Black Swan is a 2010 Americanpsychological horrorthriller film directed byDarren Aronofsky from a screenplay byMark Heyman, John McLaughlin, and Andres Heinz, based on a story by Heinz. The film starsNatalie Portman in the lead role, withVincent Cassel,Mila Kunis,Barbara Hershey, andWinona Ryder in supporting roles. The plot revolves around a production ofTchaikovsky'sSwan Lake by the company ofNew York City Ballet. The production requires a ballerina to play the innocent and fragile White Swan, for which the committed dancer Nina Sayers (Portman) is a perfect fit, as well as the dark and sensual Black Swan, which are qualities better embodied by the new rival Lily (Kunis). Nina is overwhelmed by a feeling of immense pressure when she finds herself competing for the role, causing her to lose her tenuous grip on reality and descend into madness.
Aronofsky conceived the premise by connecting his viewings of a production ofSwan Lake with an unrealized screenplay about understudies and the notion of being haunted by a double, similar to the folklore surroundingdoppelgängers. Aronofsky citesFyodor Dostoevsky'sThe Double as another inspiration for the film. Aronofsky also consideredBlack Swan a companion piece to his filmThe Wrestler (2008), with both films revolving around demanding performances for different kinds of art. He and Portman first discussed the project in 2000, and after a brief attachment toUniversal Pictures,Black Swan was produced in New York City in late 2009 byFox Searchlight Pictures. Portman and Kunis trained in ballet for several months prior to filming.
Nina Sayers, a young dancer with theNew York City Ballet, lives with her overprotective mother, Erica, a formerballerina. The company is opening the season withTchaikovsky'sSwan Lake. After forcing the currentprima ballerina, Beth, into retirement,artistic director Thomas Leroy announces he is looking for a new dancer for thedual roles of the innocent and fragile White Swan, Odette, and the sensual and dark Black Swan, Odile. Ninaauditions and gives a flawless performance as Odette, but fails to embody Odile, causing Thomas to dismiss her.
The next day, Nina asks Thomas to reconsider. He forcibly kisses her and she bites him and runs out of his office. Later, Nina is surprised to find she has received the lead role. At agala celebrating the new season, an intoxicated Beth publicly accuses Nina of providing sexual favors to Thomas in return for the role. The next day, Nina hears Beth had been hit by a car; Thomas believes she was attemptingsuicide. Nina visits Beth in the hospital and is distraught to see her injured legs; it is clear she will never dance again.
During rehearsals, Thomas tells Nina to observe a newcomer, Lily, who has a physical resemblance to Nina but also an uninhibited quality Nina lacks. Nina hashallucinations and finds scratch marks on her back. One night, despite Erica's objections, Nina accepts Lily's invitation to go out for drinks. Lily offers Nina anecstasy capsule, which Nina reluctantly accepts. While intoxicated, Nina flirts with men at the bar and Lily as well. After the two dance at anightclub, they go back to Nina's apartment and have sex. The next morning, Nina wakes up disoriented and alone and realizes that she is late for rehearsal.
At rehearsal, Nina sees Lily dancing as Odile and confronts her about their sexual encounter. Lily denies that it happened and mocks Nina for fantasizing about her. Nina becomes convinced Lily intends to replace her, especially after learning that Thomas has made Lily her alternate. Nina's mysterious injuries and hallucinations grow more severe, leading to an incident where she believes she is transforming into Odile. Erica grows concerned about her well-being and attempts to prevent Nina from performing on opening night.
After a physical confrontation with her mother and a confrontation with Beth, Nina arrives at the theater, where she finds Lily preparing to take the stage as Odette because Nina has been absent. Nina convinces Thomas to allow her to take back her role. Towards the end of the ballet's second act, Nina is distracted by a hallucination and loses her balance during alift, causing Prince Siegfried to drop her, infuriating Thomas. Nina returns to her dressing room and finds Lily preparing to play Odile. She confronts her and Lily appears to transform into adoppelgänger of Nina. The two fight, breaking a mirror. Nina stabs her doppelgänger with a shard of glass, killing her and breaking the illusion. Nina hides Lily's body and takes the stage. She dances flawlessly as Odile and seemingly begins to turn into a black swan, her arms covered in feathers. Amidst a standing ovation from the audience, Nina surprises Thomas with a passionate kiss.
