Terry George: The Promise

Director – Terry George

Writers – Terry George, Robin Swicord

Plot: Set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, The Promise

follows a love triangle between Michael, a brilliant medical student,

the beautiful and sophisticated Ana, and Chris - a renowned American

journalist based in Paris. – IMDB.com

Cast                                                    Characters

Oscar Isaac                  …                Mikael Boghosian

Charlotte Le Bon        …                  Ana Khesarian

Christian Bale              …                Chris Myers

Daniel Giménez Cacho      …        Reverend Dikran Antreassian

Shohreh  Aghdashloo        …        Marta Boghosian

Marwan Kenzari            ---            Emre Ogan

Angela Sarafyan            …            Maral

Tom Hollander              …              Garin

Numan Acar                  …            Mustafa

Igal Naor                        …            Mesrob

Milene Mayer                …            Yeva

Tamer Hassan                …            Faruk Pasha

Alicia Borrachero          …          Lena

Abel Folk                      …            Harut

Jean Reno                      ---            Admiral Fournet

Thoughts –  The movie starts saying “On the eve of World War I, the

once vast Ottoman Turk Empire was on the brink of collapse. The fate

of the Empire’s Greek, Assyrian, and Armenian minorities lay in the

balance”

We begin in Siroun, Southern Turkey 1914. It is half Turk, half

Armenian. Mikael Boghosian is a man who prepares and sells medicines.

The narrator tells us “For 200 years the  Boghosians made medicines

using formulas handed down from our ancestors. We treated everyone

alike, Muslim and Christian, rich and poor.” Harut, Mikael’s father in

law, gives him 400 gold coins as a dowry. He says he will grow to love

her so it is a marriage for money so he can go to school in

Constantinople to study medicine.

At the Imperial Medical School Mikael begins classes. This is his

dream come true.  Mikael notices and talks to Ana Khesarian who is an

artist. We are introduced to Christopher Myers played by Christian

Bale who sis a Paris based American journalist. They agree the place

is boring where they are drinking and they go to a bar to drink

absinthe.

Ana tells Mikael she’s done sketches for Parisian magazines and

American newspapers. Ana is with Christopher but a love triangle is

brewing. Chris apologies for insulting the Turk and German armies at

the party to Ana.  Turkey enters the war October 29, 1914. Mikael

avoids a military draft when his friend pays off a soldier who enlists

people. That was a close call.  Chris tells Ana it’s not safe for

Armenians right now so he wants to get her an American visa. Mikael’s

uncle recognizes that Ana likes Mikael and that things are not good

between her and Chris. He suggests to Mikael he get divorced and pay

back the dowry of 400 gold coins plus 200 to ease the anger. Mikael

says no he made a promise. Chris witnesses Armenian’s being marched to

their deaths, The Armenian Genocide, and one woman weak is shot. Turks

are assaulting Armenians and setting fire to their shops.

An affair starts with Ana and Mikael. As a journalist Chris wires a

message to New York that Armenians are being murdered. The Turks don’t

like this when they hear him aloud. He is also mad because he knows

Ana cheated on him with Mikael. Emre, a Turk, tries to help his

Armenian friend, Mikael. Mikael tries to bribe someone in the prison

but is tricked and imprisoned himself. Emre’s relative tells him he is

to join the army to restore their family name. Chris looks at his wife

Ana and knows she cheated on him. The Turks are building a railroad

and the Armenians are doing all the manual labor. The Turks are

brutal. They shoot someone if they are injured.

Mikael escapes the work camp. He gets help from some Armenian

peasants. Maral and Mikael get married in an Armenian ceremony. Mikael

is given refuge b his family. He sleeps with Maral. All in all he is

lucky. Chris tells a pastor he wants to record the orphans escaping

for posterity. The pastor agrees to it. Maral thinks she is pregnant

with Mikael’s child. Ana and Mikael reunite at the mission. They cry

seeing each other.

