The Personality of Nina Sayer in Darren Aronofsky’s Black

Swan: A Psychoanalytic Approach

M.A Degree Programme

Preface i

Chapter One Introduction 1-10

Chapter Two The Psychoanalytic Theory 11-15

Chapter Three The Psychological Study of Nina Sayers 16-41

Chapter Four Black Swan and Abnormal Psychology 42-47

Chapter Five Conclusion 48-53

Works Cited 54-58

Sigmund Freud, introduced psychoanalysis in the late 19th century.

Psychoanalysis is the branch of psychology that focuses on treating mental

disorders by recognizing the relationship between the conscious and

unconscious mind. There is also preconscious, which holds those thoughts and

emotions that are not repressed and are not currently in the conscious, though

they are readily available. In order to pull suppressed emotions from the

unconscious mind, Freud utilized various therapeutic techniques.

Darren Aronofsky’s film, Black Swan, features a ballet dancer who has

transformed from controlled, innocent, perfect White Swan to impulsive,

seductive and agitated Black Swan during the film. The film articulates Nina

Sayers as a ballet dancer who desires to become successful dancer in the

competitive world of ballet. The primary objective of the project is to trace the

behavioral and psychological neuroses that Nina is a victim of and how she

overcomes them. The study demonstrates how the psychological anxieties and

paranoia of Nina Sayers are a result of the imbalance between the libidinal

instincts and her death drive and also examines their cinematographical

portrayal in the film.

The introductory chapter presents a detailed description of the major

cast and crew of the movie. It also offers a quick plot of the movie.

The second chapter titled The Psychoanalytic Theory, gives an overall

idea about Psychoanalysis, its relevance in different spheres of life.

The third chapter titled A Psychological study of Nina Sayers, provides

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the complete idea of the movie through detailed analysis of the major

character with the aid of several instances from the movie

The fourth chapter titled Black Swan and Abnormal Psychology, looks

at the movie from psychoanalysis point of view and explains its depiction in

the movie.

The fifth chapter or the concluding chapter sums up the findings of the

earlier chapters.

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 Chapter One

Introduction

An artistic masterpiece, Black Swan is a 2010 psychological thriller

genre film. Really exciting, beautiful and mesmerizing film, directed by

Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Castle, Mila Kunis

and Winona Ryder. Not only was the film a success among the public, it was

nominated for five Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture, Best

Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing and won

one for Portman's performance in the lead role!.

The storyline revolves around the production of Tchaikovsky's

prestigious New York Swan Lake Ballet company. Production requires a

dancer to play the role of the innocent and fragile White Swan, for which the

Portman character Nina is a perfect fit, but she must also play the dark,

seductive and evil Black Swan, a better way than the new arrival (Kunis). In

order to seize her role as the white swan, Nina must immerse herself in that

role and bring out the deep-seated feelings of wickedness, hatred, aggression

and passion that gradually lead to her downfall. This film shows us how Nina

immerses herself mentally and emotionally in her role, developing an

obsessive compulsive type of mental disorder.

Darren Aronofsky, a filmmaker known for his bizarre and hypnotic

works such as Requiem for a Dream (2000) and Black Swan (2010), became

interested in alternative art and cinema at an early age. He spoke of his interest

in polarization and contrasting films, and often praised the writings of

directors such as Roman Polanski, Luis Bunuel, Ingmar Bergman, David

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Cronenberg and Alfred Hitchcock. Starting with his debut feature Pi (1998),

Aronofsky’s films have typically been enormously ambitious projects which

have dealt with abstract concepts and developed around heavy themes like

religion, mysticism, mathematics, environmentalism, psychology and

creativity. Films like The Fountain (2006) which straddles stories separated by

time and space and united by themes of love and immortality, and the $125m-

worth Noah (2014) which looks at the popular biblical myth and turns it into a

colossal tale of ecology and survival, attest to a remarkably audacious and

independent creative vision Although never working within established

modes, Aronofsky has nonetheless used the styles and conventions of genres

like science fiction, psychological horror and fantasy to varying

ends. Mother! (2017), for instance, starts off by employing classic horror

tropes and with what seems initially like a familiar tale of home invasion

before unspooling its rapidly escalating and increasingly stressful nature-

creation allegory on the viewer.

Aronofsky’s films often feature obsessive characters who are on

desperate and inexorable paths to self-destruction. In The Wrestler (2008),

Robin Ramzinski (Mickey Rourke) is made to pay the price for pursuing and

succeeding at a career in professional wrestling which has left him broke,

lonely and ailing. Yet, despite the threat to his life and all that he holds dear, it

is to the ring that he must return for in it has the promise of redemption. In the

brilliant and devastating Requiem for a Dream, Aronofsky uses to spectacular

effect an editing technique that he has termed as ‘hip-hop montage’.

Borrowing from the way songs are sampled in hip-hop music, this type of

montage uses a series of simple images which appear in very quick succession

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and are paired with sharp, exaggerated sound effects. In the film, these

sequences are repeated often to denote the characters’ increasing dependency

on drugs. Stylistically, Aronofsky has admitted to being an expressionist who

uses the camera to push the emotion quotient of a scene. The result is a visual

style that is not just distinctive but also strikingly innovative. Extreme close-

ups, claustrophobic frames, long tracking shots where the camera relentlessly

follows characters around and a technique in which a Steadicam is attached to

the actor’s body are used often. It’s as if the camera refuses to let the

characters be, despotic in its need to capture every emotion.

Aronofsky’s intense filmic style creates deep emotional involvement

for the audience who get sucked into the characters’ rapid and inevitable

descent into darkness. It is Aronofsky’s extraordinary use of the tools offered

by his medium, i.e. sound and image, which creates this participatory effect

for the viewer. The experience of watching an Aronofsky film then, is often

disturbing, frantic and stifling. Critics have pointed out how in spite of his

intellectual themes, his work includes examples of what is called ‘the cinema

of the body’ because of the intensely vivid sensations he seeks to

produce. Adding to this almost visceral reaction they elicit in the viewer is the

fact that Aronofsky’s films frequently show bodies in pain. Both in The

Wrestler and The Black Swan, the performer’s body is pushed to its very

limits, constantly bruised, bleeding and in agony. In Requiem, the body

becomes the site of not just extreme pain and abuse but also humiliation.

Andres Heinz is an American artist that never thought that the story

can be interesting for many people in this era. He is a smart and talented man

who loves art. He completed his BFA with the highest score. When he was in

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college, he attended UCLA and NYU film schools. And for his graduation, he

made his first screenplay namely Ground Level B. he was successful and that

thesis was the winner of the 1st Place Mobil Award.

After graduation, Andres worked in film and television production, as

Production Coordinator for the film unit of variety show Saturday Night Live.

He preferred to stay behind the scene than become a star on a stage.

Several years later, Andres tried to expand his wings. He made his

second screenplay namely Origin of the Species and it is sold several original

screenplays. Another screenplay led him to success. And then, he tried to make

a screenplay with a different genre namely The Understudy. Black Swan is

based on his original screenplay The Understudy. The result was surprisingly

amazing and so there is an American producer that found him and remade the

screenplay into a movie entitled Black Swan.

Natalie Portman, byname of Natalie Hershlag (born June 9, 1981,

Jerusalem), Israeli American actress known for the aristocratic poise

and nuance with which she evinced the struggles of complex precocious

young women.

Natalie Hershlag was born in Jerusalem; her mother was American and

her father, who later became a fertility doctor, was Israeli. In 1984 the family

moved to the United States, eventually settling in Syosset, Long Island, New

York. After boring of a brief stint in modeling, Hershlag turned to acting,

securing her first film role in Léon (1994; The Professional). She starred

opposite French actor Jean Reno as an adolescent girl training to be an

assassin after her parents have been murdered. Hershlag assumed her maternal

grandmother’s last name at this time in order to protect herself from unwanted

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attention as a result of the role, which had sexual overtones. She then appeared

in Michael Mann’s crime thriller Heat (1995) as a troubled teenager.

Portman worked steadily, accepting supporting roles in the

relationship drama Beautiful Girls (1996), Woody Allen’s musical Everyone

Says I Love You (1996), and Tim Burton’s alien-invasion comedy Mars

Attacks! (1996) before appearing as the elaborately costumed Queen Amidala

in the Star Wars prequel Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace (1999).

Portman reprised the role in the film’s two sequels. The trilogy, though

spurned by critics and excoriated by many aficionados of the earlier films, was

nonetheless highly lucrative and established Portman as a recognizable face.

During that time Portman also starred as the resentful daughter

to Susan Sarandon’s flamboyant single mother in Anywhere but Here (1999)

and as a homeless and pregnant teen who gives birth in a Wal-Mart store

in Where the Heart Is (2000). In addition to acting, Portman attended Harvard

University, graduating in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. In

2004 she won acclaim for the humanity she brought to both the romantic

comedy Garden State and the Mike Nichols relationship drama Closer. The

latter role earned her a Golden Globe for best supporting actress and an

Academy Award nomination in the same category.

Portman again demonstrated the facility with which she alternated

between genres as a shaven-headed revolutionary in the dystopian fantasy V

for Vendetta (2005), a brassy gambler in Wong Kar-Wai’s moody romance My

Blueberry Nights (2007), and the doomed Queen Anne Boleyn in The Other

Boleyn Girl (2008). She played a grieving military spouse in Brothers (2009)

and both directed and appeared in segments of New York, I Love You (2009),

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a compilation of short films. Her role as the disturbed ballerina Nina Sayers in

the thriller Black Swan (2010) won her an Academy Award for best actress.

During the filming of that movie, she met Benjamin Millepied, a dancer and

choreographer, and the couple married in 2012.