In her dressing room, Nina resumes the Odettetutu and white swan makeup, but is interrupted by Lily, who congratulates Nina for her performance. Nina sees the mirror is still broken, but all other evidence of the stabbing is gone, including the body. She looks down and pulls a piece of glass from her abdomen, realizing she stabbed herself and not Lily. Despite her injury, she dances the final act of the ballet with blood gradually seeping through her costume. The show ends with her jumping from the set onto a hidden mattress to simulate Odette throwing herself off a cliff. Everyone erupts in thunderous applause while Thomas, Lily, and the other dancers gather to congratulate Nina backstage. Thomas eventually realizes Nina is bleeding and shouts for help, asking Nina what happened. Nina calmly replies: "I felt it. Perfect. I was perfect", as the screen fades to white.
During the closing credits, the major cast members are credited both as their film characters as well as their corresponding characters fromSwan Lake.
Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers / White Swan / Odette, a ballerina for the NYC ballet who strives for perfection while struggling with stress and various traumatic issues
Mila Kunis as Lily / Black Swan / Odile, an experienced ballerina transferred to the company and seen as a threat to Nina
Vincent Cassel as Thomas Leroy / The Gentleman, the sexual crazed Artistic Director
Barbara Hershey as Erica Sayers / The Queen, Nina's overprotective mother and a retired ballerina
Winona Ryder as Elizabeth "Beth" MacIntyre / The Dying Swan, a star prima ballerina who was forced into retirement
Benjamin Millepied as David Moreau / Prince Siegfried, Nina's dance partner
Ksenia Solo as Veronica / Little Swan, a ballerina who was originally Thomas's first pick for the lead in Swan Lake
Darren Aronofsky first became interested in ballet when his sister studied dance at theHigh School of Performing Arts in New York City. The basic idea for the film started when he hired screenwriters to rework a screenplay calledThe Understudy, which portrayedoff-Broadway actors and explored the notion of being haunted by a double. Aronofsky said the screenplay had elements ofAll About Eve (1950),Roman Polanski'sThe Tenant (1976), andFyodor Dostoyevsky's novellaThe Double. The director had also seen numerous productions ofSwan Lake, and he connected the duality of the White Swan and the Black Swan to the script.[5] When researching for the production ofBlack 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.
The scene from the balletSwan Lake in which the Black Swan (Odile) tricks and seduces the Prince
Aronofsky calledBlack Swan a companion piece to his previous filmThe 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 incredible use of their bodies to express themselves."[6] About the psychological thriller nature ofBlack Swan, actress Natalie Portman compared the film's tone to Polanski's 1968 filmRosemary's Baby,[7] while Aronofsky said Polanski'sRepulsion (1965) andThe Tenant (1976) were "big influences" on the final film.[6] Actor Vincent Cassel also comparedBlack Swan to Polanski's early works and additionally compared it toDavid Cronenberg's early works.[8]
Mila Kunis was first approached to star inBlack Swan in 2008.
