by jlaw172364 » Sat Dec 18, 2010 12:38 pm
I saw it last night. The film isn't sadistic or misogynistic. It merely depicts ballet, which is inherently sadistic and misogynistic in what it demands of women, which in my opinion, was encapsulated by the brief scene where Barbara Hershey hands Portman her breakfast of half a grapefruit and a poached egg. I think Arronofsky(sp?) was trying to make a point about perfection in art and what it does to people, dehumanizing them, and how it ruins lives. That seemed perfectly obvious to me.
But in any case, one may as well say that all sports or physical disciplines that require exertions that tax the body are misanthropic.
I dated a dancer, briefly, in college. She had a very nice set of C-cup breasts, however, she said she planned to get surgery to reduce them in size because it would "help her lines." It's not enough to dance perfectly, the body must also conform to some imaginary, artificial aesthetic, created by some long-dead mastermind, that everyone slavishly and zombielike conforms to. That and she always wore socks to cover the bruises and cuts on her feet, not that I cared about that.
I thought Portman did a great job, and usually I find her wooden and bland.
That being said, it was hard to watch the film because I felt so bad for her character and all the suffering she had to endure.