Darren Aronofsky first became interested in ballet when his sister

studied dance at the High School of Performing Arts in New York City. The

basic idea for the film started when he hired screenwriters to rework a

screenplay called The Understudy, which portrayed off-Broadway actors and

explored the notion of being haunted by a double. Aronofsky said the

screenplay had elements of All About Eve, Roman Polanski's The Tenant,

and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella The Double. The director had also seen

numerous productions of Swan Lake, and he connected the duality of the

White Swan and the Black Swan to the script. When researching for the

production of Black Swan, Aronofsky found ballet to be "a very insular world"

whose dancers were "not impressed by movies". Regardless, the director

found active and inactive dancers to share their experiences with him. He also

stood backstage to see the Bolshoi Ballet perform at the Lincoln Center for the

Performing Arts.

Aronofsky called Black Swan a companion piece to his previous

film The Wrestler, recalling one of his early projects about a love affair

between a wrestler and a ballerina. He eventually separated the wrestling and

the ballet worlds as "too much for one movie". He compared the two films:

"Wrestling some consider the lowest art—if they would even call it art—and

ballet some people consider the highest art. But what was amazing to me was

how similar the performers in both of these worlds are. They both make

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incredible use of their bodies to express themselves.” About the psychological

thriller nature of Black Swan, actress Natalie Portman compared the film's

tone to Polanski's 1968 film Rosemary's Baby, while Aronofsky said

Polanski's Repulsion (1965) and The Tenant (1976) were "big influences" on

the final film. Actor Vincent Cassel also compared Black Swan to Polanski's

early works and additionally compared it to David Cronenberg’s early works.

The making of the Black Swan script itself is not an easy thing. Andres

found out his inspiration when he was watching Repulsion by Roman

Polanski. He would love to do something in that genre. He thought that was

“psychological horror” at its best. The script has been revised five times since

November 3, 2009 until January 11, 2010. Accompanied by his two partners,

he finished the script. They are Mark Heyman and John McLaughlin.

The film premiered as the opening film for the 67 th Venice

International Film Festival on September 1, 2010. It had a limited release in te

United States starting in December 3, 2010 and opened nationwide on

December 17. Black Swan received critical praise upon its release, particularly

for Portman’s performance and Aronofsky’s direction. Portman won the

Academy Award for Best Actress for the film, as well as many other Best

Actress Awards in several guilds and festivals, while Aronofsky was

nominated for Best Director. In addition, the film itself received a nomination

for Best Picture.

The movie opens as Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), a young dancer,

working with a prestigious ballet company in New York City. She lives with

her overbearing mother, Erica (Barbara Hershey), a failed dancer turned

amateur artist who tries to control much of Nina’s life. The ballet company is

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preparing for a production of Swan Lake. The director, Thomas Leroy

(Vincent Cassel), has to cast a new principal dancer. When he forces a kiss on

her, she bites him. Thomas sees her potential and gives her the role. As the

company continues to practice, Thomas continues to express doubts about her

ability to lose herself in the role of the sensual, Black Swan.

One evening Lily appears at Nina’s door and invites for a night out.

Nina is hesitant at first but joins Lily after having an argument with her

mother. During the night, Lily offers Nina MDMA, which lowers her

inhibitions. Nina becomes sexually interested not only in men at the bar, but

Lily as well. Later that night, Nina apparently returns to the apartment with

Lily and another fight with her mother begins. She barricades herself in her

room with Lily, and immediately Nina begins seducing Lily. The next

morning, Nina wakes up alone, late for rehearsal, and rushes to make it on

time. When she enters the studio, she finds Lily dancing as the Swan Queen in

her absence. Nina confronts Lily and asks her why she did not wake her up in

the morning. Lily informs that Nina that they had not spent the night together.

The night before the ballet’s opening, Nina continues to experience

strong hallucinations or waking dreams. Perhaps her sanity is slipping. Nina

awakes the night of the opening performance locked in her bedroom with her

mother. Nina’s mother tells her that she called the ballet company and

informed him that Nina wasn’t feeling well and will not be able to perform.

After violently forcing her mother to let her leave, Nina arrives at the theatre

to discover that Thomas has asked Lily to dance as the Swan Queen in Nina’s

place. Nina ignores this development, prepares for the performance and

convinces Thomas that she is able to dance.

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 During the first dance, Nina is dropped by her male partner. She is

scolded by Thomas and becomes distraught. Upon reaching her dressing

room, she appears to find Lily in her chair applying the make up for the Black

Swan role. Lily taunts her about the fall and the two begins fighting. As it

escalates, Nina stabs Lily with a piece of broken glass, killing her. Nina

doesn’t think much of this, and she goes back out for her next dance. After

returning to her dressing room, Lily congratulates her on her performances.

Nina looks down to see she has stabbed herself. Regardless of this, she

completes her performances flawlessly. As Thomas and the rest of the cast

enthusiastically congratulate her on her performance, Lily gasps in horror to

see that Nina is bleeding, and some of the cast run to get medical help. Though

Nina lies wounded, perhaps fatally, she is content and satisfied with her

performance. The film closes with Nina staring up at the stage lights while

whispering “I felt it – Perfect- I was perfect,” as the screen fades to white and

the audience chants her name.

Natalie Portman is believable in her role as the disturbed Nina Sayers

and the transformation that overcomes her. The quality of the acting,

cinematography, and music all combine to bring the audience into the

conflicted, frightening, over-and under-controlled emotional life of the

protagonist. For example as Nina’s identity changes from the white to the

black swan, the color of her clothing changes from pink to combined pink and

black, to black alone. During the movie, it is hard to follow what is real and

what is imagined. The movies makes one ask the question: Where do Nina’s

delusions end and reality begin?

The cinematography of the film reflects not only the paranoia and

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anxieties of Nina, but also her evolution and transformation in a stark and

compelling manner. For instance, Nina is shown as being preoccupied with

watching reflections of herself in mirrors. There is liberal use of mirrors

throughout the film in which Nina looks for re-assurance and acceptance.

However, her anxieties, instead of being quelled, are fuelled more by looking

into the mirror. The mirror is an important figurative device or symbol used in

psychology and psychoanalysis for explaining ideas related to the self and its

image as perceived

Aronofsky and Natalie Portman went through intensive articulation of

a Ballerina who experiences number of different psychological disorder

through cinematography. The visuals and auditory were very string media to

have the viewer understand the experience the protagonist Nina is going

through. The symptoms in the film may have been exaggerated but the film

gives vivid and distinctive articulation of Eating disorder, Schizophrenia,

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Although the film may be informing, one

concern is that somewhat exaggeration of symptoms may give misleading to

the viewers since the film articulated the symptoms with very strong visuals to

add the drama to the film.

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 Chapter Two

The Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychoanalysis as a psychological theory that has undergone constant

revisions both during Freud's time and afterwards. Psychoanalysis is

considered to be a High-Level theory containing various sub theories such as

‘levels of consciousness’, ‘psychic structure of personality’, ‘psychosexual

development’, ‘defence mechanisms’ and ‘theory of instincts’, and it serves to

unify them to some extent.

It is to be noted that much of psychoanalytic theory was derived from

Freud’s clinical experience in treating neurotic patients. So the theory focused

more on the origin of abnormal behaviour in the formulation of the concept of

mind. It is also to be considered that the distinction between sanity and

insanity is not that of type but that of degree. The defence mechanisms that

serve to compensate for the frustrations of the sane human, in exaggeration

lead to the abnormality, of both neurotic and psychotic. Hence it can be seen

that clinical data may not be insufficient for the formulation of a theory of

mind.

Freud recognized two fundamental motivating forces. The first one is

the constructive one called the Eros or life urges and the other is the

destructive one called the Thanatos or the death urges (Freud, BPP). Eros finds

its output through drives known as Self-preservation drive or ego drive and

sex drive which play a significant role in Freudian psychoanalysis.

The sex drive in the organism is based on a special form of energy

called libido. This has its seat in that part of personality called id, which is

essentially unconscious. The libido or sex energy is best released through

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amorous activities. However, society can see no more menace to its culture

than would arise from the liberation of sexual impulses and a return to their

original goal. In psychoanalysis, major importance is attached to the sex and

aggression drives, since their development and expression are thought to

determine, in large measure, the happiness and mental health of mankind.

Love and hate, as viewed by psychoanalysts are not necessarily mutually

antagonistic. Often the two are inseparably fused.

The motivating principle in life is the pleasure principle, which

according to psychoanalysis, is the tendency to avoid pain and to seek

pleasure. This dominates in sex drive. As one attains maturity, this is

supplemented by the reality principle, which is the voice of reason that aims at

rational acts to avoid future pains. The Nirvana principle is expressed in death

drive, which is aimed at the final return of living matters to the inorganic state.

Freud distinguished three parts or functional principles within the

mind; the id, the ego and the superego. The dynamics of interplay between

these functions determines one’s actions and obvert behaviours. These

principles of psychic dynamism are central to the interpretation of abnormal

behaviour in psychoanalysis.

Id is the prime-mover; it is the source of all psychic energy. The

psychic energy or drive within it called the libido, if left totally unchecked,

will lead to amorous activities and if fully checked will lead to damming up of

libido. Both are dangerous, to the society and to the individual respectively.

Id is governed by the pleasure principle, with an overriding goal

maximising pleasure and eliminating tensions and conflicts associated with

achieving pleasure. The characterising way of processing information or

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thinking by id is referred to by Freud as primary process. The primary process

is primarily emotional, irrational, illogical and filled with fantasies and

preoccupations of sex, aggression, selfishness and envy. This dark and

inaccessible part of personality functionally belongs to the unconscious mind.

