There’s a brutality in the contrast of the man beloved in the squared circle vs. Despite having been a huge star, his twilight years are a struggle. The Wrestler is pretty upfront about how Robin Ramzinski’s career in the ring as Randy “The Ram” Robinson has left him in less than stellar circumstances. Combine that with Darren’s own admission about them being “companion pieces” and what’s happening in Black Swan becomes less mysterious. In both, Aronofsky employed a handheld camera that not only lends a rawness and reality to the scenes but also serves to visually link two disparate performers and two disparate performances. The Wrestler is a stripped down version of that. They both make incredible use of their bodies to express themselves.īlack Swan is artsy and full of cinematic tricks and techniques that make art house lovers drool. But what was amazing to me was how similar the performers in both of these worlds are. It’s funny, because wrestling some consider the lowest art - if they would even call it art - and ballet some people consider the highest art. They are really connected and people will see the connections. I’ve always considered the two films companion pieces. And, honestly, if you just want the shortest answer, then behold. To start you on that path of Black Swan mastery, we’re actually going to begin with Darren Aronofsky’s previous movie-a little ditty called The Wrestler.

But, I promise you, you’re going to come away from this article with a whole and profound understanding of Black Swan. The bad news is you’re gonna have to deal with me for some paragraphs. There’s some good news and bad news there. I think we can all agree that when you first watch Black Swan the immediate questions you have are, “How much was real? What was real? Why was Nina seeing what she saw?”

Black Swan explained (mirrors and hallucinations).Under Pressure: the personal cost of ballet.

Mind control theatre behind the mirror