Nina, who was deeply influenced by her mother's art since childhood, has already become one of the leading actors of a famous ballet company in new york when she became a beautiful girl. And the mother's stubbornness and maverick seem to have a subtle influence on the growth of her young daughter. At present, Nina, who is young and energetic, is welcoming her first chance in her career, that is, to participate in and compete for the No.1 female in the famous ballet Swan Lake. Thomas, the director, has already seen Nina's potential, and gave her some timely advice. However, the No.1 female required by Thomas requires not only the nobility, purity and kindness of the white swan in the ballet, but also the evil, cunning, passion and lewdness of the black swan. In the competition, Nina unexpectedly showed the beauty and quality of her gifted white swan, and her powerful competitor Lily also performed brilliantly in the interpretation of the black swan, both of which won the admiration of directors and peers. As a result, the competition between Nina and Lily is inevitable, even from the level of artistic expression to the situation of mental distortion, attack and entanglement. Collusion, self-harm and even homosexuality are staged one after another. Nina also embarked on the road of self-destruction step by step.
With great mental pressure and fierce competition, Nina suffers from hallucinations, schizophrenia, and kills her competitors in hallucinations. In fact, she hurts herself and ruins her life like a white swan for perfection.
apart from artistic appreciation, from the perspective of psychoanalysis, there is psychoanalytic flavor everywhere in the film:
Nina, the heroine, has a powerful mother with strong desire for control and high expectations. With the absence of her husband and the failure of her career, the mother regards her daughter as a spiritual pillar and a tool to realize her wishes. "I sacrificed my career in order to give birth to you" is like a spell, which imprisons Nina and can only be a "close daughter", which is controlled by her mother, including being forced to play the piano, how many cakes she eats, getting dressed, undressing, cutting her nails, controlling her daughter with love and interfering with her privacy. I was forced to learn ballet since I was a child (in the play, my mother said, "If I hadn't followed you to learn ballet, you would have given up"), and when I grew up, I became one of the leading actors of a famous ballet company in new york. Mother's wishes and values have a subtle influence on Nina, and they are internalized into their own goals. The relationship between Nina and her mother is that her mother guides or corrects Nina's direction with pressure and expectation. She can't take a fork in the road, can't resist, and can't have her own views and emotions. Otherwise, she will stick to stubbornness as if she let Nina eat cake after she got the qualification to lead the dance. Pink pajamas, coats, sheets, and plush toys all symbolize Nina, a 28-year-old girl.
With the awakening of self-awareness in the inner subconscious and the influence of external environment: inspired by the director and imaginary enemy lily, Nina roars at the representative mother who controls and binds, and tells her: "Your good daughter is dead". When the mother found that the role of "black swan" swallowed up her daughter, it was too late. The mother's values and outlook on life had been deeply implanted in her daughter's heart, and her yearning for success, competitiveness and pursuit of perfection were better than her own. The process of growing up is not only happiness, but also pain, confusion and fear, just like the transformation of a snake. It is very painful to find a sharp stone to peel off a layer of skin. There are many desires, temptations, where to go, how to find yourself-taking drugs, going to bars to indulge, making gay friends, very confused; I am afraid of some desires in my heart that are not recognized by my mother and suppressed by myself. All these aspects form Nina's inner conflict.
From the psychological point of view, the characters in the film can all be regarded as Nina's different personality types: 1) Mother, symbolizing internalized moral sense and authority; 2) The director, who is an authoritative and inner wise old man, guides Nina's growth. "Only by defeating yourself can the phoenix become nirvana and turn a cocoon into a butterfly." "I am the fetter of my own performance"; 3) The imaginary enemy lily is Nina's repressed instinctive desire: sex and freedom.
In order to visualize Nina's inner growth, a lot of metaphorical shots are used in the film:
1. My mother paints-she is painting her own daughter, and in real life, she is also carving her own daughter according to her own wishes.
2. I scratched my back again and again, and my fingers bled-the awakening of growth, which means that Nina is determined to break out of her shell and needs to pay the price;
3. Having her nails cut off again and again by her mother is a metaphor for her fear of losing her husband and career again, which hinders Nina's self-development;
4. Pink pajamas, coats, sheets, and plush toys all indicate that Nina, 28, was brought up by her mother as a little girl.