The logical laws of thought do not apply in the id, and this is true

above all of the law of contradiction. Contrary impulses exist side by side,

without cancelling each other out or diminishing each other …no alterations in

its mental processes is produced by the passage of time.

The instincts or drives are dominated by the pleasure principle (the

chief characteristic of psychic energy) and are inherited. And id is the part of

personality from where the fundamental instincts seek their first outlet.

Id contains everything that is inherited, that is present at birth, that is

fixed in the constitution- above all, therefore, the instincts, which originate in

the somatic organization and which finds their first mental expression in id in

forms unknown to us.

Fortunately, according to Freud, the dangerous and selfish drive does

not go unchecked. The instinct of id, which is primitive and somewhat brutal,

seeking its direct expression in activities, is faced with dangers from external

world. So a portion of id- that has been expediently modified by the proximity

of the external world with its threats of dangers- called ego, modifies the

instinctual needs of id to match for the needs of society. The ego forms the

second part of personality, which is partially conscious and partially

unconscious. Freud explains, this system is turned towards the external world,

it is the medium for the perceptions arising thence, and during its functioning

the phenomenon of consciousness arises in it. It is the sense organ of the entire

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apparatus; moreover it is receptive not only to excitations from outside but

also to those arising from the interior of the mind. The ego controls the

approaches to motility under the id’s orders; but between a need and an action

it has interposed a postponement in the form of the activity of thought….In

that way it has dethroned the pleasure principle which dominates the course of

events in the id without any restriction and has replaced it by reality principle,

which promises more certainty and greater success… what distinguishes the

ego from the id… is a tendency to synthesise in its contents, to a combination

and unification in its mental processes which are totally lacking in the id.

The ego is governed by reality principle instead of pleasure principle

that governs the id. The information-processing or thinking of ego is

characterised by logic and reason and is referred to as the secondary process.

Ego is drawing power from the id while controlling it as a rider on a horse.

The horse in this metaphor is id; the primitive and animal like source of

energy. The rider is the ego which may be weak or strong, clumsy or skilful.

The rider can direct the energy (if skilfully and well-controlled) towards

positive aims.

The third part of personality called the super-ego is the moral censor,

which is identified with the voice of conscience. The superego is partially

unconscious and partially conscious. So, the man in psychoanalysis is a

primitive being, driven by pleasure dominating principles, being exposed to

external world. Ego meets the demands of id by channelizing it to the

activities acceptable to external world that are being censored by the super-

ego. About the formation of superego, Freud says,

The long period of childhood, during which the growing human being

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lives is dependence upon his parents, leaves behind it a precipitate, which

forms within his ego a special agency in which this parental influence is

prolonged. It receives the name of super-ego.

The role of ego is to mediate the conflict between the id and the

superego. Ego must find some outlet for the instincts of id and at the same

time it has to restrict them within the demands of superego. According to

Freud, ego is often caught between the id and the superego and also it has to

compensate for the demands of external world.

We are warned by a proverb against serving two masters at the same

time. The poor ego has things even worse: it serves three severe masters and

does what it can to bring their claims and demands into harmony with one

another. These claims are always divergent and often seem incompatible. No

wonder that the ego so often fails in its task. Its three tyrannical masters are

the external world, the super-ego and the id.

The relationship between the structure of personality and the levels of

consciousness is compared by Freud himself to an iceberg floating on water.

Only one third of the iceberg is visible and the visible part (conscious mind) is

largely controlled by the invisible (unconscious mind).

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 Chapter Three

A Psychological Study of Nina Sayers

Nina Sayers, the protagonist of Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, is a

beautiful but "cold" ballet dancer played by Natalie Portman. The main reason

for her unconsciousness is the conflict between libidinal or life instincts and

Thanatos or Death Drive. The external consciousness of her behaviour is her

unconscious resistance to resist the ongoing battle in her mind. The film opens

as Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), a youthful ballet dancer in her mid-

twenties, is moving the introduction to Swan Lake. Swan Lake is an artful

dance in which a princess is transformed into the White Swan and must be

turned around if a man swears everlasting constancy to her. In the expressive

dance, she is deceived by the Black Swan, the shrewd performer's little girl

whom the entertainer has changed to look precisely like the princess so as to

deceive the ruler who has experienced passionate feelings for her. At long last,

the princess ends it all in light of the fact that the Prince's disloyalty has

destined her to stay a swan for eternity. As Nina moves in the job of the

Princess, the performer shows up and puts revile on the Princess. Nina at that

point awakens in her loft, the move succession having been a fantasy. She

starts her day by day artful dance extending; disclosing to her mom about her

fantasy as her mom accidentally disregards her. Nina makes reference to that

the chief, Thomas Leroy, of her expressive dance organization has vowed to

highlight her more this season and her mom concurs that she's been there

sufficiently long.

Nina goes to the expressive dance studio just to discover that Beth

(Winona Ryder), the lead head artist, is being persuaded to retire because of

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her age as she is more than 40. Accordingly, Thomas (Vincent Cassel) is

searching for another face to be the lead. Thomas reports to the organization

that the main execution of the period will be an adjusting of Swan Lake. He

coolly strolls among the artists as they're rehearsing impassively, tapping a

few young ladies on the shoulder as he talks. He at that point advises those he

tapped to go to their ordinary practices; those he didn't tap are to meet with

him later in the essential studio.

Nina sees Beth having a mental emergency in her private changing

area, tossing things and breaking the full length reflect. After Beth leaves,

Nina chooses to take a look inside. She plunks down in Beth's seat and gazes

at herself in a mirror encompassed by globe lights. She starts to experience

Beth's things and supplies a few things in her pocket, explicitly aroma,

precious stone hoops, a nail document and container of lipstick. She escapes

Beth's changing area.

Afterward, in the main studio, try outs are being held to discover

Beth's substitution as the Swan Princess. Nina moves the White Swan

immaculately, and afterward Thomas advises Nina to move as the Black

Swan. As Nina starts the move her try out is hindered by the late appearance

of new artist, Lily (Mila Kunis). Previously dreading flaw and frustrating

Thomas, she loses centre as Lily loudly shuts the entryway and stops. In spite

of her perfect execution as the White Swan, Thomas isn't intrigued by Nina's

presentation, expressing she neglected to catch the sexiness of the Black

Swan. Nina returns home to her mom and begins sobbing uncontrollably and

rehearses her move moves until she breaks her enormous toe nail. Afterward,

when her mom takes care of her, Nina discloses to her she can go to Thomas

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the following day and reveal to him she completed the Black Swan move,

however her mom advises her there is no compelling reason to lie and Nina

gestures in vanquished understanding.

The following day, Nina visits Thomas in his office and reveals to him

she completed the Black Swan move at home and needs the job. He discloses

to her that he's chosen to offer it to another artist, Veronica (Ksenia Solo). She

says 'alright' and starts to leave however he pummels the entryway and asks

her for what good reason she's surrendering. He gets her face and kisses her

enthusiastically. Irritated by this undesirable development, Nina nibbles him

on the lip and comes up short on his office which the two stuns and dazzles

Thomas.

The young ladies start running a few doors down to discover who has

been picked as the new Swan Queen. Feeling certain she didn't get the job,

Nina salutes Veronica for getting it. The young lady rushes to see the

presenting yet strolls back on Nina and criticizes her for the pitiless joke

before strolling off a few doors down. Paralyzed and befuddled, Nina goes to

take a gander at the posting. As she draws near, a few young ladies accumulate

around her yelling congrats at her. Excited, and queasy, she rushes to the

restroom where she considers her mom from one of the slows down and

discloses to her that she won the part. At the point when she leaves the

slowdown she sees "prostitute" composed on the mirror in red lipstick and

quickly battles to clear it off. At the point when Nina returns home, her mom

has requested her a wonderful pink and white iced cake - strawberries and

cream, their most loved from the nearby bread shop - that she presents to Nina

when she strolls in the entryway to observe Nina getting the job in the

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expressive dance. Her mom begins to cut her a cut yet Nina cannot, disclosing

to her she can't eat something to that effect and when her mom gives her a

look, Nina keeps, saying that her stomach is still in tangles. Losing control,

her mom starts to toss the cake out which leaves Nina feeling remorseful. She

acknowledges a cut and takes a little chomp.

Throughout the following a few days, the pressure of the job and her

powerlessness to perform get to Nina. She starts seeing a darker adaptation of

herself in arbitrary passers-by.

Thomas holds a function to authoritatively declare Beth's "retirement"

and Nina's ascent as the Swan Queen. Nina goes to the washroom and on out

experiences Lily coming in. Before Nina, Lily removes her underwear and

places them in her handbag, at that point plunks down on vanity. She salutes

Nina on her job, yet Nina is awkward and endeavours to pardon herself. Lily

energetically requests that her remain, yet Nina leaves.

As Nina and Thomas leave the gathering, Thomas is quickly gotten

back to inside. Inebriated, with her eyes dribbling with dark mascara from

crying, Beth faces Nina and inquires as to whether she needed to suck

Thomas' rooster to get the job. Nina is insulted, and reveals to Beth that not

every person needs to. Beth keeps on yelling until Thomas shows up and

diffuses the circumstance, relieving Beth by calling her "My little princess."

Beth yells after them as Thomas drives Nina out. He returns Nina to his place.

At the point when they sit on the lounge chair, he abruptly inquires as to

whether she's a virgin. She turns away and grins awkwardly. He inquires as to

whether she enjoys having intercourse and when she won't answer, he gives

her a schoolwork task: she should contact herself and discover her sexuality so

19
she may better possess the job. Afterward, when Nina's mom is helping her

dress for bed she sees scratches on Nina's back, and asks what they are from.