Aronofsky first discussed with Natalie Portman the possibility of a ballet film in 2000, and he found she was interested in playing a ballet dancer.[6] Portman explained being part ofBlack Swan, "I'm trying to find roles that demand more adulthood from me because you can get stuck in a very awful cute cycle as a woman in film, especially being such a small person."[9] Portman suggested to Aronofsky that her good friend Mila Kunis would be perfect for the role. Kunis contrasted Lily with Nina, "My character is very loose ... She's not as technically good as Natalie's character, but she has more passion, naturally. That's what [Nina] lacks."[10] The female characters are directed in theSwan Lake production by Thomas Leroy, played by Cassel. He compared his character toGeorge Balanchine, who co-foundedNew York City Ballet and was "a control freak, a true artist using sexuality to direct his dancers".[11]
Portman and Kunis started training six months before the start of filming in order to attain a body type and muscle tone more similar to those of professional dancers.[5] Portman worked out for five hours a day, doing ballet, cross-training, and swimming. A few months closer to filming, she began choreography training.[12] Kunis engaged incardio andPilates, "train[ing] seven days a week, five hours, for five, six months total, and... was put on a very strict diet of 1,200 calories a day". She lost 20 pounds (9 kg) from her normal weight of about 117 pounds (53 kg), and reported that Portman "became smaller than I did".[13] Kunis said, "I did ballet as a kid like every other kid does ballet. You wear atutu and you stand on stage and you look cute and twirl. But this is very different because you can't fake it. You can't just stay in there and like pretend you know what you're doing. Your whole body has to be structured differently."[14]Georgina Parkinson, aballet mistress from theAmerican Ballet Theatre (ABT), coached the actors in ballet.[15] ABTsoloistsSarah Lane andMaría Riccetto served as "dance doubles" for Portman and Kunis, respectively.[16] Dancer Kimberly Prosa also served as a double for Portman. She stated: "Natalie took class, she studied for several months, from the waist up is her. Sarah Lane, a soloist at ABT, did the heavy tricks, she did thefouettés, but they only had her for a limited time, a couple of weeks, so I did the rest of whatever dance shots they needed."[17]
In addition to the soloist performances, members of thePennsylvania Ballet were cast as thecorps de ballet, backdrop for the main actors' performances.[5] Also appearing in the film are Kristina Anapau,[18] Toby Hemingway,[19] Sebastian Stan,[20] and Janet Montgomery.[21]
Aronofsky and Portman first discussed a ballet film in 2000, after the release of his second filmRequiem for a Dream (2000), though the script had not yet been written.[6] He told her about a love scene between competing ballet dancers, and Portman recalled, "I thought that was very interesting because this film is in so many ways an exploration of an artist's ego and that narcissistic sort of attraction to yourself and also repulsion with yourself."[22] On the decade's wait before production, she said, "The fact that I had spent so much time with the idea... allowed it to marinate a little before we shot."[23]
The screenplayThe Understudy was written by Andres Heinz; Aronofsky first heard about it while editingRequiem for a Dream and described it as "All About Eve with a double, set in the off-Broadway world". After makingThe Fountain (2006), Aronofsky and producerMike Medavoy had screenwriter John McLaughlin rewriteThe Understudy; Aronofsky said McLaughlin "took my idea ofSwan Lake and the ballet and put [the story] into the ballet world and changed the title toBlack Swan".[24] When Aronofsky proposed a detailed outline ofBlack Swan toUniversal Pictures, the studio decided to fast-track development of the project in January 2007.[25] The project "sort of died, again" according to Aronofsky, until after the making ofThe Wrestler (2008), when he hadMark Heyman, director of development of Aronofsky's production company Protozoa Pictures, write forBlack Swan "and made it something that was workable".[24] By June 2009, Universal had placed the project inturnaround, generating attention from other studios and specialty divisions, particularly with actress Portman attached to star.[26]Black Swan began development under Protozoa Pictures and Overnight Productions, the latter financing the film. In July 2009, Kunis was cast.[27]
Fox Searchlight Pictures distributedBlack Swan and gave the film a production budget of $10–12 million. Principal photography was achieved usingSuper 16mm cameras and began in New York City toward the end of 2009.[28][29] Part of filming took place at the Performing Arts Center atState University of New York at Purchase.[5] Aronofsky filmedBlack Swan with a muted palette and a grainy style, which he intended to be similar toThe Wrestler.[30] Aronofsky said:
I like Super 16 because the cameras are really light, really moveable. Also, forThe Wrestler, it was a money-saving thing. The film stocks on 35mm would become so glossy that they'd get close to what people are doing on video. I wanted to go back to the grainy,vérité cinema feel ofThe Wrestler... Like with wrestling, ballet is shot in wide shot with two shots on the side, and no one really brought the camera—well, wrestling—into the ring or for us, onto the stage and into the practice room. I really wanted the camera to dance, but I was nervous about shooting a psychological thriller/horror film with a hand-held camera. I couldn't think of another example where they did that...Steadicams are very different than hand-helds, because hand-held gives you thatvérité feel. I was concerned if that would affect the suspense, but after a while I said, "Screw it, let's go for it."[24]
