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BLACK SWAN (2010)Movie Reviews
Horror drama about an ambitious New York ballerina who lands the lead role in a prominent production of Swan Lake, but struggles with the mounting pressures of her new position. Cast:Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona RyderDirector:Darren AronofskyRelease Date:December 3, 2010DVD Release:March 29, 2011From:20th Century FoxRating:RLength:1 hr 48 min
Black Swan (2010) played to excellent reviews that at the same time were mixed. • Thelma Adams wrote in Us Weekly, "2010's most powerful and provocative movie." • Calvin Wilson wrote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "...fascinating to watch." • And Dana Stevens wrote for Slate, "...combines some truly stunning visual and cinematic ideas with some truly terrible, well, ideas.... this emotionally inert movie never does grow wings." More Reviews Below...
Black Swan (2010) Positive Reviews (51 Reviews, reviews below)
Alynda Wheat, People: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Aronofsky brilliantly lets 'Black Swan' hover between thriller and camp, tossing in garish flourishes more commonly seen in horror films, but keeping the action tautly restrained."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 160 words, 12/02/10
Richard Corliss, Time: VERY GOOD "...a real woman's movie, not one of those strenuous heart-warmers about female companionship and compromise.... a guy's idea of a woman's sexuality."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,586 words, 09/04/10
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...at once gorgeous and gloriously nutso... if you're willing to go along with it, you'll find yourself wowed by one of the best films of the year."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 702 words, 12/02/10
Thelma Adams, Us Weekly: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...powerful and provocative... Aronofsky never eases the tension for a moment... Portman pulls off her most complicated role to date. Brava!"(See all of Thelma Adams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 213 words, 12/02/10
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a hotblooded, head-spinning erotic thriller... Portman's portrait of an artist under siege is unmissable and unforgettable."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 411 words, 11/26/10
Claudia Puig, USA Today: OUTSTANDING(cg) "To induce a state of dread and mesmerize with beauty is a rare, paradoxical achievement... Aronofsky ensures no one will regard 'Swan Lake' the same way again."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 484 words, 12/03/10
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a full-bore melodrama, told with passionate intensity, gloriously and darkly absurd.... a grand exhilaration of towering passion."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 966 words, 12/02/10
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (13 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...what gives it a jolt is its giddy, sometimes sleazy exploitation-cinema savvy.... it is visceral and real even while it's one delirious, phantasmagoric freakout."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,372 words, 12/03/10
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: EXCELLENT(cg) "...neither aims for nor achieves the heartbreaking humanity of 'The Wrestler,' but its Freudian anxieties are bound to haunt your dreams."(See all of Elizabeth Weitzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 373 words, 12/03/10
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Aronofsky triumphs in a high-wire act. He skirts ludicrousness by balancing some truly creepy, bloody stuff with some stunningly beautiful ballet sequences..."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 579 words, 12/03/10
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...thoroughly bizarre, pitched at high C and, as you might expect from a movie about a crazy person in a tutu, frequently hilarious."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 321 words, 12/13/10
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: WEAK "...crushingly obvious from its first frame to its exultant final whiteout.... no doubt about it, a tour de force, a work that fully lives up to its director's ambitions."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 692 words, 11/29/10
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a full-bore melodrama, told with passionate intensity, gloriously and darkly absurd.... a grand exhilaration of towering passion."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 966 words, 12/02/10
J. Hoberman, Village Voice: WEAK "...a minor classic of heterosexual camp... the most risible and riotous backstage movie since 'Showgirls'.... Kitsch this bombastic becomes something primal."(See all of J. Hoberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 637 words, 12/01/10
Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD(cg) "...so brazenly audacious, it's sometimes risible and yet, for the same reason, is always compelling, impossible not to watch with fascination, whether avid or appalled."(See all of Rick Groen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 967 words, 12/03/10
Karina Longworth, LA Weekly: WEAK "...self-conscious homage to epic backstage soaps and visceral body-dysmorphia horror... Call it balletsploitation... a work of art only in that it's pitch-perfect trash."(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 144 words, 11/04/10
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "If you think the whole affair is a little over the top, that's kind of the point. Indeed, it's the only way to make a movie this ambitious and impassioned."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 192 words, 12/02/10
KEY CITIES (16 Reviews)
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Natalie Portman delivers a bravura performance and Mila Kunis provides incandescent ballast to Portman's delicately tortured waif."(See all of Ann Hornaday's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 513 words, 12/03/10
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a breathtaking head trip that hails from a long tradition of backstage melodramas... Thrilling, indeed. And brazenly, beautifully crazy."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 611 words, 12/10/10
Mick LaSalle, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: VERY GOOD(cg) "For all its ham-fistedness, it captures something about the tyranny of the ballet world and, by extension, the neurotic imprisonment of female body image."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 731 words, 12/10/10
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a movie for all seasons, a film that is all things to all people... Artful, epic, operatic even... challenges the viewer with its intelligence and depth and wit."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 657 words, 12/17/10
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a terrific, profoundly disturbing tapestry of suspense and madness... In most fright films, danger lurks in the shadows. Here it's grinning from a mirror."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 233 words, 12/10/10
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Either you embrace its headlong descent into madness brought on by the pressures of artistic perfection, compounded by smothering anxiety, or you reject it. It's that simple."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 595 words, 12/09/10
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...reaches a fever pitch of frenzy and sends us hurtling toward the finish.... leaves you dizzy and appreciative of film's power to shake up the senses."(See all of Chris Vognar's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 621 words, 12/03/10
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: VERY GOOD(cg) "...perched on the edge of madness. If there's a problem, it's that it doesn't fully succumb.... Still, that restraint might have actually revealed a new range in Portman."(See all of Wesley Morris's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,131 words, 12/03/10