Nina says they're only a rash and her mom loses control and clues that Nina

hasn't scratched herself like this since she was more youthful, and she thought

Nina was over this. Nina attempts to forget about her however her mom

snatches her hand and takes her to the restroom to cut her fingernails with

scissors. She unintentionally cuts Nina's finger and apologizes bountifully

however keeps on cutting Nina's nails.

Nina gets up the following morning and starts contacting herself as

Thomas inquired. At the point when she gets stirred, she speeds up and turns

over. As she draws nearer, she turns her head to one side and is alarmed to

understand her mom is snoozing in the seat close to her bed.

The following day the organization is rehearsing and a young lady runs

in, crying insanely. She rushes to the instructor who comforts her and asks

what occurred. She says Beth is in the emergency clinic after a mishap when

she got hit by a passing vehicle. Afterward, Nina is sitting at the edge of a

wellspring with Thomas and he reveals to her he accepts that Beth dedicated

herself completely to approaching traffic. She visits Beth in the emergency

clinic where she discovers her room loaded up with excellent blossoms and

cards wishing her a snappy recuperation. As Beth lays out cold in the bed,

Nina lifts up the sheet hung over Beth and sees metal bars standing out of her

leg and a tremendous, tainted slash on her calf. Sickened, she rapidly goes to

leave and chances upon Beth's medical caretaker (Leslie Lyles) who asks what

she is doing there.

She goes to practice and still can't get the enthusiasm of the Black

20
Swan into her exhibition. Abruptly the lights go out and Thomas calls for

somebody to walk out on, that there are despite everything individuals

practicing. The lights return on, however an unmistakably disillusioned

Thomas sends different artists home and steps in to move as Nina's

accomplice. As they move together, he gradually moves his hands under her

thighs and starts contacting her. After a profound kiss, he relinquishes her and

leaves, bringing behind him that he just allured her and that it ought to be her

doing the luring with her moving. Nina calls in the wake of, arguing, however

he doesn't turn around.

Nina, feeling crushed in her endeavour to be great, sits alone and cries

in the studio. Lily shows up, sees Nina crying, and lights a cigarette as she

strolls up. Lily visits coolly, suggesting that Thomas has an inclination of

laying down with the troupe and Nina attempts to protect him. Lily

understands that Nina really likes Thomas and jokes about it. Maddened by

such an idea, Nina gets resentful and leaves.

The following day, Thomas indignantly inquires as to whether she

needs downtime after a remark from Lily that he should make an effort not to

stress about her. He says she should not be crying and she intensely protects

herself saying she didn't. Rankled, Nina finds Lily in the troupe changing area

where she is welcomed with exchange from different artists who state that "the

sovereign" is gracing them with her quality on their turf. Lily instructs them to

quiet down and gets up to converse with Nina. Nina criticizes Lily for

disclosing to Thomas that she'd been crying. Lily looks abashed and says she

was simply attempting to help. Nina reveals to her she needn't bother with the

assistance and Lily leaves aggravated.

21
 That night, Nina and her mom are dealing with Nina's toe shoes. Erica

(Nina's mom) is making casual banter that sounds stooping to Nina so she

begins replying with slight aggression without gazing toward Erica. Her mom

inquires as to whether she's been scratching and Nina unexpectedly delays

sufficiently long for Erica to not trust Nina when she says "no". Erica berates

her to take her shirt and Nina won't so Erica remains over Nina and requests it

however Nina says no in a gnawing tone. Before Erica can get her affirmation

there is a thump at the entryway. She answers the entryway and talks rapidly

to somebody before shutting it once more. Nina asks what it's identity was

nevertheless Erica says it was nobody, so Nina requests to know again and

when Erica despite everything won't reveal to her she races to the entryway

and opens it. She sees Lily hanging tight for the lift. Nina ventures into the

lobby and asks Lily how she knew where she lived and Lily reacts with

mockery. In any case, Nina looks irate so Lily laughingly says she asked

Thomas' secretary. Erica opens the entryway and says Nina needs to come in

and rest. Nina advises her to close the entryway, which Erica pummels. Lily

welcomes her out and Nina says she can't, yet after Erica opens the entryway

and reveals to her again and advises Nina to return inside and furthermore

requests that Lily leave, Nina pushes the entryway open to snatch her stuff and

leaves with Lily, in spite of her mom's fights yelled a few doors down that it's

the night prior to a difficult day of work and she should remain at home.

Nina and Lily go out to a nearby bar for beverages and some food, yet

Nina is edgy to the point that Lily offers her a pill to unwind, saying it would

just last a couple of hours. Nina turns it down. She goes to the restroom and

comes back to see Lily slip the substance of the pill into a beverage, as she

22
plays with two folks she is calling Tom (Toby Hemingway) and "Jerry"

however he discloses to her his genuine name is Andrew. Nina is consoled by

Lily that the pills will just last a couple of hours and downs her glass. The two

have an insane, sedated night of clubbing with two folks. At the point when

Nina is next clear, she winds up attaching with a man in a restroom. She

rapidly leaves to discover a taxi and Lily hurries to find her. They return the

taxi to Nina's loft and Lily goes onto Nina and starts delicately scouring Nina's

groin until Nina stops her and just holds Lily's hand.

At the point when they return to the loft, Nina's mom is sitting tight for

them and asks Nina what she was doing out late. Nina is flushed and fairly

hawkish yet at long last says, "I was with two folks named Tom and Jerry and

I screwed them both," and giggles. Nina's mom is appalled and smacks her

over the face. Nina gets Lily and runs into her room, blockading the entryway

with a wood fitting, shouting at her mom to disregard her. She pivots and takes

a gander at Lily, at that point strolls to her and starts enthusiastically kissing

her. They move to the bed where Lily and Nina uncover each other to their

clothing where Lily at that point rips Nina's undies off. Lily starts to orally joy

Nina and she quickly observes Lily transform into herself and afterward back

to Lily, which panics her. Lily doesn't stop and the two keep on engaging in

sexual relations, with Lily performing cunnilingus on Nina who inevitably

peaks. Lily says, "Sweet young lady" before transforming once again into dim

Nina, who raises a cushion to cover her.

Nina gets up the following morning with an aftereffect like cerebral

pain to discover Lily proceeded to acknowledge she is late for practice. As her

mom sits discreetly in the lounge room, Nina hollers at her and inquires as to

23
why she didn't wake her up. Erica says this job is obliterating her and as Nina

surges out the entryway, she reveals to Erica that she is moving out.

At the point when Nina shows up at the artful dance studio, she

discovers Lily in her ensemble, rehearsing her daily schedule with the

remainder of the troupe. At the point when Lily approaches Nina, she says she

was just filling in light of the fact that Thomas had asked her to. Nina at that

point interrogates Lily concerning why she went out the prior night, and Lily

guarantees she returned home to her place with Tom where they went through

the night, and that last time she saw Nina was at the club. At the point when

Nina raises what occurred in her room, Lily is complimented that Nina had a

lesbian wet long for her. She energetically inquires as to whether she was any

acceptable yet Nina gets humiliated and leaves, looking awkward and

disappointed, thinking about whether her lovemaking with Lily had truly

occurred or not.

Somewhat later, Nina is being fitted for her Swan outfit. At the point

when she's set, Lily strolls in and says Thomas made Lily Nina's substitute.

Maddened and apprehensive, Nina discovers Thomas and beseeches him not

to make Lily her other, persuaded that Lily is attempting to take the job from

her. As Nina cries, Thomas calms her before disclosing to her she is being

suspicious. He discloses to her that the main individual attempting to attack

Nina will be "Nina".

That night, Nina is rehearsing when the piano player unexpectedly

quits playing and gets up to leave, disclosing to Nina he has an actual

existence. He advises her not to rehearse excessively long and disregards her

in the studio. As she starts moving again the lights shut off similarly as they

24
had when shed been rehearsing with Thomas. She gets out for somebody to

walk out on, and sees a shrouded figure shooting around in the shadows (the

Sorcerer from the fantasy). She hears chuckling and follows the commotion to

discover Thomas engaging in sexual relations with Lily (which transforms

into Nina) on a work table behind a drapery. Lily grins at Thomas and

snickers. This carries tears to Nina's eyes and she runs back to her changing

area where she gets the things she took from Beth when the room was as yet

hers.

In an attack of mania, Nina goes to the clinic to discover Beth sitting

unmoving in a wheelchair, presently an insignificant shadow of the lady she

used to be. Nina discreetly puts a note and the things she took on the table

close to Beth, when Beth out of nowhere blends and gets Nina's arm. Beth is

irate and asks what Nina is doing, at that point she looks down and sees the

things on the table. She asks Nina in an interested however bothered voice for

what valid reason she took from her. Nina says she simply needed to be

impeccable like Beth. As Beth takes a gander at the things, she says she's

nothing and afterward sees the nail record. She keeps on saying she's nothing

as she out of nowhere cuts herself in the face with the document more than

once. Nina at long last snatches the nail document from Beth's hand and runs

dreadfully from the space to the lift. As she gets in the lift, she drops the

wicked nail document. Nina gets back, running madly into the kitchen to wash

her hands which are shrouded in Beth's blood. At the point when she kills the

kitchen light, she hears somebody murmur "sweet young lady", at which she

walks out on to see Beth remaining there with her face canvassed in blood.

She rushes to the washroom and heaves into the latrine. She at that point calls

25
a few doors down for her mom, strolling toward her mom's specialty studio,

hearing voices originating from the studio. As she peers in, she envisions her

mom's compositions moving and conversing with her. She runs in and begins

destroying everything, and envisions Beth coming towards her with a bleeding

face, until her mom strolls in and, astounded, asks Nina what she's doing. Nina

runs past her mom to her room, with Erica not far behind. As she attempts to

arrive at Nina, Nina hammers the entryway on her hand, breaking it. Nina

blockades herself inside with the funnel once more. As Nina remains there, her

skin starts to move and take on a winged animal like surface, her eyes begin to

turn red, and her knee joints brutally reverse to a similar shape as a flying

creature. The mind flight perplexes Nina and she falls and hits her head on a

bed post which takes her out.

