
This is a great performance from Natalie Portman. She's obsessed with her deteriorating body as her paranoid mind collapses. Nina fits the role of the beautiful, fearful, fragile White Swan perfectly, but she can't get the Black Swan role right unlike Lily.

Nina is the favorite, but new dancer Lily (Mila Kunis) is impressive as well. The prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) is being replaced for the opening production of Swan Lake. Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a New York City ballerina living with her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey). Reviewed by SnoopyStyle 8 / 10 Amazing Natalie Portman performance As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.-Fox Searchlight Pictures Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her.

Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance.