Cinematographer Matthew Libatique shot the film on16mm film.[31]
The non-original music featured inBlack Swan consists of music byTchaikovsky featuring performances on-screen and in the soundtrack by violinistTim Fain[32] and a track ofelectronica dance music by English production duothe Chemical Brothers. It marks the fifth consecutive collaboration between Aronofsky and English composerClint Mansell, who composed the original score for the film. Mansell attempted to score the film based on Tchaikovsky's ballet[33] but with radical changes to the music.[34] Because of the use of Tchaikovsky's music, the score was deemed ineligible to be entered into the2010 Academy Awards forBest Original Score.[35]
The Chemical Brothers' music, which is featured prominently during the club scene in the film, is omitted from the soundtrack album.[36]
Black Swan had itsworld premiere as the opening film at the67th Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2010. It received a standing ovation whose lengthVariety said made it "one of the strongest Venice openers in recent memory".[37] The festival's artistic director Marco Mueller had chosenBlack Swan overThe American (starringGeorge Clooney) for opening film, saying, "[It] was just a better fit ... Clooney is a wonderful actor, and he will always be welcome in Venice. But it was as simple as that."[38]Black Swan screened in competition and is the third consecutive film directed by Aronofsky to premiere at the festival, followingThe Fountain (2006) andThe Wrestler.[39]
The release ofBlack Swan in the United Kingdom was preponed from February 11 to January 21, 2011. According toThe Independent, the film was considered one of "the most highly anticipated" films of 2010. The newspaper then compared it to the 1948 ballet filmThe Red Shoes in having "a nightmarish quality... of a dancer consumed by her desire to dance".[47]
The film was re-released, remastered exclusively forIMAX to celebrate its 15th anniversary on August 21, 2025 and August 24, 2025.[48]
Black Swan had alimited release in select cities in North America on December 3, 2010, in 18 theaters[50] and was asurprise box office success.[51] The film took in a total of $415,822 on its opening day, averaging $23,101 per theater.[52] By the end of its opening weekend it grossed $1,443,809—$80,212 per theater. The per location average was the second highest for the opening weekend of 2010 behindThe King's Speech.[53] The film is Fox Searchlight Pictures' highest per-theater average gross ever, and it ranks 21st on the all-time list.[54] On its second weekend the film expanded to 90 theaters, and grossed $3.3 million, ranking it as the sixth film at the box-office.[55] In its third weekend, it expanded again to 959 theaters and grossed $8,383,479. The film went on to gross over $106 million in the United States and over $329 million worldwide.[3]
Black Swan received positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise toward Aronofsky's direction and the performances of Portman, Kunis and Hershey.
Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 85% based on 318 reviews, and an average rating of 8.20/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Bracingly intense, passionate, and wildly melodramatic,Black Swan glides on Darren Aronofsky's bold direction—and abravura,tour-de-force performance from Natalie Portman."[56] AtMetacritic, which assigns aweighted average score out to reviews, the film received an average score of 79 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally positive reviews".[57]
In September 2010,Entertainment Weekly reported that based on reviews from the film's screening at the Venice Film Festival, "[Black Swan] is already set to be one of the year's most love-it-or-hate-it films."[58]Leonard Maltin, on his blogMovie Crazy, admitted that he "couldn't stand" the film, despite highly praising Portman's performance.[59]Reuters described the early response to the film as "largely positive", with Portman's performance being highly praised.[60]The Sydney Morning Herald reported that "the film divided critics. Some found its theatricality maddening, but most declared themselves 'swept away'."[61]
Kurt Loder ofReason called the film "wonderfully creepy", and wrote that "it's not entirely satisfying; but it's infused with the director's usual creative brio, and it has a great dark gleaming look".[62] Mike Goodridge fromScreen Daily calledBlack Swan "alternately disturbing and exhilarating" and described the film as a hybrid ofThe Turning Point (1977) and Polanski's filmsRepulsion (1965) andRosemary's Baby (1968). Goodridge described Portman's performance, "[She] is captivating as Nina... She captures the confusion of a repressed young woman thrown into a world of danger and temptation with frightening veracity." The critic also commended Cassel, Kunis, and Hershey in their supporting roles, particularly comparing Hershey toRuth Gordon in the role of "the desperate, jealous mother". Goodridge praised Libatique's cinematography with the dance scenes and the psychologically "unnerving" scenes: "It's a mesmerising psychological ride that builds to a gloriously theatrical tragic finale as Nina attempts to deliver the perfect performance."[63]
Black Swan opened at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, making it the third consecutive Aronofsky film to be screened at the ceremony. It was nominated for theGolden Lion and Mila Kunis won theMarcello Mastroianni Award.