Nina awakens the following day as in an ordinary day, yet with socks

elastic grouped on all fours cerebral pain. She looks to her mom, who is sitting

close to the bed with a swathe on her hand. Nina asks her mom for what good

reason her hands are secured and Erica says it is to forestall scratching, that

she'd been doing it throughout the night. Nina out of nowhere acknowledges it

must be late and says she needs to get to the artful dance organization since its

initial day. Her mom says she called and let them realize Nina wasn't feeling

great and wouldn't have the option to play out that night. Nina is angry and

gets up. She goes for the entryway however her mom has bolted the entryway

and expelled the door handle. Nina pivots and shouts at her mom to allow her

to out. Erica discloses to her she isn't well and the job has taken her over. Nina

snatches her mom's messed up hand and hauls her out of the seat. As her mom

cries and holds her harmed hand, Nina takes the door handle free from the pad

26
and strolls toward the entryway. Her mom connects for her and asks what

befell her sweet young lady, and Nina says in an unforgiving, fiendish tone,

"she's gone", and leaves the room.

Nina shows up at the artful dance and disregards murmurs from the

troupe as she passes them (with the camera following her from behind). She

discovers Lily in ensemble conversing with Thomas in the lobby, arranged to

accept the phase as the lead. Nina unhesitatingly reveals to Thomas that she is

prepared to perform and goes to plunk down in her changing area, with Lily

asking what's happening behind her. Thomas follows her into the room and

says that he's now disclosed to Lily she'll be performing. Nina says in the

event that she doesn't make that big appearance, at that point the organization

will be damaged with contention, after Beth's episode. Thomas looks

somewhat diverted and dazzled at her boldness and advises her to prepare.

Nina goes on and is similarly as bashful and inflexible in her

exhibition as she was during practices. While in the wings she sees Lily

playing with one of the male artists and furthermore gets occupied by Lily

while they're moving in front of an audience; in this manner, during a lift, she

loses focus which makes the lead male drop her. She recoups herself yet

during a span, Thomas is rankled and asks what the heck that was about. Nina

accuses her move accomplice yet Thomas leaves her. At the point when she

goes into her changing area, Lily is sitting at her dressing table putting on

make-up. Nina shouts at her to escape her room. Lily insults Nina, saying

maybe she should move the Black Swan's move as Nina isn't fit to move it,

and they start to battle. Lily transforms into Nina now and again as Nina

battles against her.

27
 Nina drives Lily into a similar full-length reflect Beth wrecked and it

breaks. As the battle heightens further, Nina gets a bit of the mirror and

wounds Lily in the stomach. Uncertain of what to do, Nina conceals the

draining body in her restroom and afterward puts on the Black Swan's make-

up. She makes that big appearance and starts to hit the dance floor with

energetic relinquish. As she hits the dance floor with everything Thomas has

been requesting, she starts to genuinely change into a huge Black Swan in

front of an audience, developing plumes and wings. She moves the part over

and above anyone's expectations and the group gives her an overwhelming

applause as the piece closes.

Nina runs off stage toward Thomas and, before everybody, kisses him

energetically after at long last tempting him with her developments. He grins

and advises her to return out for a subsequent bow. In the wake of leaving the

stage once more, Nina goes into her changing area to change for the following

demonstration and understands the blood is beginning to spill free from the

restroom entryway. Nina puts a towel over the developing pool of blood and

afterward hears a thump at the entryway. At the point when she opens the

entryway... Lily is remaining there. She is sorry for how things turned out

among them and salutes Nina on her astonishing exhibition as the Black Swan.

Nina is stunned and bewildered.

In the last scene of the last demonstration, the White Swan goes to the

head of an enormous structure to end it all. Nina does this with beauty, looks

down at the admirers underneath, and afterward turns and falls in moderate

movement onto the sleeping cushion beneath as her mom sits in the crowd,

grinning and crying. At the point when the drapery falls, Thomas is thrilled

28
and recently charmed by Nina. He is grinning in love as he bows to praise her,

a horde of ballet performers gathering around the star. Nina doesn't talk, yet

rather just grins and tunes in to the recognition. Lily out of nowhere wheezes -

the first to see the massive blood stain framing on Nina's outfit. Somebody

calls for help, and Thomas quickly asks her, "What did you do?!" Nina

serenely and discreetly expresses, "I was great". The group keeps on

thundering with acclaim as the screen gradually blurs to white.

Nina is portrayed as an anxious, neurotic young woman who has high

competition to remove her dance worries and insecurities. Nina's character is a

limit to her passion for ballet, which makes her overly anxious. In fact, every

work she does runs with her quest for perfection. She is free to dance and

make every little move in life better. She wants to be the perfect "beautiful

girl" who is obedient to her mother, who is polite to colleagues, and who is

passionate about her work, which she will be admired by all.

Nina's persistent effort and determination to cultivate her passion for

the "Swan Queen" in the ballet dance drama "Swan Lake" is in direct

opposition to the sentinel of the super ego. She work for that role, but are on

guard. There are different moments in the film, and we see her pulling in two

directions, yet her desire for this character goes beyond her desire to be treated

with care and protection. In a way, Nina competing for perfection in her work

is an example of her arrogance in the workplace.

The ego depicted here is the superego that seeks to control an agenda

that focuses on satisfying the inherent impulses of an ID and constantly

seeking perfection. In this order, the ego tries to find real stores for personal

ID motivations, for example, turning aggressive motivations into socially

29
acceptable activities such as competing athletically with others.

Nina's intense desire for the role of "Swan Queen" is a clear indication

of her passion for life, and her pride in helping her struggle for it. She is

desperate for acceptance, recognition and love. She realized that she would get

that recognition and love in the role of "Swan Queen".

Nina is portrayed as a "white swan" - delicate, childish and soft.

However, this sensitivity is not Nina's true nature, but only a cover for her

anxieties and neurosis. As a "white swan", Nina was "beautiful, frightening

and harmful." Her entire life is a pursuit for attaining perfection. However, her

struggle for perfection is never complete because there is no balance.

Throughout the film, Nina's "white swan" personality or "life instinct" and her

thanatos or "death drive" are completely unbalanced and try to outdo each

other. According to Freudian theory, Nina's Thanatos is buried across a strong

balance of emotions, so she can't dance like a "black swan".

Nina’s personality and quest fail because her goodness is so clean and

passive that it is unlikely in the real world. Thomas, Presented by Vincent

Cassle, dance director of her ballet company, says that although she is very

good as a "white swan", she has never seen a "black swan". He tells her that

the "black swan" is out of control. "Black Swan" is a misnomer for "White

Swan". The "black swan", like its counterpart, is a metaphor for completely

abandoning all the principles and assumptions. It symbolizes freedom from the

practice of standards, competition and perfection. The black swan lives in its

own way and is not afraid to break down barriers or enter unknown places.

Nina's eros are suppressed under the face of a "sweet baby" who lives

in a room full of soft toys, showing loyalty to her mother. Her childhood

30
innocence helps her control her sexuality and adult fantasies beyond

adolescence and she remembers raising her childhood.

Nina's repressed eros and her neurotic nature are indirectly the result of

her mother's excessive control and abusive behaviour. Nina's mother, played

by Barbara Hershey, is passionate about treating her child until she leaves her

profession to the maximum to spend time with her child, but knows about her

daughter and her life. Her love affair with her daughter is like a solution that

will prevent Nina from coming of age and her mental development. At various

stages in the film, we witness how Nina’s mother transcends the life and

personality of her only child. She checks her in from time to time, a mother

does only under normal circumstances for a small child, such as trimming her

nails, undressing and lying on the bed. All of these actions, though fulfilled by

the mother with heartfelt devotion to her child, capture Nina’s perfect

development as a balanced adult. Nina experiences a struggle between adults,

she wants to claim herself, but the observation of mother and child is long

overdue, but the mother is constantly resurrected. Nina’s childhood makes a

mother cling to her, and her mother hunts her down through the control and

control of life.

This is a world which is far removed from reality and is redolent of a

child being comfortably ensconced within her small world. Nina, the adult

lives in this room which is meant for Nina, the child and is created and

maintained by her own mother. This imaginary haunting world of a

comfortable and protected childhood can damage Nina’s mind and personality

and upset her mental balance. The gap between Nina's childhood world and

the real world causes the panic and discomfort that her mind experiences. She

31
breaks herself down, turning to her imaginary haunted and constructed past, in

which she dances the ballet, but mentally is still a child.

However, her over-stimulated eros is constantly looking for chinks in

the armour that she wears, in order to pour itself out. Since it just finds a few

ruptures through which to come out, it gushes forth in distorted forms. The

eros within her projects itself onto other people like her own sexual encounter

with Lily, the old man in the train who indulges in sexual behaviour on seeing

Nina, and the director of her dance company, Thomas, having sex with Lily. In

Freudian theory, projection is a defense mechanism in which a person

attributes his or her own undesirable characteristics to others. Thus, the sexual

actions that Nina witnesses in other people do not happen in reality, but are the

imagined manifestations of her own buried eros.

Nina's buried Eros finds its alternative to its strong crater Lily, Nina's

Alter-Ego or her "shadow" and ballet. Lily does everything, not Nina, but

wants to be. Two women stand at both ends of the mental spectrum. Lily is

careless and cruel in her attitude and wears her sexuality sleeve. Her

movements on the ballet are not technically perfect, but abrupt and beautiful.

