Black Swan

I don’t really know how to describe what I just saw but I’ll try best. I’ll start with the things I liked. This film has many similar themes to Whiplash. The pure obsession and relentlessness aspect is present all throughout. What I found really interesting is that in Whiplash it’s all about chasing perfection by not rushing or dragging, being perfect in timings and deliberate in every beat. In Black Swan perfection is also being sought after, but this time, what’s wanted is to be imperfect in a perfect way. In both films the protagonist has an abusive mentor, and I found that very intriguing. Both showcased abuse in different ways, while Whiplash highlighted verbal and mental abuse, Black Swan highlighted the effects of sexual abuse. Both are very effective manipulation tactics that the mentors use in order to extract the absolute most out of their students. Both mentors also use jealousy as a huge motivating factor for their students, they both do it using competition; introducing a new favorite. I find that to be strangely telling. The use of imagery in this film was stunning, though sometimes very suggestive/explicit. Loved how shaky the camera gets at moments where the scene feels out of control.  Let’s get to what I didn’t like now  The use of sexual imagery in this film is abundant and unnecessary. It’s meant to symbolize the black swan; the evil twin, meant to symbolize control being taken and discipline being lost. And I get it to some extent but it’s used way too often in this film and it gets quite uncomfortable and feels out of place.  To conclude, I’ll get back to this films similarity to Whiplash for a bit. Both protagonists end up losing themselves in that pursuit of greatness. I find that message to be extremely meaningful. Something that I appreciate in Whiplash and this film is that they sort of frame themselves as inspirational. Truth is, there is nothing inspirational or great in being so obsessed with something that you lose everything, including yourself in pursuit of it.