5. Tear off the skin of the finger-Nina tried to change, but it was very painful, so she tasted it, but the desire for autonomy and freedom collided with herself from time to time (scratching her back and breaking out of the cocoon);
6. The wings of the black swan-a symbol of transcendence and liberation from a repressive situation.
7. Finger bleeding-it means inner conflict and guilt for betraying your mother.
8. Homosexuality with Lily-the desire to integrate personality: the integration of a simple, lovely, fragile and obedient "white swan" with a rebellious, independent and unruly "black swan" who dares to love and hate. The exchange and growth of black-and-white swans is in line with Nina's transformation from repressed and controlled personality to open and free personality. It represents desire, struggle, not cowardice, and not concealing or suppressing all desires.
9. Nina's suicide-a metaphor for the ultimate result of pursuing perfect personality traits, there is a price to pay.
There is a psychological background in the plot of this film, especially some subconscious things, which are higher than other types of movies and more popular. Although the story makes people feel heavy, it leaves people endless thinking, especially for those parents.
feeling director Darren? Aaronov, not only a director, but also a psychoanalyst, otherwise he wouldn't have made such a professional psychological film. Appreciate him!
Psychological thriller "Black Swan": Black Swan Hidden in the Heart
A series of disaster films, such as Farewell Atlantis, tell the story of the demise of mankind or the earth, and reflect the fear of death of mankind; The psychological thriller "Black Swan" tells the story of a dancer who can't bear the excessive pressure, mental breakdown and even death in pursuit of a role, and the fear of nothingness is reflected behind it.
In p>21, director Aronofsky's new work "Black Swan" was the premiere film of the 67th Venice Film Festival, and was shortlisted for the Golden Lion Award. This is a psychological thriller about the ballet opera "Swan Lake", which shows all kinds of horrible visions in Nina's heart when she plays the roles of white swan and black swan in the opera.
It turns out that there are two important roles in the opera Swan Lake-the white swan and the black swan. White swan is kind and beautiful; The black swan is evil and very attractive. The white swan was originally a beautiful princess. She was turned into a swan because of the devil's spell. Only after midnight can she regain her human form. One day, the white swan met the prince who was hunting by the lake. She confided her life experience to the prince. The prince's deep pity turned into love, and he decided to save the swan princess. The White Swan told him that only a person who really loves her and is willing to die for her can break the spell. So, the prince prepared to hold a dinner party, invited the white swan to the dinner party, and sincerely proposed to her. However, the demon king made his daughter play the role of a swan princess, only dressed in black, and went to the banquet to seduce the prince. The prince thought that the black swan was the swan princess, so he danced with her and announced his engagement. Outside the window, the white swan let out a desperate cry and fluttered away ...
The film Black Swan is not a fairy tale in Swan Lake, but a story about the ballerina Nina. Nina is an outstanding ballet dancer in new york Theatre Company. She has practiced ballet since childhood, and her skills are outstanding, and she is clever, beautiful and very likable. To a great extent, this should be attributed to her strict and cold mother. Under her mother's discipline, Nina has been a particularly obedient and hardworking girl since she was a child. But because of this, Nina lacks a kind of unrestrained passion, and her youth and sexual vitality are not reflected in her. Nina pursues perfection by carefully jumping every step, suppressing herself and lacking emotional release. Therefore, when the troupe wants to remake the opera Swan Lake, Nina is the best person to play the role of White Swan. However, the role of the black swan has the characteristics of evil and temptation, and Nina can't complete the role conversion at the moment.
Thomas, the director of opera, asked the new actor to play the roles of black and white swan at the same time. As we all know, in Swan Lake, the black and white swan is an extremely important role, and the actor who plays this role will not only make his career go up a step, but also become famous in one fell swoop. Nina is eager to play these two roles. So Nina went to Thomas, the opera director, and showed her that she hoped to win this opportunity. Thomas finally agreed to let her play these two roles, but asked Nina to learn to release emotions and show temptation, and always induced her in this respect. There is also a dancer in the troupe, Lily, who is bold, lively and full of energy. Her performance of the black swan has not only been appreciated by everyone, but also recognized by Thomas. Although Lily is a substitute for Black Swan, it also brings great psychological pressure to Nina.
While practicing hard, Nina is always afraid that someone will compete with her for the role. Hard practice all day, high mental tension, makes Nina feel exhausted. At first, when she practiced the black swan dance, she accidentally sprained her foot; Later, due to long-term practice, her toes were tied too tightly because of her shoes, and her toes were almost glued together. What is even more frightening is that Nina's back is constantly scarred, which should be scratched by her own hands when the pressure is too high; When she was washing her hands or taking a shower, she saw blood oozing from her nails-of course, this was Nina's illusion. Later, Nina kept hallucinating. One night, Lily took her out to play. When she came back, Nina felt that she was happily cheating with Lily-but Lily didn't go home with her that night. Another time when she was practicing alone, she heard a noise and ran to see Thomas, the director, having sex with Lily-there was no such thing. At this time, Nina has appeared the dual personality of black and white swans.
