Classical Tchaikovsky compositions are given a modern,

eerie twist by inserting sound effects that are usually used in suspense/psycho thriller films. The

first shot is of Nina (with her back facing the audience) dressed in white, with the spotlight on

her. (Later on, we find out that this is a dream.) Other than this spotlight, she is surrounded by

darkness.

(2:37) This is from the last part of Nina’s dream, after she becomes the White Swan. (This

scene dissolves into black, engulfing the White Swan. After this, it fades in to Nina, waking up

from her dream.)

This first shot is important because it embodies the “Black and White” symbolism that

Aronofsky uses in the movie. He has also used the same technique in some of his other films.

(Instrell, 2011) We can compare this technique to Steven Spielberg’s in Schindler’s List, where

a little girl in red walks through a monochrome crowd. This dramatic symbolism gives viewers

the idea of danger and feelings of fear. (Kenny, 2010)

 The next few seconds involve the camera following the movements of her feet. The

movement is flowing and serene, you can imagine curvy lines being drawn by the feet. The

music is dramatic yet peaceful, balanced and controlled. The camera follows the movements of

the feet, achieving something like a medium close up shot. Nina’s feet are also shown in close

up shots in many parts of the film, including during the start when she wakes up. This brings us

into her intimate/personal space, and since Nina is a dancer, her feet are a very personal and

important part of her.

At around 1:11, her face is finally revealed. At 1:16, we take on the point of view of what

seems like a predator, ready to attack Nina. Based on the story of Swan Lake, this is probably

the sorcerer who decides to curse her and turn her (the princess) into a swan. This is probably

one of the very few scenes in the film where a POV other than that of Nina’s is shown.

Nina’s back is turned from us, stressing that this cannot be her POV because she can’t

see what’s coming behind her. This is the first of many instances that illustrates Nina’s feeling of

“being followed”. To emphasize this, Aronofsky uses a Follow Shot- a technique he uses a lot in

this movie. The camera, also appearing to demonstrate a “handheld” effect or Handheld shot,

follows the dark figure while it walks towards Nina. In the first few minutes of the film, there are

already many shots where the camera seems to “pursue” or follow Nina. The same style can be

seen in around 0:45-1:06 (where the camera follows the movements of Nina’s feet), which was

mentioned earlier. All of these shots involve the camera following the movement of different

things- like the feet, the dark figure, etc. However, the effect is different when Nina is being

followed from behind.

The same technique is also used in all of Nina’s dancing scenes. (2) In one of Natalie

Portman’s interviews, she describes how she has to “dance with the camera”. The camera turns

and blurs in one scene where she is doing multiple pirouettes or fouettes (which are like
pirouettes except your foot extends in and out) for her auditions. This technique gives the

audience more involvement even during the dancing scenes. For most of the film, we feel what

Nina feels. The exhilaration she feels when dancing cannot be captured by just placing the

camera in a stationary angle in front of her.

Examples of Dance Scenes from the movie:

Image 1 Image 2

(Above: Some still shots from the finale, where Nina dances the Black Swan. Notice how in

Image 2, a reverse Black and White symbolism is achieved. Instead of Nina wearing white while

everyone is in black like in most of the film, the opposite is done. She “metamorphosizes” into

the Black Swan and is surrounded by blinding light. Could the blinding light and the inability to

see the audience and anything else aside from the stage be symbolizing Nina’s

psychosis/detachment from reality?

 The “unknown figure” (probably the Sorcerer from the story) that is following Nina

appears at around 1:20. It’s a man clad in black, moving right behind her. She is now a little

scared, feeling that something is following her yet she cannot see it. The suspense/horror-like

sound effects, as well as her facial expression, show this. The music now becomes more violent

and rushed. She starts dancing with the dark figure and soon enough, it transforms into a

monster that tries to engulf her in its maddening dance. (1:44) Again, this is one of the scenes

where they “dance with the camera.” This is also the first instance of Black and White

Symbolism in clothes that Aronofsky uses in the film.

At around 2:09, the black figure leaves Nina and she appears as the White Swan, with

her feathers all over the place. The idea of her becoming a swan is emphasized by the sound

effects- as she dances to “flap her wings”, there are also sounds of wings flapping in the

background.

At 2:44, the scene fades in to Nina waking up with a smile. It’s a MCU (Medium Close-

up) shot. Somebody opens her door and light comes in (probably her mother). There are

footsteps in the background (probably her mother too). She then sits up and stretches her neck

and feet. Her feet are seen in close-up, emphasizing their importance to Nina (and dancers, in

general) and bringing us closer to her personal space.

An interesting thing that we can observe in 3:07 is the black figure that moves past the

camera very fast, in a fleeting movement. That dark figure is accompanied by a “whooshing” or

“swooping” sound effect similar to that used with the Sorcerer in Nina’s dream. The same eerie

sound effect is used whenever Nina’s evil sister/doppelganger passes by. At 3:20, Nina starts

talking about her dream. Initially, she seems like she is talking to either the audience or herself

(since she’s not really looking at anyone). My first impression of this scene was that I thought

that this was going to be a documentary-style movie where the character would narrate her
feelings and the events. At 3:32, however, she turns her head to someone and as this happens,

sounds of tea/coffee being stirred and prepared are heard. The dark figure from earlier

happened to be her mother, who was preparing food. This is established by 3:40, when her

mom places a slice of grapefruit in front of her for breakfast. The grapefruit is somewhat

emphasized, it appears more magnified/bigger than it really is. At this point, we are seeing

Nina’s point of view already. This is how she sees the small slice of grapefruit. Perhaps this

scene is a foreshadowing of the “bulimic” or vomiting scenes that follow in the film. (In one

scene, Nina throws up after eating the slice of cake that her mom feeds her.) Instead of saying

something like “Wow, that looks delicious”, Nina simply states that the grapefruit is pink and

pretty.

