Natalie Portman gives a compelling, sexy, and disturbing performance as Nina in Darren Aronofsky’s latest: Black Swan. Natalie plays a sheltered ballerina in the New York Ballet who is selected for the role of the Swan Queen in a stylized production of Swan Lake. The catch is that she will have to be both the White Swan, for which her character is naturally suited, and the Black Swan, a role for which her sheltered life has left her extremely unprepared.

The most breathless pre-release coverage of the movie concerns a sex scene between Natalie and her co-star Mila Kunis that was anticipated to be borderline X-rated. In the version I saw screened at the Telluride Film Festival as a sneak preview it was indeed extremely erotic but in no way x-rated.

Though Mila unambiguously goes down on Natalie, the footage is fairly tasteful and there’s not even a nipple exposed (the scene is hotter than Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried’s makeout in last year’s Jennifer’s Body). There are also two fairly explicit solo masturbation scenes that seem to take a cue from Marianna Beck and Jack Hafferkamp’s 2004 film (the first one is cut short in a very funny way that I won’t spoil).

The second most prevalent rumor surrounding this film is the Oscar buzz emanating from the Venice Festival where Black Swan’s official premiere was held (Telluride is considered an industry event, films that get their first public screening in Telluride often later “premiere” at Venice or Toronto). Natalie’s performance is, indeed, worthy of Oscar consideration. Her character disintegrates under the tearing forces of trying to be perfect in her role, her Mommie Dearest mother, and the perhaps imagined jealous spite of the other dancers in her company. She responds to the horror in her mind horribly but remains believable and even sympathetic as she simultaneously breaks free of her inhibitions while breaking her mind.

Mila Kunis turns in a strong performance as Lily, the dancer “from San Francisco.” She is a bit of a caricature: tattooed, sexually liberated, perhaps bisexual, a drug user, with natural talent but lacking precision and discipline. She becomes the understudy, of course, for Nina and may be trying to destroy her or maybe she is just trying to help her.

Winona Ryder plays the outgoing star of the company who has aged past her ability to draw crowds. She, too, turns in an excellent performance though her character’s range is limited to hysteria. Barbara Hershey is also remarkable as Natalie’s Mommy Dearest, both aggressively pushing her daughter to have the career she didn’t (stereotypically having given up her career to have her daughter) and simultaneously growing (perhaps) insanely jealous.

The last controversy is the somewhat over-the-top horror elements that make it a little harder to take seriously as an art film. As Nina loses her mind the world she sees becomes more and more fantastical and terrifying. The audience experiences her world through her eyes and fantastical elements blur the line between the mind games being played by the company director (Vincent Cassel), her mother, and her costars and the games her own mind is playing with her. I found the fantastical elements effective and appropriate to the story, but the camera work leaned too much on standard horror tropes and ended up being at times unintentionally funny.

Highly Recommended!