“I just want to be perfect”
CHAPTER ONE IN WHICH WE REVIEW BLACK SWAN
T
he movie opens as Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), a young ballerina in her mid twenties, is dancing the prologue to Swan Lake. Swan Lake is a ballet in which a princess is turned into the White Swan and can only be turned back if a man swears eternal fidelity to her. In the ballet, she is betrayed by the Black Swan, the evil magician’s daughter whom the magician has transformed to look exactly like the princess in order to trick the prince who has fallen in love with her. In the end, the princess commits suicide because the Prince’s infidelity has doomed her to remain a swan forever. As Nina dances in the role of the Princess, the magician appears and places the curse on the Princess. Nina then wakes up in her apartment, the dance sequence having been a dream. She begins her daily ballet stretching; telling her mother about her dream as her mother unintentionally ignores her. Nina mentions that the director, Thomas Leroy (pronounced Tomahs; the name is French), of her ballet company has promised to feature her more this season and her mother agrees that she’s been there long enough. Nina goes to the ballet studio only to learn that Beth (Winona Ryder), the lead principal dancer, is being put out to pasture
due to her age of being over 40. As a result, Thomas (Vincent Cassel) is looking for a new face to be the lead. Thomas announces to the company that the first performance of the season will be a reworking of Swan Lake. He casually walks among the dancers as they’re practicing nonchalantly, tapping several girls on the shoulder as he talks. He then tells those he tapped to attend their regular rehearsals; those he didn’t tap are to meet with him later in the principal studio. Nina sees Beth having an emotional meltdown in her private dressing room, throwing things and breaking the full length mirror. After Beth leaves, Nina decides to take a peek inside. She sits down in Beth’s chair and stares at herself in a mirror surrounded by globe lights. She begins to go through Beth’s things and stashes several items in her pocket, specifically perfume, diamond earrings, a nail file and tube of lipstick. She sneaks out of Beth’s dressing room. Later, in the principle studio, auditions are being held to find Beth’s replacement as the Swan Princess. Nina dances the White Swan impeccably, and then Thomas tells Nina to dance as the Black Swan. As Nina begins the dance her audition is interrupted by the late arrival of new dancer, Lily.