In the last performance, Nina accidentally made a mistake at first, which made Thomas furious. Later, Nina came to the dressing room and found Lily in the dressing room, and ironically said that it was better to give her the role of black swan, so the two men quarreled fiercely, and Nina accidentally stabbed Lily with glass fragments-of course, this lily was also Nina herself. Nina dragged Lily's "body" into the bathroom. When she entered the dressing room again, blood flowed from the door, and Nina blocked the door with a towel. Just then, Lily knocked at the door to congratulate Nina and praised her for her good performance. Nina was so surprised that she couldn't say a word. When she went to check the towel again, there was no blood below and there was no body in the bathroom. Then she found that she was stabbing herself, and the glass was still in her belly. Nina shed tears sadly ...
While Nina shed tears sadly, my heart kept shaking-a person killed herself like this, and she just pursued playing a role. Is it worth it? On second thought, Nina's action may reflect the fear of nothingness-what's terrible about death-just as the legend of Odin in Nordic mythology wrote: "The rich will die, their relatives will die, and you will die, but I know one thing will not die, and that is everyone's evaluation of the dead." Immortal fame has become everyone's goal. In real life, there are not a few people who "kill themselves" in pursuit of fame. The film just shows this phenomenon in an exaggerated artistic way. Look, how many of us sit in front of the computer for more than ten hours a day and work hard; How many people drink coffee in the middle of the night to refresh themselves, smoke to stimulate their nerves and work overtime? The number of people who die of chronic fatigue and overwork in modern society is increasing, but they just can't resist the nothingness in life.
Life needs work and hard work, otherwise it will be empty and meaningless. However, the essence of life is not work, let alone success or fame through work. Life is a natural process, it is to live one's own life, and everything else is auxiliary. We can pursue success, have goals, and challenge ourselves, but we should remember that these are all aimed at making life more meaningful, not killing life and gaining fame. As Zhuangzi, the Master of Health, said, "My life is limited, but so is my knowledge. It's almost impossible to follow the limit with the limit. It's almost enough for those who already know it! ..... "Understanding this passage of Zhuangzi must not intercept the first two sentences. Zhuangzi's real point of view is that it is dangerous to pursue infinite knowledge with limited life! It's really dangerous to know that it's still like this!
It seems that Zhuangzi has the most thorough understanding of life. Zhuangzi believes that life is an important event in life, and people should think rationally about it. When thinking about life, human beings should turn their thinking direction to themselves, don't regard the process of life as an appendage of social goals, don't pursue worldly things, and keep the needs of life itself. The second half of Zhuangzi's words is, "There is no near name for good, and no near punishment for evil. The governor thinks that classics can protect you, you can live all your life, you can raise your relatives, and you can spend all your years. " This is Zhuangzi's philosophy of existence. The so-called "preserving our health" refers to protecting ourselves from social irrationality in social life. "Whole life" refers to taking life itself as the goal of life activities, and people should maintain a complete life in order to survive; "Parenting" refers to the concern and care for one's health; "Do your best" means "return home at the end of your life". This is the understanding of the essence of life-not all white swans have to be able to play black swans, and it is also good to be their own white swans!
once we understand that life is natural, we will not be so afraid of nothingness. Because life is nothing. Words Zhuangzi wife died, he drum basin and sing, is to understand this truth. Zhuangzi said: "However, there is no life at the beginning; Non-apprentice has no life, but this is invisible; It's invisible, but it's lifeless. Miscellaneous between mans fluorene, changed into gas, gas changed into tangible, deformed and alive. Now it changes and dies. It is the same as spring, autumn, winter and summer at four o'clock. ..... "Zhuangzi's wife died, he was very sad at first, but then think about it, people are lifeless, not only lifeless, but also lifeless. Everything starts from chaos and finally comes to life. People's life and death are just like the replacement of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Therefore, there is nothing to be sad about when people die, and nothing to be afraid of. Because we all come from nothingness, and we'd better all go to nothingness.
I hope that Nina's death has walked into nothingness as well as out of nothingness; I hope that all human beings can enter and leave nothingness without fear.