Imperfect perfection
Li Meng
Recently revisiting the movie "Black Swan", one couldn't help but lament Natalie Portman's outstanding acting skills in the film, and on the other hand, also added a little favor to Tchaikovsky's ballet music. I have always been difficult to be touched by the charm of ballet music. I often feel that the music that matches the plot is too sensational and superficial, and cannot be compared with Lao Chai's grand and deep symphony. No. In the movie "Black Swan", the story of the heroine from self-pity to self-abandonment to awakening and self-salvation has actually reversed my stereotype about the original song. In Swan Lake, there are many inquiries about the light and darkness of human nature, and it is not just a love story.
"Black Swan" won a lot of awards in that year, but it lacked the honor of original music alone. The judges of the incident considered that Tchaikovsky's music had been borrowed too much, and it was more difficult to consider it as "original work". Indeed, the story revolves around a well-known ballet company in New York rehearsing the classic masterpiece "Swan Lake" and the inner struggle that Ballerina Nina played as the heroine of the new dance drama begins. Kai Laochai and everyone knew the influence of ballet. However, the soundtrack composer did not “copy” the original song, but rewritten the existing melody, re-arranged it, and then re-arranged it into the play, constantly boosting the character's emotions, and relying on the tension between the notes to create a heavy and practical It's also a virtual, illusionary scene.
The movie seems to talk about Nina's relationship with everyone around her, her stern, strong mother, and her artistic director who constantly inspires and criticizes her, and dancers who are in the dance group and seem to be susceptible to each other Lily, in fact, aside from the appearance, what the heroine needs to face and struggle to get rid of is always just her own restraint, fear and vulnerability. The friendliness (although never short) between people in the film is more misunderstood, jealous, and struggling. It is as depressing or even hopeless as the dim color that covers the whole film. At first, Nina was an innocent girl who loved pink ballet dreams. She stood in the middle of the stage and received flowers and applause from the audience. The soundtrack at this time was played by the oboe, a melody Tchaikovsky wrote to the pure and elegant "white swan" in the ballet, and it should also be in the mood of Nina at that time.
When the director chose Nina as the protagonist of Swan Lake, she felt that she could only play a pure and elegant white swan, but could not explain the evil and arrogance of the black swan. The stubborn Nina, who has always been seeking perfection, cannot bear the constant questioning and provocation by the director, and she can't stand the mother's excessive care and monitoring. Towards the middle of the film, Nina started to panic: she longed for recognition and praise, but went in the wrong direction. Here, the soundtrack is no longer as pure and worry-free as it was at the beginning. A tense string ensemble appeared, and percussion instruments like a distant thunder appeared, dragging the audience into a deep valley where no way could be seen.
Nina's depression was finally released, due to Lili's presence. Lily is cheerful, mysterious, and sexy. Compared with Nina in the style of "Little White Rabbit", Lili is obviously a more suitable candidate for the role of Black Swan. Nina's self-doubt, jealousy of Lily, fear of her mother, and disgust of the director grew deeper and deeper, and finally pushed her to the edge of insanity. On the night of the debut of the new dance show, she even began to hallucinate, thinking that she had killed Lily by mistake, thinking that she had grown black feathers on her body, and turned into an evil and arrogant but sexy black swan ...
The ending of the ballet "Swan Lake" is "White Swan" and the prince, and the movie ends with this paragraph. Nina, jumping from the height of the stage, finally found that she was not stabbed by Lily with glass fragments, but herself, more precisely, her past self. The composer "Perfect" named the last soundtrack in the film, echoing the phrase "I feel perfect, I am perfect" when Nina fell to the ground. This is undoubtedly the most tearful moment in the whole film, giving people a glimpse into the cruel side of art, and also reflecting on the individual's definition of "perfect". When the pursuit of perfection is destined to bear such gloom and despair, is the "perfection" that people finally arrive as pure as they expected?