“Black Swan” Ending Explained: What’s the Price of Perfection?

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A detailed synopsis & interpretation of the 2010 psychological thriller
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The 2010 psychological thriller Black Swan , directed by Darren Aronofsky, was a hit among audiences, depicting one ballerina’s relentless pursuit of success no matter the cost. Natalie Portman stars as Nina, a talented but timid ballet dancer at a prestigious New York City ballet company. She yearns to be cast as the swan queen in the latest rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake , but her ambition ultimately leads her down a path of madness, obsession, and delusion. Keep reading for an in-depth breakdown of what happens in the film, how it ends, and what it could all mean. Warning: spoilers ahead.

What happens in Black Swan ?

A ballet dancer named Nina loses control in her pursuit of perfection after she's cast as the lead in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake . Nina's self-harming behaviors, volatile relationship with her mother, and delusions of a dopplëganger who is out to get her all culminate in a final psychotic episode where she stabs herself.

Section 1 of 5:

First Act of Black Swan Explained

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  1. 1
    Synopsis Nina is a ballet dancer who dreams of getting the lead in Swan Lake . She lives with her mother, Erica, with whom she has a strained, codependent relationship. Early on, we see scratch marks on Nina’s back, which appear self-inflicted. At the theater, we learn that Beth, the current swan queen, is being forced into retirement. We are also introduced to Lily, a new dancer with a rebellious streak, and Thomas Leroy, the Artistic Director. All the dancers are uneasy around him as he announces his intentions to find a new swan queen for their upcoming rendition of Swan Lake, and he picks Nina to audition. [1]
    • Nina auditions for the lead and nails the part of the white swan, but can’t seem to channel the seductive energy required of the black swan.
    • Nina throws up in the bathroom, hinting at an eating disorder. She walks home and thinks she sees her dopplëganger lurking in the shadows, for the second time that day.
    • At home, Nina breaks down crying in her mom’s arms. The next day, she gets all dolled up and goes to see Leroy to ask him for the part. Leroy goes on to say that Nina is a perfect white swan, but not a black swan.
      • Nina replies that she just “wants to be perfect,” and Thomas reminds her that perfection “isn’t just about control, it’s also about letting go.”
      • He pulls her in for a passionate kiss, and she bites him, quickly running off.
    • Later, the cast list is posted, and Nina is thrilled to learn that she has been cast as the swan queen. She goes into a bathroom stall to call her mom, who is overjoyed.
  2. 2
    Interpretation The first act offers insight into Nina’s fragile state of mind. It’s clear from the opening scene that Nina is devoted to her craft, practicing ballet for hours on end. Her physical frame, which is very thin and petite, also serves as a physical manifestation of her shy and meek character. The fact that she goes to the bathroom to throw up, coupled with her shrinking physique, suggests that she has an eating disorder, not uncommon in her line of work. [2]
    • Believing that she sees a dopplëganger lurking in the shadows, potentially coming for her, reveals her anxious and distorted state of mind, rendering her an unreliable narrator.
    • The scratches on her back suggest that she self-harms or has self-harmed in the past, potentially explaining her mother’s need to control Nina’s every move.
    • Additionally, Nina appears to be a pariah at the dance company and has no real friends outside of her domineering mother, further fueling the theory that mental and/or emotional distress has caused her to lead a more solitary life.
    • The opening act paves the way for the rest of the film, in which her body continues to transform, her paranoia increases, and her reliability as a narrator decays.
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Section 2 of 5:

Second Act of Black Swan Explained

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  1. 1
    Synopsis Nina yet again senses that someone is following her, and we see that the scratches on her back are now bleeding. Nina refuses to eat the cake that her mom brings home, again highlighting issues around food as well as her toxic relationship with her mom. Leroy is unimpressed by Nina’s black swan, instead praising Lily’s “effortlessness.” Nina attends a gala with Leroy, where he introduces her as the new swan queen. Beth is in the audience and is visibly upset when Leroy announces her retirement, referring to Beth as his “little princess.” Leroy asks Nina to stop by his place for a drink, but not before Beth accuses Nina of doing a sexual favor for Leroy in exchange for the lead role. [3]
    • At Leroy’s apartment, he asks Nina inappropriate questions about sex and her personal life that clearly make her uncomfortable.
    • At rehearsals, the dancers learn that Beth was hit by a car and is in the hospital. Thomas believes she may have been trying to kill herself.
    • At rehearsals, Leroy’s feedback to Nina is that she’s “too frigid” and he tries to seduce her to prove a point, leaving her alone and humiliated.
      • Nina sees Lily emerge from the shadows of the studio and confides in her, tearfully sharing that it had been a rough day.
    • The next day, Leroy reveals that Lily told him she saw Nina crying, which mortifies Nina even further. Nina confronts Lily, berating her for gossiping about her to Leroy.
  2. 2
    Interpretation The second act continues to build tension. Nina is clearly buckling under the pressure to deliver a memorable performance as both the white and black swans. Her paranoia about seeing a dopplëganger lurking in the shadows, along with growing tension in all of her relationships, is beginning to present a clear picture of someone who may be deeply troubled. The obsessive behaviors she exhibits, particularly picking at her skin, further highlight her mental struggles.
    • At this point in the film, we are still unsure if a dopplëganger or shadowy figure truly exists or if Nina is imagining it.
    • Nina is severely shaken up after seeing Beth in the hospital, imagining her own future as a scorned and forgotten prima ballerina, adding to her emotional distress.
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Section 3 of 5:

Third Act of Black Swan Explained

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  1. 1
    Synopsis Lily shows up to Nina’s place, apologizes, and convinces her to go out. Lily gives Nina ecstasy and they end up going back to Nina’s place together. Nina bars her bedroom door and they have a sexual encounter. Nina wakes up late and gets to rehearsal only to find Lily filling in for her. Nina approaches Lily, accusing her of taking off in the morning without a word. Lily acts like she has no idea what Nina is talking about and teases her for having sexual ideations about her. After learning that Leroy has named Lily her alternate, Nina begs him not to pick her, convinced she’ll do anything to steal her role. Leroy denies her request, assuring her that every lead has an alternate and encouraging her to be confident.
    • At home, Nina throws up and hallucinates that she’s turning into a black swan. The next day, Nina wakes up late and rushes to the theater, where she forces Leroy to keep her as the swan queen despite having already asked Lily.
    • Nina finds Lily in her dressing room taunting her, so she stabs Lily with a shard of glass and drags the body into the bathroom.
    • Back on stage, Nina embodies the black swan’s seductive and dark qualities beautifully, physically transforming into the black swan, which is quickly revealed to be a hallucination.
    • Later, Nina is shocked to hear Lily knocking at the door, revealing that she is still alive and that Nina had hallucinated stabbing her. Nina realizes that she stabbed herself and sees the blood coming out of the wound in her abdomen.
    • During the final act, Nina jumps to her death as the white swan after the prince picks Odile, concluding the traditional Swan Lake arc.
      • Everyone claps as the curtain draws and Leroy congratulates her, calling her “my little princess.” He realizes that she’s bleeding and calls for help.
      • Nina’s final lines are: “I felt it. Perfect. I was perfect.”
  2. 2
    Interpretation Nina’s hallucinations have finally taken control of her. She hallucinates a number of things, including a sexual encounter with Lily, Lily and Leroy having sex, and Lily’s death. Not to mention, she is having entire hallucinatory episodes during which she believes she’s becoming a black swan. The film fully embraces the body horror genre during these scenes, depicting Nina’s goosebump skin erupting into feathers, her eyes glowing red, and her legs bent inward like a swan’s. [4]
    • By opening night, Nina has become so consumed by the role that she can’t see beyond it. The pressure, coupled with her pre-existing mental health struggles and contentious relationship with her mother, has finally caused her to snap.
    • The fact that she realizes she’s suffering from a self-inflicted injury but chooses to finish her performance only proves how far gone she is and how much she’s willing to give up to be the swan queen.
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Section 4 of 5:

What was the meaning behind Black Swan ?

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  1. The film exposes the dangers of losing one’s identity in pursuit of ambition. In the cutthroat world of the performing arts, one often has to be remarkable in order to stand out from the rest. Nina knows this, sharing with Leroy that she just wants to be “perfect.” However, achieving perfection, which Nina believes she has done at the closing of the film, comes at the very high cost of losing her sanity, and by some accounts, her life. [5]
    • It’s important to note that Leroy calls Nina “my little princess” during their final exchange, a term she thought he had reserved only for Beth.
    • This cements the fact that Beth, Nina, and artists in general are replaceable and that great sacrifice may not always be truly worth it.
Section 5 of 5:

