This is one of my Personal favorites. Not really a movie about dance, but rather a tense psychological drama. A dancer’s obsession with her artistry leads to her loosing touch with life and with reality. Preyed on by those around her, she slowly disintegrates. Natalie Portman is astounding as the young dancer whose obsessions take over her life. Portman won the Best Actress Oscar. Black Swan was nominated for Best Picture, Director and Cinematography. Rated R for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use.

What the critics say:

Washington Post, Ann Hornaday: A near-masterpiece of a film set in the hothouse world of New York ballet.

Rolling Stone, Peter Travers: Portman’s portrait of an artist under siege is unmissable and unforgettable. So is the movie. You won’t know what hit you. Premiere, Kristin Hunt: Just like the final performance by its deeply disturbed heroine, Black Swan is perfect.

Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert: A full-bore melodrama, told with passionate intensity, gloriously and darkly absurd. It centers on a performance by Natalie Portman that is nothing short of heroic.

Orlando Sentine, Roger Moore: Artful, epic, operatic even, this thriller set in the world of ballet challenges the viewer with its intelligence and depth and wit.

Salon.com, Andrew O’Hehir: One of the best movies of the year.

USA Today, Claudia Puig: To induce a state of dread and mesmerize with beauty is a rare, paradoxical achievement.

New York Magazine, David Edelstein: This is, no doubt about it, a tour de force, a work that fully lives up to its director’s ambitions.

The New York Times, Manohla Dargis: Black Swan is visceral and real even while it’s one delirious, phantasmagoric freakout.

Portland Oregonian, Shawn Levy: Whether your tastes are delicate or coarse, whether you prefer the ballet or horror movies, there is plenty in the film for you.

The Onion, Keith Phipps:  A florid, often lurid, completely enthralling film held in place by a disarming Portman, who rarely leaves the frame.

Arizona Republic, Bill Goodykoontz: It’s all or nothing with Black Swan. Either you embrace its headlong descent into madness brought on by the pressures of artistic perfection, compounded by smothering anxiety, or you reject it. It’s that simple.

Variety, Peter Debruge: A wicked, sexy and ultimately devastating study of a young dancer’s all-consuming ambition, Black Swan serves as a fascinating complement to Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” trading the grungy world of a broken-down fighter for the more upscale but no less brutal sphere of professional ballet.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Calvin Wilson: Black Swan is ridiculously over the top, but in a way that makes it fascinating to watch.