On the other hand, Nina have a passion for technology and perfection. In fact,

Nina’s quest for ballet and perfection in life is a fundamental feature of her

desire for love and attention - an important life nature. Nina’s attraction to Lily

is a sign of the conflict between her superhero and her eros as well as a strong

indication of her life instinct to defeat her super-ego.

Lily perfectly displays the tendency of death. She engages in casual

sex, uses drugs, smokes cigarettes, drinks alcohol and is uncontrollable and

fearless in her lifestyle. She leads her life with a disturbing and disturbing

32
vulnerability, but Nina’s tough life is very exciting. Whether it's Lily's free

movement on the ballet or her procrastination in escaping, Nina struggles to

resist the puritanical super-ego temptations, while at the same time

unknowingly being attracted to them.

Nina’s attraction to darkness of life can be studied as a reflection of her

‘shadow’. Lily is Nina's dark side or her "shadow", the reason why Nina

imagines Lilly participating in sexual encounters. At one point, Nina confesses

that Lily had sex with Thomas, the director of their ballet company, and at

another point she noticed that Lily had sex with the manager of a restaurant.

On the last day of acting, Nina also comes about to catch a moment of sexual

encounter between Lily and her own male counterpart. As a culmination to

Nina’s repressed eros projecting itself onto other people, she imagines and

brings to life, her own sexual encounter with Lily. Nina’s sexual escapade with

Lily is nothing but her own sexual angst and desire running wild and wanting

to assert itself by breaking through the barricades of her superego.

Like Nina's repressed Eros, her mortal nature suffocates, so she

expresses a compelling passion for perfection. Throughout the film, Nina's

death instinct is expressed through her desire for unhealthy and bloody aspects

of life. There are various scenes in the film where she imagines hurting

herself, bleeding or being injured. It pulls her towards the dark, which

becomes even stronger as her mortal nature grows stronger. At one point, her

skin germinates and her eyes grow into blood vessels.

However, as her anxiety about competition and competition grows, her

mortal nature overwhelms her life force. For example, she may have had toe

bleeding or had her nails removed before important moments of her career, for

33
example, when her employer announced her new "Swan Queen" at a large

meeting. After being announced as the new "Swan Queen", Nina steals Beth’s

personal possessions, a former dancer, from her room. Even though Nina was

crowned "Swan Queen", she still denies her achievements. She manages

anxiety and humiliating complexity about her own successes and performance

and sees Beth as a threat to her career. So, her piracy work from Beth's room

convinces herself that on Nina's dark side, there is a threat to Beth's perfection.

Concerned about whether she will be able to live up to her new position as

"Swan Queen", Nina experiences a hostile battle to become like Beth and to

overcome Beth.

When Nina visits Beth at the hospital, she returns all the stolen things

to Beth and offers the argument that she stole Beth’s things in order to be like

Beth: “I was just trying to be perfect like you.” This argument becomes a

rationalization that Nina comes up with in order to cover up her shameful act.

So, since you know that she is giving Beth a rationalization for the stolen

articles, she demonstrates her own guilt. However, this attack will soon cause

a great deal of concern for Nina's insecure self-fulfilment and perfection, as

Beth changes her image and says, "I'm nothing!" And screams.

After this anxious attack in the hospital, Nina panicked thinking she was too

important and “nothing” and her skin sprouted like thorns, her eyes were

bleeding and her limbs were hard and bruised like wood. Therefore, Nina's

"white swan" only grows when it is affected by death as a person. Her

"beautiful girl" must be killed literally and figuratively. As we witness the

death of Nina’s “white swan” and the birth of the “black swan”, a sudden and

simultaneous change in Nina’s overall character appears. Her character,

34
hitherto soft, restrained and frightened, now becomes darker, sexually

attractive and fearless. Her movements become more relaxed and free and her

voice gains more courage and confidence. Not only is she the evil swan on

stage, she actually turns into a whole person. Paradoxically, it is only when

Nina imagines to have killed Lily that she truly emerges as the “black swan”.

Lily’s death as imagined by Nina is the death of the spectre of her “shadow” or

her alter-ego that has ensnared Nina all her life. Lily’s death is the annihilation

of all demons of Nina’s personality that had till now prevented her from living

her life with sanity. It is in reality, the death of the excess of goodness in her

that she has killed herself – that excess goodness which was suffocating and

stifling her into a person controlled by her psychic battles.

However, it should be understood that Nina suffers for as long as the battle

between her eros and thanatos rages hard. It is a complex battle which takes a

heavy toll on her as her body and mind are the sites on which the battle is

carried out. Whether it is the eruptions on her skin as a result of her scratching,

the peeling off of her skin around her fingers’ nails, her wounded, bloodied

toes, or her collapsing bones, Nina’s fantasies run wild as far as the

disintegration of her body is concerned.

She imagines herself to be battered and bruised in body and mind because of

this struggle between the eros and Thanatos. While as the “white swan”, Nina

is terribly afraid of being unkind to or causing displeasure to anyone, as the

“black swan”, she abandons all yardsticks of good, evil and morality. She must

meet her dark side, one which is confident, free of worldly rules and in touch

with the wilderness in her, in order to make herself a whole individual. Nina as

the “white swan” is the controlled and disciplined girl, while Nina as the

35
“black swan” is the untamed and liberated girl. Prior to coming in touch with

her dark side, Nina has always lived a partial life. She has kept all pleasures

and sensations, likely to cause a slack in her discipline, at bay. Burdened with

guilt she leads on her life as wanting to absolve herself and undertake penance

for her imaginary guilty acts. However, after meeting her dark side, she

willingly engages in guilty pleasures like kissing her boss (on stage).Besides

Lily, Nina’s boss, Thomas, is also a major catalyst in Nina’s transformation

from a purely “white swan” to one who can balance both the eros and thanatos

in her as the “black swan”. He is the one who acquaints her with her dark and

deep, death instincts and digs them up so that she can dance the “black swan”

with perfection. The cinematography of the film reflects not only the paranoia

and anxieties of Nina, but also her evolution and transformation in a stark and

compelling manner. For instance, Nina is shown as being preoccupied with

watching reflections of herself in mirrors. There is liberal use of mirrors

throughout the film in which Nina looks for re-assurance and acceptance.

However, her anxieties, instead of being quelled, are fuelled more by looking

into the mirror. The mirror is an important figurative device or symbol used in

psychology and psychoanalysis for explaining ideas related to the self and its

image as perceived.

Whenever Nina looks into a mirror, she sees in it not a benign

reflection of her own self, but its distorted and evil image. Either she sees her

own “dark” by self scratching her skin or simply looking back at her with an

evil grin from the mirror. Even in the beginning of the film, when Nina is

practising her dance moves of spinning on her toes, she does it in front of a

full sized mirror. The scene shows her staring into the mirror while spinning

36
on her toes, and it is after a few rotations when she is completely lost in

observing her mirror image, that she twists her ankle and is thrown off her

balance. In other words, it is always her observation of her own self in the

mirror that disconcerts her as it is only then that she is confronted with her

dark, shadow self or her death instinct that she has kept hidden so well from

the public eye.

She is also shown as catching glimpses of her reflection in the metro’s

window pane while going for work and also putting on the lipstick before she

is going to meet Thomas to ask for the role of the swan queen. Nina finds the

mirror as a symbolic device through which she lets out her dark side. The

mirror becomes a medium with which she is completely honest about her

instincts and self. The mirror establishes a sort of communication between her

two, divided selves and instincts. The mirror becomes a representative

medium for Nina’s dark self, while it seeks to bridge the gaps between her

present self. The mirror also acts as an important tool which shows Nina

glimpses of her buried death instincts. In fact, Lily, who is Nina’s alter-ego,

beguiles Nina because she acts as a mirror image of Nina’s self. Nina first

spots Lily through the metro window pane and thereon, everything that Nina

does, is reflected in a stark contrast in Lily’s character.

There are certain acts that substantiate the conflict that exists between

Nina’s divided selves and instincts. For instance, the scene where Nina steals

some of the personal possessions from Beth’s room and also the one where she

puts on Beth’s lipstick to meet Thomas to convince him for the role of the

swan queen, suggest the rebellious, dark side of hers. Her theft and wearing

lipstick to seduce Thomas into giving her the role are acts of rebellion where

37
her dark-self overpowers her good-self. Furthermore, when Thomas tries to

kiss her, Nina bites him in a rare display of her wicked and seductive self.

There is also an abundant screen time that has been given to Nina’s

expressions and body language which reflect her hyper-anxious state and her

submissive demeanour. Nina’s docility and her passivity are expressed through

the tone of her voice and the manner of her speech. She speaks in an

extremely soft voice that is barely audible even to her mother at times. Her

voice is also high pitched like that of a child. Her mannerisms and body

language are shown as being subdued, quiet and controlled. She speaks with

her eyes downcast and refrains from too much eye contact. In fact, she almost

speaks like a shy, young girl instead of an adult ballet dancer.

Her facial expressions also reflect uncertainty and hesitation. She is

even shown as almost on the verge of tears many times in the film, whether it

is while she is happy (when breaking the news of her selection to her mother

on phone), or while she is being instructed and checked by Thomas in her

dance moves. She breaks down easily in the face of any criticism and cannot

face challenges like an adult. Either she is stern-faced and sombre or breaking

down.