Chris asks how Mikael is going to introduce Ana to his wife, Maral. He

is threatening him. Mikael doesn’t like this. Mikael sees his family

captured by the Turks. The Turks kill a load of people by the river

and leave them there. Among them is Maral and Mikael’s father.

Turks come and find the survivors, Mikael’s mother and a little girl.

A Turk kicks Chris in the testicles and he is emasculated once again.

Chris Myers tells a Turk official, Faruk Pasha, he is reporting on the

war. The man says there is no war here just a civilian relocation.

Chris rips up a confession he gets in prison he is suppose to sign. It

shocks Emre. They find out Emre sent out information about Chris and

he is executed. Marta dies and they bury her under rocks. This was

Mikael’s mother.

Turks start firing canon balls on the mountain where the Armenians are

hiding. They head toward the beach. Admiral Fournet of the French Navy

sends help to the Armenians. They fight alongside the Armenians. Ana

and Mikael kiss and she says she loves him. Chris sees this.  Yeva and

Ana are tossed from the boat evacuating the Armenians. Ana drowns.

Chris finds out and he is devastated. Chris dies while reporting on

the Spanish Civil War.

The movie tells us, “One and a half million, men, women, and children

perished during the Armenian genocide. To this day the Turkish

government refuses to acknowledge this crime.”

Works Cited:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_%282016_film%29

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4776998/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Jean-Luc Godard: Breathless

Director– Jean-Luc Godard

Writer - François Truffaut

Cast                                          Characters

Jean Seburg              …            Patricia Franchini

Jean-Paul Belmondo      …      Michel Poiccard / Laszlo Kovacs

Daniel Boulanger           …      Police Inspector Vital

Henri-Jacques Huet        …      Antonio Berrutti

Roger Hanin                  …       Carl Zubart

Van Doude                    …        Himself

Claude Mansard             …        Claudius Mansard

Plot

A small-time thief steals a car and impulsively murders a motorcycle policeman. Wanted by the authorities, he reunites with a hip American journalism student and attempts to persuade her to run away with him to Italy. –IMDB.com

Introduction to French New Wave Facts

The French New Wave was consisted of two parts: the Cahiers group of critics-turned-directors (Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer, and Francois Truffaut) and the “Left Bank” group has often been characterized as taking literature, philosophy, politics, and the possibilities of documentary more seriously than the Cahiers group. They were also more professionally experienced filmmakers, and Varda’s La Pointe Courte (shot and privately premiered in 1954, released in 1956 and edited by Resnais) has been called by some the first New Wave film; it is certainly the precursor, as Ossessione prepared the way for Neorealism. (Mast Kawin 347)

Furthermore “To like Godard for Breathless is perhaps to wish he were another Truffaut. But even in Breathless the unique Godard devices – the logical assault against logic, the sudden and abrupt event, the detachment of the viewer from the illusion of the film – control the work. As Michel drives the stolen car, his lengthy monologue on life and the countryside is addressed directly to us, an artifice that Godard emphasizes with his jump cutting, which destroys – or excitingly charges the visual continuity of time and space. (Mast Kawin 352)

One technique that Godard is famous for is that of Breaking the Fourth Wall. This is seen is his film Band of Outsiders. It is jarring and abrasive and gets your attention. 

Thoughts

The film Breathless begins with Jean-Paul Belmondo looking at a sexy pin-up in a tabloid newspaper. You’ll see him stroke his lips a habit supposedly Humphrey Bogart had. “Breathless uses the famous techniques of the French New Wave: location shooting, improvised dialogue, and a loose narrative form. In addition Godard uses his characteristic jump cuts, deliberate “mismatches” between shots, and references to the history of cinema, art, and music. Much of the film’s vigor comes from collisions between popular and high culture: Godard shows us pinups and portraits of women by Picasso and Renoir, and the soundtrack includes both Mozart’s clarinet concerto and snippets of French pop radio.” (ThePirateBay)

“Breathless (À Bout de Souffle) was a “New Wave” film released in 1960 France and was directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The script was written by Godard and François Truffaut, both of whom were writers for the Cahiers du Cinéma, a journal for cinema.” (Film…And All Its Goodness)