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a ballet movie so majestically lurid it almost creates its own genre; a backstage melodrama set in a dark hall of mirrors.... just try to look away as the plot thickens and curdles."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 492 words, 12/10/10
Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Whether your tastes are delicate or coarse, whether you prefer the ballet or horror movies, there is plenty in the film for you..."(See all of Shawn Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 867 words, 12/10/10
Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: VERY GOOD(cg) "...ridiculously over the top, but in a way that makes it fascinating to watch... As unsettling as it is stylish... may do for ballet what 'Jaws' did for beaches."(See all of Calvin Wilson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 298 words, 12/10/10
Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...keeps fascinating, irregular rhythm with Aronofsky's shock touches... it is erratic like its anti-heroine, and that's daring change..."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 608 words, 12/16/10
Tom Long, Detroit News: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...isn't for everyone -- it is a ballet horror movie, after all. But there's an ecstatic tension here that's undeniable and beyond words."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 550 words, 12/10/10
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Aronofsky takes some huge artistic risks here, with Portman at his side, and they pay off with haunting, unnerving effect. Elegant, perverse and frightening..."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 672 words, 12/17/10
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (9 Reviews)
J. Hoberman, Village Voice: WEAK "...a minor classic of heterosexual camp... the most risible and riotous backstage movie since 'Showgirls'.... Kitsch this bombastic becomes something primal."(See all of J. Hoberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 637 words, 12/01/10
Josh Tyler, Cinema Blend: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...restrained, for the most part letting the film's haunting performance from Portman speak for itself, resorting to visual trickery only in careful measure."(See all of Josh Tyler's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 713 words, 12/01/10
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...like nothing you've ever seen before.... almost a perfect ballet in itself: sublime, excessive, and verging on the absurd."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 606 words, 12/02/10
Karina Longworth, LA Weekly: WEAK "...self-conscious homage to epic backstage soaps and visceral body-dysmorphia horror... Call it balletsploitation... a work of art only in that it's pitch-perfect trash."(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 144 words, 11/04/10
Ed Gonzalez, Slant: MODERATE(cg) "...the overall effect is ostentatiously calculated, ill-fitting, and emotionally aloof, always for our benefit and almost never symptomatic of its protagonist's living nightmare."(See all of Ed Gonzalez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,176 words, 11/23/10
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "If you think the whole affair is a little over the top, that's kind of the point. Indeed, it's the only way to make a movie this ambitious and impassioned."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 192 words, 12/02/10
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: WEAK(cg) "Watching a talented filmmaker unleash his ardor for cinema can be an operatic, intoxicating spectacle... With this, however, a one-track mind fails to take us very far."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 930 words, 12/09/10
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...sophisticated... elegant... absurdly campy and intensely bleak... one of the most challenging and most memorable characters I've seen at the movies in ages..."(See all of MaryAnn Johanson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 884 words, 02/07/11
HIGHBROW PRESS (6 Reviews)
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: MODERATE "...a gothic horror show that is fascinating and disappointing in equal measure.... the creep-show component isn't worthy of the theme."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 616 words, 12/03/10
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...what gives it a jolt is its giddy, sometimes sleazy exploitation-cinema savvy.... it is visceral and real even while it's one delirious, phantasmagoric freakout."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,372 words, 12/03/10
David Denby, New Yorker: POOR "Aronofsky, for all his gifts, is a gaudy maestro, opportunistic and insecure as an artist... a pompous, self-glorifying, and generally unpleasant interpretation of an artist's task."(See all of David Denby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,158 words, 11/29/10
David Edelstein, NPR Fresh Air: POOR "You could have a great time laughing at it and it's goofy Freudian cliches, if only it weren't so bludgeoning.... no more complex or enlivening than a cheap hack-'em-up director's vision..."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Listen to the full review...) 381 seconds, 12/03/10
Dana Stevens, Slate: FAIR "...combines some truly stunning visual and cinematic ideas with some truly terrible, well, ideas.... this emotionally inert movie never does grow wings."(See all of Dana Stevens's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 947 words, 12/02/10
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: OUTSTANDING "...gorgeous, erotic, outlandish... overpowering from the first few frames of the film.... I was completely swept up and just wanted to ride along on Aronofsky's hallucinatory journey..."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,007 words, 09/10/10
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Peter Debruge, Daily Variety: OUTSTANDING "A wicked, sexy and ultimately devastating study of a young dancer's all-consuming ambition... a fascinating complement to Aronofsky's 'The Wrestler'..."(See all of Peter Debruge's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,032 words, 09/01/10
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: MODERATE "Trying to coax a horror-thriller out of the world of ballet doesn't begin to work... so damn out-there in every way that you can't help admiring Aronofsky for daring to be so very, very absurd."(See all of Kirk Honeycutt's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 962 words, 09/01/10
Paulo Riviero, Cinema 24/7: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...another fascinating and unsettling character study set inside an eccentric and competitive social-professional milieu... features an Oscar-caliber turn by Natalia Portman."(See all of Paulo Riviero's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 992 words, 09/13/10
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...what gives it a jolt is its giddy, sometimes sleazy exploitation-cinema savvy.... it is visceral and real even while it's one delirious, phantasmagoric freakout."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,372 words, 12/03/10
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: MODERATE "...a gothic horror show that is fascinating and disappointing in equal measure.... the creep-show component isn't worthy of the theme."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 616 words, 12/03/10
22.9 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Black Swan (2010)'s reviews are separated by an average 22.9 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Black Swan (2010) (51 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Black Swan (2010)'s reviews cover 98.4% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 34,963 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 686 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 13 Days Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Black Swan (2010)'s reviews on average broke 13 days before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Black Swan (2010)'s opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Black Swan (2010) (51 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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