hail PORTMAN!

The remarkable thing about Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan is the ease with which Portman portrays her transition into losing her mind while learning to master the art of ballerina as the black swan.
It reminds me of our homegrown Devdas starring Shahrukh Khan,where it appeared that the Indian star lost himself and his very mind to master the art of a sore drunken lover. Both movies would appear a little empty had it not been for its lead cast. Portman lends herself to the role with such an expertise that the viewer begins to accept the madcap energy and melodrama of the movie as the central plot without which the movie's soul would seem misplaced.
In his second film running, following THE WRESTLER, where Aronofsky explores the art of weightlifting (if it may be called an art), the director delves into the psyche of the art as much as the artist. Laying stress on the individuality of ballet dancing as an art, he stresses enough the need of the artist to lose oneself in the character to have a desired impact and hence justifies brilliantly the need for Nina's character to explore herself deeper and deeper to bring out all the black and even create new ones. Under a bout of self-admonishment and constant criticism by her trainer played autocratically by Vincent Cassel, Nina starts getting delusional and losing herself in the process of turning into the black swan she wanted to be.
The film also possesses sub-texts which leaves the audience's wondering if Nina wanted to be where she is today. Her over-possessive mother and her failed career as an ballet actor does suggest that she pushed Nina into this profession. Nina's mother's role is so overbearing that a significant marker of her black persona overtaking the white persona is when Nina disobeys her and walks out on her decision. In a character, which is very well-written, Barbara Hershey sparkles and her failure to realize that she may have pushed Nina onto the path of ballet dancing against her wishes brings out her strong desire to master the art of ballet which she seems happy to have realized through the exploits of her daughter.
To Nina's discomfort there is another sub-text involving a once-the-best but now spent ballerina played by Winona Ryder, whose presence constantly looms over Nina reminding her of  the impending insanity as Nina continues to prepare for the role of the black swan.

Portman's performance has been a revelation as never before she has played a character, with so much of physical and mental exhaustion. Months of training in ballet dance made her dance like a dream and together with Aronofsky she conjured brilliant over-the-top drama as she slipped slowly but surely into insanity.