Black Swan, 2011 suckage, and sewing advice
So far 2011 has consisted of a lot of low-grade annoyances. Apart from killing my laptop, I have also lost my mobile phone and may have killed my coffee maker (eeeeek!). A big job fell through when I really need money for travel. And now my landlords are thinking about selling, which is a BITCH because it means months of inspections and then a
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Anyway, I disagree with you re: Thomas. He forcefully kissed Nina, he ran his hands all over her ("that's me seducing you"), etc. He was a sleaze, period. I disliked him as much at the end as I did at the beginning.
I also think that Lily did try to undermine Nina, at least to some degree. The first thing that springs to mind is the scene where Thomas mentions Lily told him about Nina crying and Lily denies it. How else would Thomas know? And in the back of my mind I like to think that Nina and Lily did sleep together, although the "such a sweet girl" that Lily says at the end of the scene makes me think it was part of Nina's delusions (as that's what her mother keeps saying, and Lily couldn't have been mocking her because Nina's mother doesn't say that in Lily's presence).
Re: the paintings, I think most of them were paintings of Nina (in one shot there is a small photo of Nina attached to the top of the canvas, which her mother is obviously basing the painting on) but I also think there might be some self-portraits of Nina's mother in there.
Anyway, really enjoyed the movie. You're spot on with your comment about the tight editing/direction.
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How else would Thomas know?
I thought that was a really clever construction because it was clear Lily said something but I think it's far more likely that Thomas guessed or asked whether Nina was crying (he was already shitty with her and thought she was a whiner) than that Lily came right out with it. Lily just seemed such an open, warm person. We only have hearsay or Nina's visions to imply that she deliberately did anything. That said, I think there Lily was *thoughtless*. She said something or other to Thomas. I doubt she said it to deliberately hurt Nina, but nevertheless it did so, as she herself acknowledged later.
And I don't know re. Thomas... I'd say 'a bit of a sleaze' but there was a degree to which him pushing her WAS constructive for her dancing. And I just think Nina could have projected a lot from that--particularly I think she thought he had deliberate desire to sleep with her, where I'm not sure that's the case. I think he honestly just wanted her to loosen up and dance more freely. Yes, he was controlling and manipulative but I started out *really* hating him, and by the end I found him more to be an interesting, believable study of someone, not wholly good nor wholly bad.
Nina and Lily sleeping together clearly didn't happen, imo. But that whole sequence was brilliant.
I think most of them were paintings of Nina
Ahhh, ok. That kind of makes more sense to me... it would be cool if they were muddled up with self-portraits, showing the blurry boundaries between mother and daughter.
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I agree with most of what your saying. With the mother and the paintings, I thought that the mother was somewhat schizophrenic too perhaps. The paintings reflecting the darker things she sees or imagines. Only at one point I'm sure she said something like "you see it too, don't you?" after Nina ripped down the paintings and the mother definitely seemed to understand when Nina was losing it. With such illnesses sometimes running in families, it is possible, but it could also be that Nina was projecting on her mother. I'm not sure.
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