I finally saw Black Swan. A film about perfection, that manages to be exquisitely executed. It blew me away. I am sure mr Aronofsky made one of the most autobiographical movies of his career. For me, and I think for everybody who tries to create or craft something,the idea behind Black Swan rings painfully true.
Stevie Nicks used to write her trademark songs casually in 5 minutes. How free, carefree, in tune and talented you have to be for that. Drugs probably helped, who knows...Because one thing that you will encounter, (sober) if the hurdle that is perfection.
Wanting to be perfect is something different than looking for perfection in your work. The first is a castle that you build for keeping out criticism, people, others opinions. Isabella Rossellini tells in her autobiography that Gary Oldman gave her this advice about fearing the judgement of others.' Fuck them is the shortest prayer that exist.' I have her book in Italian, so it is ' mandali a fare in culo', I have to say is something that I,like most Italians, think that daily. If you are Italian you know why, and if you lived long enough in that country you will understand.it. Rossellini continues by telling the story of Martin Scorsese who used to say" Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it.' every morning before getting out of bed. It was the only way he could get up and face the day. As a mantra Rossellini highly recommends it.
"'Perfection is not only about control, it is also about letting go.' Thomas tells his pupil Nina. The thing that got me about Black Swan is that while Nina kills herself in search of perfection, she ultimately reaches the most beautiful performance by letting go. The madness, the darkness, her dark sides where all necessary for reaching what transcended her and destroyed her. The stories where all about Portman and Kunis grueling ballet training, but i am more curious what kind of personal and mental sacrifices Aronofsky made while making movies, or this movie in particular. In those mirrors that reflect Nina, we can also see the reflection of this director. As is the result of the breathtaking dance sequence in the end reflected and wrapped in this gorgeous and wise movie.
So forget about wanting to be perfect, just say fuck it and fuck them and go.
And if you want reach perfection in your work get over yourself,embrace whatever you are hiding, face it, fuck yourself, and just let go...