At around 4:03, we see the early use of mirrors and glass. Mirrors and glass seem to be

a recurring theme in the film. They appear a lot in the ballet studio, Nina has a lot of

hallucinations when looking at mirrors or anything that can reflect things.

Examples of mirrors/glass in the film:

This scene shows Nina’s fearful expression as she sees her dark half staring at her in
the mirror. This happens a lot throughout the film.
 This shot shows a mirror with Nina in various angles. Again, this illustrates her
consciousness about body image and her obsession with perfection.

This shot shows Nina with red eyes, as she is transformed into the Black Swan. This is
after the scene where she hallucinates about smashing Lily into the mirror and stabbing her with
a shard. When Nina realizes that she stabbed herself, it’s too late.
 At 4:09, Nina’s mother goes behind her to dress her up, and they are both seen

in the mirror. Her mother notices scratches on her back (which are shown/emphasized by a

close-up shot.) As her mother says “What’s that?” and stares at her in the mirror, there is a very

subtle, slightly metallic (and again, horror/suspense-like) sound effect playing. It’s a bass-heavy,

almost ambient sound effect so it isn’t very distinct. Its effect is felt when juxtaposed to the

creepy expression in the mother’s face. I was using large headphones when I watched this, so I

really felt like something was crawling up my spine. After this, however, her mother became her

sweet self again. From here on, we notice the tension in their relationship.

The entry of the next scene at 4:25 is not your typical transition. Most online reviewers

and critics of Aronofsky would say that he is not known for following the classic Continuity

method of editing. He is anything but conformist and it shows in his films. The scene enters with

the blaring sound of the train, with Nina staring at her reflection in the glass. Brooding piano

music starts playing at around 4:40, when she sees a woman who seems to have the same

silhouette with her, except she’s in black. We see this woman in Medium shot- at this point, we

see her only from a public/social distance.

Everyone in the train seems to be wearing black, except for Nina who is dressed in

white. At around 4:58-4:59, Nina’s gaze follows the mysterious woman and we can observe that

everyone outside is also in black. At 5:05, Nina walks out of the subway and the camera follows

her from behind, using the Handheld effect. As she walks into daylight, we see her face again

and the things and people behind her are black. There is a big black poster and people walking

in black coats all over. While she is walking to the building, the people in front of her are in

black. At 5:24, she notices 2 identical posters of a woman and she stares for a while. (Later on,

we realize that this is Beth, her idol.) Right before she walks into the door, we see the word

“Stage” written in white. Whether this is a symbolism or not, we can’t be too sure. Since the

word was on the left side of the screen and was white, in contrast to the black, the director
would probably expect our eyes to be drawn to it- as eyes of people from cultures who read

from left to right automatically look to the left and this is more comfortable for them than looking

to the right. (Kenny, 2010) Or maybe we are reading into it too much, and this is simply to

establish where Nina is going.

Another example of Black and White Symbolism in the film:

Nina in white, and her darker, evil half in black walking past her.

The next scene is of Nina in the dressing room with other dancers. They are talking

about Beth, the woman in the poster. Again, we see the dominance of black (except in Nina)

and the mirrors that surround her and the other dancers. The girls say negative things about

Beth, and that she’s growing old. Nina defends her, but is interrupted by the arrival of another

girl. This girl appears to be new, since nobody in the room knows her. Nina could not stop

staring at her, and later on realizes that this was the woman from the subway. In the last few

moments of the scene (6:30-6:32), there is a shot of Nina staring at the woman (Lily) in the

mirror. Though we are not quite drawn to Lily’s personal space, it is obvious from here on that

she is one of the Main characters in the film.

 IV.

Overall, I found the film very beautiful. I was never a fan of psychological thrillers

or any films that seem a little eccentric or macabre. By juxtaposing the dreadful with the

beautiful, Aronofsky’s Black Swan is striking even in its darkest moments. Instead of being

overcome by the fear, you become so enthralled by the beauty that you forget the violent or

psychotic ideas behind it. Though many critics would say that all the skin peeling and

doppelganger horror was unnecessary, I think they added an element of surprise to the film.

Above are two pictures showing Nina’s literal transformation into the Black Swan. The picture on
the left shows black feathers coming out of her skin’s pores, and the second picture shows her
eyes, which turned red.

The last scene of the movie, where Nina dances with red eyes and swan-like features, is

the best. This is also one of the only movies where I actually like the ending. I felt that the

ending was very smart, and that it justified the overall thought of the film. In her quest to portray

the role perfectly, Nina becomes both swans, lives through them but also dies through them.

Her dying together with the white swan symbolizes the absurdity of her obsession for perfection.

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