Popular Interpretations of Black Swan

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  1. 1
    Which scenes are real and which are hallucinated? Nina hallucinates most of what is happening to her. From the very beginning, it’s clear that Nina is dealing with mental health issues. She picks at her skin, which her mom reveals to be an ongoing situation, eats very little, and forces herself to purge. At first, we’re not sure if this constitutes the bulk of her mental disorder or if they’re simply symptoms of a bigger problem. By the end of the film, it’s evident that Nina’s descent into psychosis is her greatest antagonist, echoing Leroy’s sentiment: “The only person in your way is you.”
    • Director Darren Aronofsky stated that he was inspired by legends of people being haunted by dopplëgangers, as well as Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Double , detailing similar themes.
    • Nina likely hallucinated her dopplëganger during the entire film, replacing Lily’s face with her own to fit her warped narrative.
      • During the scene when Nina brings Lily back to her place, Nina’s mom never acknowledges Lily, leading viewers to believe she was never really there.
      • Additionally, when Nina wakes up in the morning after her imagined tryst with Lily, the bar she had originally placed on the door to keep her mom out is still there, which would have been impossible if Lily had already left.
    • Moreover, Nina never actually turns into a swan. However, the visceral physical transformation is meant to represent her own descent into madness.
    • Nina stabs herself, imagining that it’s Lily, ultimately fulfilling her own dark destiny.
  2. 2
    What mental illness did Nina have in Black Swan? According to some accounts, it’s less likely that Nina has schizophrenia and more likely that she found herself in the throes of a psychotic episode. Psychosis is described as being detached from reality and seeing and hearing things that aren’t there. Psychosis is a symptom, not an actual condition, often triggered by stress and the use of amphetamines, creating a perfect storm for Nina’s fragile and overworked state of mind. [6]
  3. 3
    Why did Nina's eyes turn red? Nina’s eyes turn red because black swans have red eyes. Normally, black swans have white eyes and black feathers with grey and white trim. However, during breeding season, their turn red, as does the skin between the eyes and beak. [7] .
  4. 4
    What do the mirrors in the film symbolize? The role of mirrors in the film is meant to represent Nina’s own duality, exhibiting qualities of both the sweet and demure white swan as well as the sexy and sinister black swan. The mirrors also function to further accentuate the idea that Nina’s dopplëganger is out to get her, contributing thematically and atmospherically to her mental decline.
  5. 5
    Does Nina die at the end? At the end of the film, it’s unclear whether Nina survives her self-inflicted wound or succumbs to them, illustrating the all-consuming nature of art and the sacrifices artists are willing to make. Ultimately, Nina pays the price of perfection. [8]
  6. 6
    How does the movie relate to the ballet, Swan Lake ? Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is a tale of duality and the coexistence of lightness and darkness. Odette is a beautiful maiden who is turned into a swan by the evil sorcerer, Rothbart. Prince Sigfried falls in love with Odette, vowing to break Rothbart’s spell. However, at the ball during which Sigfried is supposed to choose a wife, Rothbart tricks him by casting a spell to make his daughter, Odile, appear to be Odette. Siegfried chooses Odile, unwillingly condemning Odette to remain a swan forever. Instead of living with the pain and torment of her curse, Odette jumps off a cliff, killing herself. [9]
    • Despite Leroy’s objections throughout the film, Nina clearly embodies both Odette and Odile. In the beginning, Nina is very timid and soft-spoken, typically wearing white and pink, an obvious nod to the lovely yet silenced Odette.
    • However, her self-harm and growing competitive prowess reveal a darker, more sinister energy, such as that of Odile.
    • In many ways, the film is a cautionary tale against letting darkness win, as other parts of you may have to be sacrificed in the process.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.slashfilm.com/513277/nina-mom-black-swan-paranoid-schizophrenia/
      2. ↑ https://www.marquette.edu/innovation/documents/anderson_body_image_ballet.pdf
      3. ↑ https://btchflcks.com/2013/12/the-horror-of-female-sexual-awakening-black-swan.html
      4. ↑ https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-conversations-darren-aronofsky-part-ii-black-swan/
      5. ↑ https://reelrambler.com/2015/05/20/the-pursuit-of-perfection-black-swan-solidifies-itself-as-21st-century-cinematic-masterpiece/
      6. ↑ https://abcnews.go.com/Health/Movies/black-swan-psychiatrists-diagnose-natalie-portmans-portrayal-psychosis/story?id=12436873
      7. ↑ https://www.sfzoo.org/black-swan/#:~:text=During+breeding+season+the+normally,after+three+or+four+weeks
      8. ↑ https://thesouloftheplot.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/black-swan/
      9. ↑ https://www.sfballet.org/discover/backstage/the-story-of-swan-lake/

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