Michel steals a car and is off. He breaks the fourth wall by talking to camera. He says if you don’t like the shore, mountains or city then get stuffed. He aims to the sun with his gun and we hear gunshots. The gunshots are not from the gun itself. As the editing continues as he is driving there is a cut on sound which gets your attention.  The cops chase him and he kills one escaping on foot through a field. When Michel is at a girlfriend’s apartment there is natural lighting and a wall light but it is shot seemingly without key, fill lights and back lighting. This gives it a rawer more individual and auteur look. “A tiny room in the Hotel de Suede was used as the room where Patricia lived. It was so small there was only about eight inches of floor space around the bed. Jean-Luc Godard, Raoul Coutard, and the actors all had to cram into the space, with the focus puller standing on the bed and the script supervisor watching through the door. "It was a relief not to have lights," Coutard later said.” (IMDB.com)

An interesting trivia fact is that “the story is based on the real life criminal, Michel Portail, who Truffaut had collected clippings back in 1952” (IMDB.com) Michel goes to a movie theatre and sees a picture of Humphrey Bogart and strokes his lips the way that Bogart seemingly does. Humphrey Bogart was a symbol of masculine power and Michel tries to emulate that. 

Godard’s status was cemented with the greats as this movie came out despite it’s unorthodox editing. This parodic re-appropriation of a classical thriller (dedicated to Monogram Pictures, the American B-movie production company) turned budgetary constraints to its advantage by using outdoor locations, natural lighting, a hand-held camera and a crew reduced to a minimum to create the impression of a more authentic, if stylized, approach to reality.” (Fotiade 12)

What is basically said in the last citation is that the budgetary constraints were an asset to the film adding forced methods of creativity for Godard to use. These are part of the reasons that this is a landmark film.

On a technical note “Coutard had no difficulties in adapting to Godard’s unconventional methods, and went along with the young director’s suggestion of using hypersensitive film stock (Ilford HPS and Agfa Record) for night shoots, which up until then had been the preserve of still photographers and documentary filmmakers. A different stock (Gervaert 36) was used for day shooting.” (Fotiade 32)

When Michel insists that Patricia sleep with him that night she basically turns him down. In the car there are many jump cuts probably to eliminate boring dialogue between Patricia and Michel as stated by Fotiade. The dolly shots I read were accomplished by a cameraman being pushed on a wheelchair. Creative. He scene in which Patricia and Michel talk in her room has natural lighting which gives the film a documentary type look. It adds realism as well as the outside location shooting. Patricia presumably sleeps with the man giving her articles to write which angers Michel understandably. Michel philosophizes women and what they want and is angry that Patricia doesn’t know if she loves him yet. He asks her if she thinks about death. He says he does all the time.  Fitting since death will await him at the end of the film. She tells him she’s pregnant. Every time he touches her butt she slaps him. Patricia says she wants to know what’s behind his face. Michel says he’s not much of a looker but he is quite the boxer. Jean-Paul Belmondo was a amateur boxer in real life. “The scene establishes an idiosyncratic non-verbal bond between characters that are otherwise constantly plagued by cultural misperceptions and linguistic quid pro quo.” (Fotiade 47)

Michel steals a Ford which he likes. Jean-Luc Godard can be seen spotting Michel and he is the one who informs the police on him. Michel takes the car to a chop shop but they rip him off on the price of the car. “Cutting between dialogue and splicing the shots of only one interlocutor ‘as if it was a single take’ (during Michel’s conversation with Patricia in the car) provides an example of stylistic innovation that helped solve a practical editing problem.” (Fotiade 63) These jump cuts make for a fluid conversation and scene as Michel asks her question and a time lapse is not really detected. 

Jump cut after jump cut of Michel cursing the taxi driver to speed up and pass cars shows his rude side as he now knows police are pursuing him. Antonio Berruti owes him money and he left 5 minutes ago as Michel tries to find him. 