However, it is towards the end of the film, when Nina has finally

emerged out of her cocoons and her conflicts, when she has finally accepted

an embraced her dark self and her shadows that her body language and tone of

speech registers an instant and drastic reversal. Her posture is now erect and

her head is held high. She makes confident eye contact with Thomas and is no

longer stern and controlled. Her body movements are now easy and

unrestrained. Even her voice is now no longer high pitched rather it is lower in

38
pitch and more seductive in its tone. She now surveys the audience and the

world around her as if she owns them and not with a sense of fright. The

camera has aptly captured the awakening of the self that Nina experiences

towards the end of the film. It is the blossoming of her whole identity where

she no longer shies away from the evil prevalent in the world rather she

partakes of it in order to show that she is now at peace with her dark self. For

instance, she passionately kisses Thomas backstage during the performance,

thus giving us a glimpse of her radical transformation.

Ironically, Nina’s real life is an unconscious enactment of the story of

her ballet – the “swan lake”, which Nina is performing in. The story is about a

“virginal girl, pure and sweet, trapped in the body of a swan” who desires

freedom and needs love to break her spell and it is only death that can break

her spell and make her whole again. Death in the ballet “swan lake” and in the

film is a metaphor for the annihilation of all imbalances, immoderations and

excesses that lie within Nina’s psyche. Nina’s is a case of extremities wherein

all her life she has closeted her dark side and has only lived by her good side,

however, this secret “shadow” self of hers must be brought out of its isolation

and laid side by side along with her good self. She must learn to come to terms

with the vice and immorality inherent within each one of us and accept it as a

part of her own self too. It is only then that she will manage to procure a

balanced personality for herself.

The premise of the story implies the pervasive existence of injustice in

our lives and also how naivety cannot survive all by itself in this world. The

“virginal girl” in “swan lake” is about to receive the love which will undo her

spell, when “the black swan” seduces the prince and takes him away. “The

39
swan lake” punctures the myth of a benign and paradisiacal existence and also

advances the plucky message of cunning winning Nina Sayers kills all the

restraints and limits within herself at the end, and must die in order to be

reborn as a whole personality. She kills the neuroses, anxieties, imbalances

and paranoia within her and rises from the ashes as the true “black swan”. In

her death, she becomes the black swan who has come to terms with the

goodness and evil within herself and has conquered both so as not to let either

one overpower the other. In other words, Nina achieves a complete balance of

personality in her death. The thanatos which had always been suppressed

within Nina’s psyche is brought to life in the form of the dark, deviant,

destructive and sexually emancipated “black swan”. The “black swan” or

thanatos, traditionally deemed as self-destructive, preserves the universal

balance between creation and destruction. It reminds Nina and all of us of the

parallel co-existence of creation and destruction.

Thus, it is only when the sinner is brought at par with the saint and

juxtaposed together that we can truly appreciate the beauty of the saint. The

existence of vice is necessary to understand and to be grateful about the virtue.

Evil has always been a necessary counterpart of the good which can only be

celebrated in its binary existence along with evil. It is only by killing herself

that Nina emerges as the perfect union of the good and evil. Nina learns to

eventually accept and embrace the beauty of life that is a balance of opposites.

For a while, she imagines having killed the dark and sinister Lily (the black

swan) in her but she has in fact killed the “white swan” in her and balanced

out the surplus of goodness in herself with the evil prevalent in the world. It

teaches us, eventually Nina, how the wisdom to survive in this world cannot

40
be a product of childlike innocence alone. Rather, it also needs a judicious and

discreet temperament to balance out the inexperience of adolescence.

Nina Sayers kills all the limitations and limitations within her in the

end, and she must die in order to be born again as a whole human being. She

kills the neuroses, anxiety, inequality and disability within her and rises to the

ashes like a real “black swan”. At her death, she becomes a dark nest that

conforms to the good and evil within her and conquers both so as not to allow

anyone to stop the other. In other words, Nina attains the perfect balance of

personality in her death. The thanatos that had been pressed into Nina's mind

were made to appear in the dark, depressing, destructive and sexually liberated

"black". The “black swan” or thanatos, traditionally viewed as harmless, has

maintained a balance between creation and destruction. It reminds Nina and

the rest of us of the unity of nature and destruction.

Therefore, it is only when the sinner is brought together with the saint

and juxtaposed together that we can best appreciate the beauty of the saint.

The presence of evil is important to understand and appreciate the good. Evil

has always been a necessary measure of good that can only be celebrated

where there is binary and evil. It is only through suicide that Nina emerges as

a complete union of good and evil. Nina learns to accept and ultimately accept

the beauty of life that is the standard of opponents. For a while, she thought

she had killed Lily (the black woman) who was evil to her but had actually

killed the “white girl” in her and a good balance of evil in her and the evil in

the world.

41
 Chapter Four

Black Swan and Abnormal Psychology

Nina Sayer is a featured ballerina who is fragile and struggling to

achieve the leading role in Black Swan. Nina articulates her almost monastic

life through her repetitive daily schedule. Her life is dictated with ballet. She

does not drink and she does not go out with friends. She does not eat much

and she is constantly putting herself into physical pain by dancing. All she

seems to do is dance at the company, come home and prepare for next day’s

dance. The competitive atmosphere at the dance company conveys the tension

which Nina experiences every day.

One day Thomas the director picks dancers for surprise audition to

seek leading dancer who will be positioned as Black Swan. A dancer who

performs the Black Swan must transcend between the innocent White Swan

and impulsive Black Swan. Nina, who is a very controlled person was

observed to do well on the White Swan but she could not ‘loose herself’ so

Thomas believed she will not be able to switch between the two contradictory

roles. During Nina’s Practice, Thomas tells her that she is technically correct

but she cannot articulate the impulsive and seductive moment which need to

appear from the Black Swan. To change Thomas’ mind, Nina kisses him

suddenly to express her impulse.

After Nina’s mother hears about Nina’s success on taking the role of

Black Swan, she tries to suggest a piece of cake. However Nina declines it and

her mother expresses sudden anger and attempts to throw the cake away.

Nina’s mother’s controlling attitudes continues by checking Nina’s skin in

obsessive manner and checking Nina’s ballet practice routine.

42
 After the practice for Black Swan starts, Nina soon figures out that

Lily is more adequate for the seductive, impulsive part of the role Black Swan.

Thomas notes that she may not be perfect like Nina but she does know how to

express herself. With such remarks, Nina starts to become suspicious whether

Lily is trying to replace Nina’s role. One incident when Lily noticed Nina

crying after a hard practice, Lily come to Thomas and tells him to be easy to

her. Thomas comes back to Nina and blames her being weak. Later, Lily takes

Nina out for dinner and night club. Even though this may seem like a friendly

gesture, the drugs and drinks Nina suggested made Nina to be late for an

important practice. These series of events made Nina to confirm her suspicion

on Lily trying to replace Nina.

As the opening of Black Swan approaches, Nina gradually transforms

herself to more impulsive and uncontrolled person. She accepts drinks and

drugs from the night club and have sexual event with Lily. This means that

Nina almost abandoned her competitive, austere monastic life. The night

before the opening of Black Swan, Nina perceives herself transforming into a

Black Swan. Her feet and legs become bird-like and her back sprouts feather

and wings to transform into an actual Black Swan. This transformation

articulates Nina becoming a true Black Swan in terms of mental state.

At the opening night, Nina makes a mistake and Lily comes to her

makeup room to comfort her. Nina stabs her with piece of broken glass and

hides her so that the murder becomes elimination of any obstacle from being

the true Black Swan. At the end of the film Aronofsky shows that Nina’s

murder was mere hallucination and in fact the one got stabbed was Nina.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

43
 Throughout the movie Nina suffers from number of symptoms which

seems abnormal. While her anxiety is clearly expressed, Obsessive

compulsive disorder may be the prominent disorder which Nina is

experiencing. Below description delineates Nina’s symptoms from OCDs and

other disorder which may relate back to her OCD.

Nina continuously receives criticism that she is trying to be ‘perfect’

from Thomas during the practices. Obsessive compulsive disorder associates

psychological distress leading to anxiety which is a critical marker of this

particular disorder. It is defined by unreasonable thoughts and fears along with

repetitive behaviors. Dream experiences, affect valence, magical ideation,

splitting defense and superego functions may accompany with OCD.

Throughout the film Nina sees hallucinations, experience eating disorder

deriving from anxiety, and articulates scratching behavior. From earlier at the

movie Nina sees herself passing by in the subway and at the end of the film

she perceives herself transforming to a Black Swan. Both of these symptoms

suggest that she is suffering from hallucination which may come from her

obsessive thoughts. Also Nina’s scratching behavior and self-harming

behavior suggest her compulsions. Nina scratched her back until her mother

prevented her from damaging her skin by covering her hand with clothes. This

scratching behavior reflects her emotional tension and anxiety Nina is

experiencing. It seems that through the competitive occupation influenced

Nina to develop such symptoms. Her desire to achieve success and pressure

from her mother and Thomas may be the important factor of developing OCD.

Throughout the movie, the symptoms of OCD are expressed with very strong

visuals in order to convey the dramatic mood. However such strong visual

44
may give misleading information about OCD. The dramatized symptoms may

influence the public in profession to learn wrong image.

Eating Disorder

Nina is a white female who lives in an extremely competitive and

stressful situation occupation that puts her under pressure to thin and

physically light. Research indicates that ballet dancers are at higher risk of

developing eating disorder and receive stress from their body image. There are

number of scene where Nina vomits in the toilet which suggest that she is

possibly bulimic. It is unclear if the vomiting happened because of the

stressful situation or the reason derives from her attempt to keep her weight

light. However the cinematography suggests that after the vomit Nina seems

to be somewhat relieved through from her anxiety. Also her surprisingly thin

body shape and her perfectionism suggest possible anorexia nervosa to be

diagnosed. Anorexia nervosa consist with symptoms such as refusal to

maintain body weight at or above minimally normal level, intense fear of

gaining weight, and/or inappropriate evaluation of one’s or shape, or denial of

the seriousness of the current low body weight. The scenes where Nina refuses

to eat the cake suggest that she has fear of weight gain. Also her extremely

thin body shape suggests that her bodyweight is at minimal level. In the cases

of both anorexia and bulimia, article supports that these eating disorder are

form of OCD.

