Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan

[purplethistle]

Only judging buy the clip in #78 it seems like the main bits in Black Swan are a complete rip off

 

[victorshmily]

Finally,this movie completely blow me away!!!!!Love Natalie‘s performance,love how Nina would do anything to get what she want,and it's driving her carzzzy. Very nice ending.

 

[juliahearts]

Watched "Black Swan" last saturday (and also today) and it was absolutely amazing. So beautiful and so incredibly thrilling. Brilliant.

 

[mint condish]

That's frightening. There are so many similarities between that Perfect Blue clip and Black Swan. There are so many exact scenes that are copies!

 

[Birkin]

the swans lake music was beautiful , it reminds me of the music of the egypt scene in the movie waxwork (a classic )

 

[melfreya]

I've seen PB many years ago, because of Aronofsky's praise of him. He bought the rights of that movie because he wanted to use a scene from it on Requiem, so that's nearly a decade ago, not before Black Swan. PB mostly reminded me of the celeb suicides that are hapening on that culture. BS is more about the inner struggle for perfection, and much less about pressure from the outside.

 

[melfreya]

Either not a truthful or full answer from him. He bought the rights to Perfect Blue, then he made Black Swan. They are very similar, share the same themes of exploitation, paranoia, stalking, pressure etc, and even have many identical scenes. Swan Lake provides the setting and costumes, like Japanese idol-culture does in Perfect Blue.

All I'm saying is that Perfect Blue should get the credit it deserves. Black Swan hasn't done anything original.

(sorry I couldn't edit my previous post, my laptop battery died )

I think that Aronofsky didn't lie in his answer. Was BS entirely influenced by PB like the interviewer asks? No. It was influenced by Swan Lake. If the question was: Where some scenes inspired by PB? He would have probably said yes, but that doesn't make it a remake and that wasn't the question he answered. BS reminded most of the film ''Red Shoes'' and ''The Wrestler'' to be honest It is an original film, using the themes of Swan Lake and the ballet world pressures to portray a perfectionist ballerina's inner struggle. To call him a liar because he didn't say some scenes were inspired by many previous films that have a similar theme is a bit harsh.

 

[sethii]

^ I think you're being very generous.

Spoilers below
Main Similarities
- Main character is a dancer/performer suffering an identity crisis
- Seeing reflections become the alternate ego, or not reflect reality.
- Main character trashes her own bedroom
- Creepy stage mom/female manager
- Manager pushing character into risque situations
- Main character becoming more sexualised
- Fear of a stalker
- Multiple stabbing incidents
- Dance group going through reorginisation
- Main character lacks confidence and is easily manipulated
- Main character changes her image
- Fake seductions/sex confusing the main character
- The alternate being stabbed with a broken shard of glass at the end of the film

Main Differences
- The psychological problem is resolved for one in the end, but not the other
- Fan culture: in Black Swan we only see glimpses of the audience and outside world.

 

[melfreya]

I'm not saying there aren't similarities! But themes like that can be found in many psychological films, Repulsion by Polanski being the most vivid. Did Kon copy Polanski then?
Seeing reflections, trashing of one's surroundings, stalker fear or thinking someone is following or wanting to take your place, physical harm and all the emotional changes are manifestations of schizophrenia and psychosis. Kon didn't invent the disease or the rules for directing psychotic incidents for that matter. Polanski and Hitchcock are the masters of it and have perfected that imagery quite well. Kon cited Hitchcock and Polanski as a big influence on his work and so did Aronofsky.
And on BS her mom has nothing to do with the manager on PB. The main difference and the one that makes this two different movies is the incentive behind the 2 characters. In BS, Nina, given her history of self harm damages herself and loses herself because of her own feelings. In PB, Mima seems like a normal girl who doesn't start losing it until real threats are made from her manager posing as the stalker. The reason of the breakdown is completely different and that's why Mima escapes and comes back to normal life after everything is clear and Nina has to die to escape herself. The similarities I see are mostly visual: the photos talking (which are the same with the hands coming from the wall in Repulsion btw) and the takedown in the end. And let's not forget that Aronofsky owns the rights to that film, so the usage of these images is perfectly legit. I'm sure we'll both feel better with the DVD commentary where he aknowledges Kon as an influence too

 

[ad041715]

I just saw Perfect Blue and I can definitely see tons of similarities both in the storylines and in the scenes themselves. Maybe PB didn't inspire Black Swan, but it most definitely influenced it. I find it a bit confusing as to why Aronofsky didn't credit Perfect Blue as a source of influence, at the very least, for BS.

 

[melfreya]

Saw it again today and I have to say that the metamorphosis on stage into the Black Swan with the applause in the end has to be one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever seen on cinema. I got chills..again! Poetry

 

[lizbabe09]

^definitely agree!

 

[kokobombon]

Such a beautiful movie! Great casting, everyone was superb
My favorite scene was the black swan transformation, I got chills as well. So beautiful! I can´t stress enough how beautiful this movie is hehehe

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

Saw it again today and I have to say that the metamorphosis on stage into the Black Swan with the applause in the end has to be one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever seen on cinema. I got chills..again! Poetry

during that i definitely whispered to my friend "This is absolutely amazing."

 

[beeandthecity]

I just saw the movie and i was absolutely amazed by Natalie Portman. I also loved to see Winona Ryder, i was always such a huge fan of her.

 

[Dora]

Yes, the movie is GREAT!
Natalie is truly magnificent, Vincent makes me want to turn myself into the black swan, too.

 

[loonaka]

IMO Perfect Blue and Black Swan have some similarities but I wouldn't go as far as saying it's a rip off

 

[Teratel]

Great movie and great casting! I love the distinctive face of Vincent Cassel B)

 

[thiago:)]

i'm dying to watch this movie... i don't know when it's going to be on movies here in brazil

 

[Day]

I was seriously amazed by this movie...it stuck with me for the entire day (and the next ) and I found myself wantingto talk about it and analyze it as much as I could (even though the symbolism was obvious throughout )