Just about everyone can agree that Natalie Portman is one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. What she doesn’t receive is the credit she deserves for being an incredibly talented actress. Maybe it’s because, barring a showy performance in “Closer,” she’s rarely had the chance to showcase her craft. All that’s going to change however, after people see her devastating performance in Darren Aronofsky’s equally captivating, disturbing, and crazy psycho-sexual thriller “Black Swan.” Portman’s audacious work here is one of those transcendent performance à la Charlize Theron or Marion Cotillard that everyone will be talking about. It simply is the best performance by any actor I’ve seen this year, period.

Nina (Portman) is a gifted and obsessively hard-working woman who has spent her life immersed in ballet as a successful dancer in a New York City ballet company. Yet, as good as she is, she’s still a shockingly insecure and fragile “girl” who’d go to any lengths to be perfect. This is thanks in no part to her nutcase stage mom Erika (a disturbing Barbara Hershey), a failed ballet dancer who has raised Nina in a repressed slave-like environment with pink teddy bears and dolls, no television, no social life and definitely no friends. It’s a disturbing life where ballet, and only ballet, matters.

When the director of her company Thomas Leroy (an excellent Vincent Cassel) announces that he’ll be replacing the company’s veteran ballerina Beth (Winona Ryder) with a new dancer to play the Swan Queen in his re-vamped version of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” Nina is on top of his list. However, to play the role, a dancer will have to play both sides of the role, the pure White Swan, and the evil Black Swan.

Although Nina is the definition of the White Swan –virginal and fragile – Thomas thinks she’s too repressed and uptight to effectively portray the sexuality and the darkness of the Black Swan. Nina, being the perfectionist she is, sets out to prove him wrong by over-working herself to the extreme and stripping away the control that has been constraining her performances. But her overexertion and obsessive pursuit for perfection slowly starts to break her apart. Thomas’ creepy motivation methods and constant bullying only amplify her fragile state of mind. But everything erupts into chaos and batshit-insanity when a sexy, deceitful new dancer named Lily (Mila Kunis) joins the company and steals the attention of Thomas. Yup, shit just got real!

The trailers for “Black Swan” make it out to be a psycho-sexual horror movie and in many ways, it is one. But what makes it such a fascinating, and ultimately immersive film is that along with playing with horror movie conventions, director Darren Aronofsky also envisions the film as a study on perfection, control, and the pressures of performing. Anyone who has been a performer – be it dance, film, music or the theater – is going to identify with Nina in some way or another. What lengths will you go to master your art? What would you do to own your competition and be the best you can be?

Aronofsky, a highly intelligent and creative filmmaker, has made a name for himself with his intense character-centric dramas like “Requiem for a Dream,” “The Wrestler” and “The Fountain.” “Black Swan” continues that performance-centric trend as he allows Portman wonderful performance to take center-stage by utilizing plenty of close-ups and extreme close-ups that work remarkably in immersing us into Nina’s state of mind.

The other star of the picture is the jaw-dropping cinematography by Matthew Libatique. Libatique’s camera is essentially like another dancer in this film as it bobs in and around Portman and the other dancers during the film’s breathtaking dance sequences. Libatique plays with the idea of the duality of the Swan queen and manifests it by plastering the film with mirrors messing with our minds as we question what is real and what isn’t. Seriously, there are mirrors everywhere in the movie. And not a camera in sight! Additionally, Libatique’s decision to use hand-held cameras gives the film an organic, fluid feel that a stationary camera would never be able to duplicate. The opening dream sequence of the film is in itself a marvel.

Since I began this lengthy review with Natalie Portman, I only feel it would be fitting to end it with her. While the supporting cast of “Black Swan” is strong – especially Barbara Hershey as Nina’s overbearing mother, this movie is all about Portman. Her performance is nothing short of an extraordinary. Though she’s on-screen, shot in close-ups for almost every scene of the film, she never goes over-the-top. There is a sincerity and authenticity in this performance that I hardly see in many Hollywood movies these days. Adding to her performance is her excellent ballet work. Portman apparently trained for 10 months and lost little over 10 pounds for the role – 10 pounds may not be much but on her frame, it’s incredible. There is a moment early in the film where Nina, after finding out that she’s won a part, runs to the bathroom and calls her mother to give her the good news. It’s not an important scene but the honesty in the way that Portman expresses that tearful joy took me back to a moment in my life where hard work paid off. I hope she wins the Oscar because she damn well deserves it.

BOTTOM LINE: “Black Swan” is a remarkable movie that stands as one of the most original works of 2010. Part psycho-sexual horror movie, part intense character drama, this is the best work of director Darren Aronofsky’s already remarkable young career. Bolstered by Matthew Libatique’s stunning cinematography and Clint Mansell’s gorgeous “Swan Lake” inspired score, this is one of the year’s most accomplished productions. But if there’s one reason to see the movie, it’s for Natalie Portman’s career-best performance. Its performances like this that Oscars were created for.

GRADE: A

BLACK SWAN
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Written by: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John J. McLaughlin
Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder
Rated: R (for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use)