Schizophrenia and paranoid delusions

During the film, Nina experiences number of incidence which

associates delusions, hallucinations and uncontrolled-disorganized behavior.

Schizophrenia is defined by the symptoms that influence individual’s

45
cognitive process and perception. DSM V includes symptoms such as

delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior, and absence of

normal mental behaviors. Nina’s delusion may be classified as paranoid

delusions since her growing suspicion led her to see Thomas having sexual

encounter with Lily-which she may have perceived as the reason of Thomas’

favoritism to Lily. The paranoid subtype of schizophrenia may be defined with

a person who has preoccupation with one or more delusion or frequent

auditory hallucination but disorganized speech, catatonic behavior or

inappropriate affect symptom is not prominent. Although paranoid subtype is

not included in DSM V anymore, it is important symptoms which suggest

Nina is experiencing Schizophrenia because of her obsessive thoughts. While

the cinematography never confirms where the delusion begins and ends, it is

clear that some of the delusions are developed from Nina’s suspicion toward

Lily and the stressful environment. Thus Nina’s paranoid delusions may have

come from her obsessive thoughts. Again, her paranoid delusions and

hallucinations are articulated in much dramatized tone throughout the movie.

Thus the public and profession may perceive the overly dramatized aspect of

the symptoms which may become misleading information about this particular

disorder.

Aronofsky and Natalie Portman went through intensive articulation of

a Ballerina who experiences number of different psychological disorder

through cinematography. The visuals and auditory were very strong media to

have the viewer understand the experience the protagonist Nina is going

through. The symptoms in the film may have been exaggerated but the film

gives vivid and distinctive articulation of Eating disorder, Schizophrenia,

46
Obsessive compulsive disorder. Although the film may be informing, one

concern is that somewhat exaggeration of symptoms may give misleading

information to the viewers since the film articulated the symptoms with very

strong visuals to add the drama to the film. Nina who suffers different type of

disorder have prominent symptom, OCD. Nina’s different symptoms

eventually relates back to OCD. Through different research which studied the

relationship between OCD and other different disorders draws into a

conclusion that Nina is suffering OCD with comorbidity of other disorders.

47
 Chapter Five

Conclusion

The film Black Swan follows Nina who is a ballerina in a New York

City Ballet company. She lives with obsessive mother who still has a lot of

control over her. But what truly has the most control over her is her work. This

shows when a director, Thomas decides to recast for Swan Lake, Nina is his

first choice. But Nina has competition with a new dancer, Lily who impresses

Thomas as well. As the two young dancers expand the rivalry into a twisted

friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side which leads to

a horrible transformation into the Black Swan.

Many of the film scenes can be explained by understanding that Nina

is suffering from a mental condition known as schizophrenia. It can result in

hallucinations and paranoid delusions if treatment is not provided. This

explains the many hallucinations we see and the intense paranoia she feels

during the film. Her mental state is further worsened by the stress put on her

by both her mother, her dance director and herself.

She desires to be perfect and this intense desire is slowly eating away

at her fragile mental state and physical state as the deep scratches on her

shoulder get worse. Towards the end of the film there occurs a sharp rise in

Nina’s hallucinations. These start small in the beginning of the movie but on

the opening night of Black Swan, her paranoia and hallucinations rise to an

all- time high. This is due to her obsession with being able to pull off the role

of Black Swan.

After we see a hallucination of her killing Lily, she takes the stage and

hallucinates herself fully transforming into the Black Swan. The film ends

48
with her dying on the mattress she dove on at the end of the performance. Her

obsession with perfection came at the price of her life.

A deeper study into the film, narrative tells us that the film is not only

about the desire of Nina to become perfect. It is also a story about a girl finally

transitioning to womanhood.

Throughout the film we are told that Nina has mastered the White

swan part of the role. This is because to her the role comes naturally. The

White Swan is pure, fragile and innocent. It symbolizes the child side of Nina.

She is the White Swan because she is still figuratively a child. Her desire to

master the Black Swan part of the role can be viewed as her desire to grow up.

This role is wild and the opposite of White Swan. She is unable to master this

part of the role as she is still a child and the Black Swan is a woman. As the

movie goes on Nina develops into the Black Swan. This process is slow and

painful and in the end she achieves her goal although it does cost her, her life.

Id is a part of the personality, which is related to the principle of

happiness, which seeks to instantly satisfy all the desires, desires and needs of

a person. Throughout the film, Nina was unable to do the role of the black

swan properly, mainly because she grew up to be morally "correct". She was

raised by Mrs. Sayers to view sex as morally wrong, similarly, she was

initially unable to play the role of the black swan because it was a sensual,

"alien" thing to her. Lily filled Nina's emptiness, mainly because she opened

Nina's world to the senses, and eventually Nina was able to play the role of the

black swan.

The ego is the part that acts as a balance between the first two

principles, also known as the principle of reality. Nina acts as the ego in the

49
film, balancing her mother's morally upright upbringing and Lily's sensory

"perspective". She struggled to adapt to the role of the black swan because she

had grown morally upright, and Lily's antics were initially found to be

disturbing. But she eventually warmed to the idea and, in the end, was able to

do the role of the black swan wonderfully.

Nina is told to study Lily to gain seduction, passion and aggression,

while Nina alternates between reality and Nina's psychosis in scary and

depressing scenes. A formerly controlled and co-based relationship with her

mother, a former-dancer-turned-stage-mother, who was wonderfully portrayed

by Barabara Hershey, explodes into one with aggressive struggles,

disobedience (because Nina is a loyal daughter) and violence. The film shows

Nina hurting herself to become a black swan. She keeps pulling at the extra

skin near her fingernail until she sheds tears at her skin and bleeding. Scenes

like her scratching on her back until the swan-shaped slits of a black swan

come, thrilling the audience and immersing them deeper into the film. Nina's

character points to her mental disorder, which on closer inspection reveals that

it must be schizophrenia. Nina seems to be developing an illness due to the

competition she is facing from her mother, her inferiority complex from Lily

and her eating disorders and anxiety as well as her sexual development

towards her. Nina's hallucinations, constantly heard voices point towards her

mood, which eventually leads to her end. As the film progresses, especially in

the end, Nina (basically, her hallucinations) slowly develops her webbed feet

and feathers and turns into a swan. She removes the sweet, good girl side to

embrace her dark side to please the demanding, sexually aggressive director.

Her hallucinations are very real, the difference between what we see is her

50
ination or reality. The scenes are disturbing, fascinating and mysterious,

making it difficult to understand reality.

The white swan character dies at the end of the film, and Nina actually

dies for the final scene, in which her last line is “I felt it. Perfect. It was

perfect.” The last line is as important as the presence of the three

psychological elements, because balancing her personality in ID and Superego

symbolizes that Nina has already achieved peace within herself, conveyed

through the balance lines.

The film Black Swan is more than just a mental health case study. The

film has a lot to say about how the young woman are used by the system. We

also see a dominant male at the top of these industries who behaves

exploitatively and abusively towards aspiring young female professionals.

This has wide applications beyond just professional ballet companies

including Hollywood. On the other hand the film also shows that having an

abusive mentor can lead to intensely passionate performances and artistic

perfection. Some industries particularly the professional industry tend to

reward unhealthy behaviours. It is been said that some of the most creative

and brilliant people to ever live were terribly troubled as well. So there may be

a relationship between pathological behaviour and beauty.

Aronofsky is particularly gifted at developing fascinating mental health case

studies and then looking at injustices in society and combining the two.

Something else to point out is Nina’s unhealthy and measurement with her

mother. Nina’s mother failed to achieve her career aspirations because she

chose to focus on raising her daughter. Nina instead she seems to live with a

considerable regret of not achieving more in life. She’s even trying to live

51
vicariously through taking advantage of any success that Nina enjoys. Nina’s

struggles with being dependent on her mother and also with developing more

autonomy and freedom. But despite her mother’s endless attempt to control

her life, we get the sense especially at the end that they do love each other and

her mother is supportive of her and what is best for her. They have a moment

at the end of the film that must have been pure elation for both of them as they

lock eyes before Swan queen falls to her death.

Aronofsky inserts a lot of subtle cues throughout the film that are

designed to help the viewer experience what Nina’s mental illness might have

felt like to her. A great example of this is early in the film viewers quickly see

the eyes on a painting move. Little things like this happens to Nina throughout

the film causing her to doubt her own reality contributing to her increasing

paranoia. It also demonstrates to the viewers that they can’t be too sure of

what is real and what is not. These events are symptoms of Nina’s psychosis

and which are actually happening. This really portrays Nina’s struggle and

demonstrate how impossible life must feel to her. It also adds a perfect hint of

ambiguity to the film. Not only Nina’s psychosis taking over her life but also

she’s physically changing into the Black Swan. This is represented in Nina

seeing her face on Lily’s body and also in Nina destroying the signs of

innocence and youth from her bedroom. This is partly an assertion of freedom

and a development into maturity. This also represents Nina transforming into

something darker. She stops trying to hold back her mental illness and fully

indulges in it using it to help her give a profound performance at the end. Thus

it becomes a tool to help her achieve the end she wanted which was unable to

achieve otherwise. Interestingly this change actually results in her being a

52
weaker White Swan as she loses some of her discipline resulting in a sloppier

performance and a fall. But as a result her Black Swan demonstration was

masterful.

The message is you can’t have both simultaneously that is you can’t

have perfect control and also perfect artistic freedom because one will always

be at the service of the other.

53
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