Continuity was a funny thing in the film. “At times Godard’s resentment of classical continuity rules went as far as to exclude Susanne Faye (the continuity girl) from the shooting, which led to glaring inconsistencies in the actors’ costumes, such as Patricia’s sudden change from a short-sleeved striped top to a long-sleeved sailor top in consecutive shots during the bedroom sequence.” (Fotiade 74)

Inspector Vital asks Patricia if she’s seen the man on the front page, Michel. She says no. The guy warns her not to mess with Paris Police. 

“It is worthwhile noting in this context that the American thriller and film noir genre was, generally speaking, a male preserve, with the occasional intervention of leading female characters who acted as temptresses, double agents or objects of desire (if not combinations of such roles), deflecting the protagonist from his course and, in some cases, determining his downfall.” (Fotiade 77) It can be said that the masculine and feminine are always fighting with each other in the film even in seduction. Patricia is chased to the movies where she tries to hide. It is clever that the cinema a form of escapism is physically an escape for Patricia. They steal a Cadillac and search for Antonio to get some money he owes Michel. He meets with him and agrees to call him tomorrow. At the hideout Patricia and Michel stay the night. The next on Michel’s orders she buys some milk and a newspaper. She then calls the police on Michel, the one who gave Patricia his number. His name is Inspector Vital. She tells Michel she doesn’t want to be in love with him. That is why she called the police. Instead of running they both philosophize about love. On the street Antonio throws Michel a gun and the police shoot him. He calls Patricia a louse.

At the end of the movie there is “Patricia impersonating Bogart (a sign of complicity with Michel). (Fotiade 83)

Works Cited

Fotiade, Ramona. A bout de soufflé. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2013

Mast, Gerald and Kawin, Bruce. A Short History of the Movies. 2000

Thepiratebay.org

http://shauney.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/2010/12/10/film-analysis-breathless

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053472/trivia?ref_=tt_ql_2

Proud, Alexandra. Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless: The revelation of

filmmaking as cinephilia. Edith Cowan University

imdb.com

Adam McKay: The Other Guys

Director – Adam McKay
Writers – Adam McKay, Chris Henchy

Plot – Two mismatched New York City detectives seize an opportunity to
step up like the city’s top cops, whom they idolize, only things don’t
quite go as planned.

Cast                                             Characters
Will Ferrell              …              Allen Gamble
Derek Jeter               …             Himself
Mark Wahlberg       …             Terry Hoitz
Eva Mendes             …              Dr. Sheila Gamble
Michael Keaton        …            Captain Gene Mauch
Larnell Stovall           …           Rasta
Jailil Jay Lynch          …             Rasta
Roy T. Anderson        …            Rasta
Ray Stevenson            …           Roger Wesley
Samual L. Jackson      …           P.K. Highsmith
Andrew Secunda       …            Press Conference Reporter
Sara Chase                    …            Press Conference Reporter
Dwayne Johnson         …            Christopher Danson
David Gideon                 …           Mayor

Thoughts –  There is a shot early in this movie which is the only one
I disagree with and shake my head at. It is when P.K. Highsmith
crashes his car into our great leader’s Trump Tower. Now I voted for
Trump and I still support him so maybe they didn’t know what a great
leader he’d become. Onward.  Allen and Terry are introduced as the
other guys and in a funny shot Allen takes a picture of his heroes
P.K. Highsmith and Christopher Danson which Terry tries to stop. Terry
is clearly jealous of the rockstar cops.


Terry (Mark Wahlberg) yells at Allen (Will Ferrell) for humming and
smiling at his desk doing the rockstar’s paperwork for them.  David
Ershon, an investment banker, is introduced and he is the antagonist
in the film.

Some of the other detectives come over and ask Allen how come he’s
never fire his gun in the office before. They tell it’s called a desk
pop. He does it and Captain Gene Mauch takes away his gun. They treat
the desk pop like it’s an investigation.