Kirk Honeycutt ofThe Hollywood Reporter gave the film a mixed review. He wrote, "[Black Swan] is an instant guilty pleasure, a gorgeously shot, visually complex film whose badness is what's so good about it. You might howl at the sheer audacity of mixing mental illness with the body-fatiguing, mind-numbing rigors of ballet, but its lurid imagery and a hellcat competition between two rival dancers is pretty irresistible." Honeycutt commended Millepied's "sumptuous" choreography and Libatique's "darting, weaving" camera work. The critic said of the thematic mashup, "Aronofsky... never succeeds in wedding genre elements to the world of ballet... White Swan/Black Swan dynamics almost work, but the horror-movie nonsense drags everything down the rabbit hole of preposterousness."[64] Similarly, in a piece forThe Huffington Post,Rob Kirkpatrick praised Portman's performance but compared the film's story to that ofShowgirls (1995) andBurlesque (2010) while concludingBlack Swan is "simply higher-priced cheese, Aronofsky'scamembert to [Burlesque directorSteve] Antin'scheddar".[65]Vulture's Kyle Buchanan also noted the similarities of the film's plot to the widely deridedShowgirls, and said that the director Darren Aronofsky "owes a feather-tip toPaul Verhoeven's exploitation classic more than [he] might be willing to admit".[66]
The film has been criticized for its portrayal of ballet and ballet dancers. Upon the film's release in the United Kingdom,The Guardian interviewed four professional ballet dancers in the UK:Tamara Rojo,Lauren Cuthbertson,Edward Watson, andElena Glurjidze. Rojo called the film "lazy ... featuring every ballet cliche going". Watson felt that the film "makes [ballet] look so naff and laughable. It doesn't show why ballet is so important to us—why we would want to try so hard."[67]The Canadian Press also reported that many Canadian ballet dancers felt that the film depicted dancers negatively and exaggerated elements of their lives but gave Portman high marks for her dance technique.[68] In an interview with theLos Angeles Times,Gillian Murphy, a principal dancer withAmerican Ballet Theatre praised the visual elements of the film but noted that the film presentation of the ballet world was "extreme".[69]
Several critics noted striking similarities betweenSatoshi Kon's 1997anime filmPerfect Blue and Aronofsky'sBlack Swan.[70][71] In response to comparisons betweenPerfect Blue andBlack Swan, Aronofsky acknowledged the similarities in 2010, but denied thatBlack Swan was inspired byPerfect Blue.[70] Kon noted in his blog that he had met with Aronofsky in 2001.[71]
Amy Westcott is credited as the costume designer and received several award nominations. A publicized controversy arose regarding the question of who had designed 40 ballet costumes for Portman and the dancers. An article in the British newspaperThe Independent suggested those costumes had actually been created byRodarte'sKate and Laura Mulleavy.[72] Westcott challenged that view and stated that in all only 7 costumes, among them the Black and White Swan, had been created in a collaboration between Rodarte, Westcott, and Aronofsky. Furthermore, the corps ballet's costumes were designed by Zack Brown (for the American Ballet Theatre), and slightly adapted by Westcott and her costume design department. Westcott said: "Controversy is too complimentary a word for two people using their considerable self-publicising resources to loudly complain about their credit once they realized how good the film is."[73]
ABT dancerSarah Lane served as a "dance double" for Portman in the film.[16] In a March 3 blog entry forDance Magazine, editor-in-chiefWendy Perron asked: "Do people really believe that it takes only one year to make a ballerina? We know that Natalie Portman studied ballet as a kid and had a year of intensive training for the film, but that doesn't add up to being a ballerina. However, it seems that many people believe that Portman did her own dancing inBlack Swan."[74][75] This led to responses fromBenjamin Millepied and Aronofsky, who both defended Portman, as well as a response from Lane claiming that she has not been given due credit.[76][77]
