Academy Awards Best Picture Focus: 'Black Swan'

Academy Awards Best Picture Focus: 'Black Swan' In Yidio's Academy Awards Best Picture Focus section, we take an in-depth look at all 10 films nominated for the 2011 Oscar. Today we take a look at Darren Aronofsky's dark, brooding and at times slightly insane melodrama "Black Swan."

About the Film

Although it takes place in a New York ballet company, "Black Swan" is not a film about ballet. Instead, it uses the physical, psychological, and emotional demands of performance to illustrate the mental collapse of one of its members, Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman).

Like all of director Darren Aronofsky's films, it is anchored by strong performances without being defined by them. Natalie Portman is truly doing her most visceral and demanding work to date, baring more of her soul than we've ever seen. But is not indulgent; it is all at the service of the larger construct of the film.

Aronofsky has never been a particularly warm filmmaker, and in some instances seems to be out solely to upset his audience, but here he finds a way to create an unsettling piece of art that also resonates a little deeper. Nina's breakdown may be sensationalized and given to melodrama, but this proves a tremendously brave path to take in an age that favors subtlety above all else. In the end, the film is heartbreakingly effective.

Why the nomination for Best Picture?

It's a bit of an anomaly to be sure. The Academy almost never nominates horror films - the last time they did was when "The Silence of the Lambs" won the Oscar in 1991 - and it's even rarer that they nominate something so outwardly "artsy."

Most of the credit has to go to critics, who championed the film right away when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and especially when it played at the Toronto Film Festival (both in September), and who kept encouraging people to see it when it was released last December.

Its subsequent, surprising box office success has certainly helped as well. It has made over $100 million at the domestic box office alone, and another $72 million overseas. The Academy cannot ignore such popular support for an art film.

In the end, however, the people who has responded to it positively have responded exuberant. It's a film that affects people at their core, and if more films like this were seen, more would probably be nominated.

Other Awards Nominations

Natalie Portman has naturally received an Academy Award nomination for her performance, and is expected to win. Matthew Libatique is also nominated for his cinematography (creating some of the most beautiful 16mm images I've ever seen), Andrew Weisblum for his editing, and Aronofsky for his direction.

What are the chances?

Quite low. As mentioned previously, the nomination alone is an anomaly, and so much of the race has been about "The Social Network" and "The King's Speech," with "The Fighter" scrambling up the ladder as a possible spoiler and "True Grit" in the "break glass in case of emergency" box. It's simply too divisive - many feel it's too over-the-top, too melodramatic - to win the consensus, especially with other strong contenders surrounding it. Its success is in showing up, its huge box office, and eventually becoming a classic.

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