Dansen and Highsmith try to stop three thieves who robbed jewelry
store. They jump off a building hoping to aim for the bushes and of
course die. Terry and another guy get in a fight at a funeral. Trashy,
yet funny.  Terry wants to get pumped up so he puts on some Heavy
Metal but Allen switches to Easy Listening. Terry doesn’t like Allen
cause he doesn’t think he’s a real cop. He also thinks he’s feminine.
Women respond very well to Allen in this movie as every one flirts
with him.

At Allen’s house he and Terry discuss David Ershon.  Terry is stunned
that Allen’s wife, Sheila, is so beautiful. Allen treats his wife like
garbage. It is hinted that Allen used to be a pimp later.  The cops
find Allen’s Prius and say a bunch of homeless dudes had sex in the
car called a soup kitchen. Classic.

David Ershon is doing some sort of investment fraud. Thirty two
billion dollars are being invested by the Lottery fund. Allen says he
got in a fight with his wife because he doesn’t have the money to pay
for his wife to take a class called “The Art of Oral Sex.” The luck
this guy has. Even Terry looks at him in disbelief. He reveals to
Terry in college he would schedule dates, provide transportation and
get a percentage. He was a pimp.

David Ershon gets two Russian waters for Terry and Allen. Allen goes
on and on about how good the water is and how the cucumber accents the
water. I think only Will Ferrell could make this funny. They both get
stupidly bribed by accepting court side tickets to a Knicks game. They
get bribed again by going to a Jersey Boys play. Later Allen thinks
Ershon is targeting the lottery to cover his losses.
At dinner Allen tells Sheila about his dark days in college pimping.
She talks about how pimps don’t cry when Allen was crying because of a
poison ivy infection in his asshole.

When Allen is invited by Terry to do some drinking to ease their lady
trouble. There is a really cool slow motion shot going around the bar
where everyone is frozen in time. I don’t know how they did it but it
looks good.  Allen and Terry are forced to hand over evidence of
Ershon to the SEC. It turns out the only connection Ershon had with
the lottery was that he was hooking up with the Powerball girl.
Allen and Terry are demoed to traffic and walking the beat downtown.
Allen tries drinking hard liquor but then steps down to Mike’s Hard
Lemonade. Classic stuff.

During a shootout in the building where they are talking about
investing a deal, a White Stripes song comes on called “Icky Thump.”
It’s a good song and I suggest you check them out.  Later to avoid
their pensions being screwed they go to the bank to stop the transfer.
Francine and Terry makeup and get married and Terry and Allen get a
new assignment from Derek Jeter.
The whole movie is great and Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg make a
great comedy team.

Jonathan Mostow: U-571

Director – Jonathan Mostow
Writers – Jonathan Mostow, Sam Montgomery, David Ayer

Plot - A German submarine is boarded by disguised American submariners
trying to capture their Enigma cipher machine. – IMDB.com

Cast                                                         Character
Matthew McConaughey    …             Lt. Andrew Tyler
Bill Paxton                              …            Lt. Cmdr Mike Dalhgren
Harvey Keitel                        …             CPO Henry Klough
Jon Bon Jovi                           …             Lt. Pete Emmett
David Keith                           …              Maj. Matthew Coonan
Thomas Kretschmann         …             Capt.-Lt. Gunther Wassner
Jake Weber                             …              Lt. Hirsch
Jack Noseworthy                   …             Seaman Bill Wentz
Tom Guiry                               …              Seaman Ted
“Trigger” Fitzgerald

Trivia – “Lieutenant Commander Mike Dahlgren's (Bill Paxton's) final
words before his death, are when he yells to Lieutenant Tyler (Matthew
McConaughey), "Andy! Take her down!" This is taken from a real
incident in 1943, when the submarine U.S.S. Growler collided with a
Japanese destroyer in a night battle. Both ships were badly damaged in
the collision, and the Japanese immediately opened fire on the Growler
at close range. The Growler's skipper, Commander Howard Gilmore, and
three other men on the lookout platform were hit by machine gun fire.
Gilmore was badly wounded, and the others were killed. Knowing that
the Growler would be sunk if the Japanese brought their five-inch guns
to bear, Gilmore yelled to his Executive Officer, "Take her down!"
Gilmore drowned when the Growler submerged beneath him, but his
sacrifice saved his submarine and the remainder of his crew. Howard
Gilmore was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.” –IMDB.com

