DVD Review: Black Swan

Black Swan
(R16), Roadshow Entertainment
Stars: 3/5
Don't think "ballet film" when you sit down with this disturbed bird.
Think twisted, psychological thriller about a young woman who gives new meaning to obsession.
With a backdrop of the New York City ballet, Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) hits her career peak when she wins the lead role in Swan Lake.
Nina, an obsessed perfectionist, knows she can deliver the steps. But can she deliver the passion her role demands?
Having come from a cloistered environment, Nina has no problem with the delicate White Swan role, but trying to get inside the mind of Odile, the Black Swan, sees Nina slowly lose her mind.
Her cause is not helped by an overly obsessive mother who monitors her every move, or the presence of a carefree young dancer - Lily (Mila Kunis) - who poses a professional challenge among the dancers.
The harder Nina tries to be the dancer her director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) wants, the further her mind slips into a psychotic state. At times it is hard to work out what is reality and what is simply a figment of Nina's vivid and out-of-control imagination.
Natalie Portman - who won this year's best actress Oscar for her role as Nina - is disturbingly good in her role. She manages to carry off the gentle, quiet Nina and the eerie, possessed Nina with equal aplomb.

Black Swan is a superbly delivered film but its content means that it is not for the squeamish.