Psychological drama wrapped into graceful ballet performances, pretty elegant and complicated stuff. Natalia Portman is stunning in her role, no wonder she claimed the Oscar.
The story is beautiful in its own way, like a story in a ballet, you get the essence but not the details. Portman plays Nina , a girl tied up by her Mom's stiffling love and protection. She splits into alter egos and lives in a make beleive world. She creates characters and scenarios to fit her dark fantasy and desire, but on the cover she tries to be the nice, petite, simple girl. Her mom's love for ballet, her untimely exit from her career when she became pregnant with Nina, turned her into a overpowering parent. She tries to live a second life through Nina. Nina's craving for perfection is moulded, nurtured and imposed by her mother. She is a trapped soul who craves to be normal and relaxed but she cannot, not even through her dance, till her mentor Thomas ignites the spark in her, a sensual urge to love herself and live her life. As the ballet unfolds its saga of good and evil clashing with each other, so does Nina's alter egos. As the white swan claims her own life so does she, seeking her freedom in her death
