Black Swan Review Paper
The movie, Black Swan, focuses on sheltered Nina (Natalie Portman), who has
performed ballet for years and her exciting journey to play the lead in the upcoming production,
Swan Lake. Nina is stressed throughout the film by a sexually twisted, domineering mother,
Erica (Barbara Hershey), her catty peers, and her imagined new love/hate affair with her
competition for the show, Lily (Mila Kunis). Nina uses Lily as her escape from her perfectionist
lifestyle and hallucinates experiences where she can have freedom to live, had her life not been
so structured by dance and by her mother. As Nina struggles to maintain a balance she begins to
hallucinate and imagine fantastic scenarios that have not even occurred. Nina is a perfectionist
and as she strives to play the perfect combination of the white and black swan. She however,
eventually crumbles to the stress on her mental state and begins harming herself. Eventually at
the climax of the show, Nina stabs herself with a shard of glass and dies theatrically and
physically on stage because of a hallucination (Black Swan).
Although I believe that Nina had multiple disorders in this film, I believe the most correct
diagnosis would be Paranoid Schizophrenia (Abnormal Psychology). When watching, Black
Swan, it is often difficult to see what is reality and what Nina is hallucinating until something
truly sinister occurs. Nina hallucinates ripping her fingernails off, slowly turning into a swan,
sexual encounters with Lily, but also, violent competitive episodes with Lily as well. Nina
believes that her mother, instructor, peers and Lily are trying to take her coveted role away from
her. Nina begins to think that everyone is against her and feels so helpless that she acts out and
harms those who threaten her. Nina also struggles to take care of herself and her mother does
practically everything for her and treats her like she is much younger than she actually is in the
film (Black Swan).
The DSM-IV Criteria for Schizophrenia are classified by several criteria. Nina meets the
criteria “A” by having delusions, hallucinations, catatonia, and a lack of insight (DSM-5). Nina
experiences delusions when she thinks Lily and her mother are out to destroy her chances as
being the lead. Lily does indeed want the role, but what Nina imagines is something so much
more than friendly competitiveness and veers into something almost demonic. In Nina’s mind,
Lily is everything the black swan entails, all the actions and personality traits that Nina does not