Thoughts –  If I mess up some details just know military history isn’t
my strength. The film begins with what is going on in 1942. It says,
“Spring 1942 Hitler’s U-boats wreak havoc in the North Atlantic
sinking over 1000 Allied ships and threatening to destroy the supply
line from America to England. Unable to crack the new U-boat radio
codes, the Allies struggle blindly against the German onslaught.
The Germans set the coordinates, shoot a torpedo and explode a ship.
After depth charges are dropped. Several hit the U-boat and explode
nearby.  Fuel leaks. People catch on fire and they surface after the
damage. They use an enigma machine to send a message to Berlin. They
say to send help..

“The Enigma machine used in the movie was genuine and not a prop. It
was obtained from a collector for use in the movie.” –IMDB.com
Andy Tyler played by Matthew McConaughey enters the party. The Captain
tells Andy he couldn’t recommend him to get his ship. The Chief tells
Andy there are other commands in the Navy. The military seem to be
making a fake German ship.

An Admiral talks to Wentz in German and it is understood he will be
used for the group. Someone new to the submarine is told they try not
to go lower than a 150 feet if not they start leaking. They talk about
triangulating a signal to a location of a damaged U-boat. In this
U-boat is an enigma code machine. One guy says, “It allows the German
navy to communicate with its submarines in secret.” They cannot
decipher their messages. They are to board the German U-boat and take
the enigma code machine.

Wentz says they picked up a radar contact at 0-7-0. Through signal the
Germans are tricked into thinking they will get bananas, eggs and
mail. They board the ship but the Americans are soon found out. There
is a firefight. They find the Enigma Code Machine but more importantly
they find the code books. They capture the last living soldiers on the
U-boat. A torpedo hits the American sub and everyone is frantic to get
the Enigma Machine. They board the German U-boat but everything is in
German to which Wentz translates. On top of that they use the metric
system so that is a slight problem to understand.

They decide to head to England. The sailors are getting wary about
dying over what they call the Enigma Machine a “typewriter.” CPO Henry
Klough tells Tyler never to tell the sailors he doesn’t know what he
is going to do. He has to be all knowing and all powerful.
Later a Nazi destroyer heads here way after a reconnaissance plane
spots the German U-boat. A boat comes with German sailors but Tyler
orders them to shoot at their radio tower so they can’t radio for
help. They restore the hydraulics to the American sub and they
submerge in the water.

 The Germans release depth charges to hit the
Americans. The depth charges are effective and the boat starts leaking
water. Tyler plans to sink the destroyer with one torpedo. Problem is
one of the pipes is busted and they have no air to fire the torpedo.
They ascend but they are not ready. This movie has a lot of tension
and is a good war movie. The captive German signals morse code he
says, “I am U-571. Destroy me.” They kill the German. They have the
torpedo ready. They fire and the German destroyer explodes. Trigger
drowned saving the men of U-571.  They abandon ship. A plane sees them
and rescues them.

Some people complain about historical inaccuracies of the movie but it
was entertaining so fuck it.

Works Cited
IMDB.com

Darren Aronofsky: Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky: Black Swan
Director  - Darren Aronofsky
Writers – Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John J. McLaughlin

Cast                              Character
Natalie Portman  …   Nina Sayers/The Swan Queen
Mila Kunis          …      Lily/The Black Swan
Vincent Cassel     …    Thomas Leroy/The Gentleman
Barbara Hershey   …   Erica Sayers/The Queen
Winona Ryder        …    Beth Macintyre/The Dying Swan
Benjamin Millepied  … David/The Prince

Plot
A committed dancer wins the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky’s
“Swan Lake” only to find herself struggling to maintain her sanity.  –
IMDB.com

Thoughts

First of all as much as I would like to be original and insightful
most of the time I am not. So with that being said I am going to quote
and cite heavily from the VigilantCitizen website.
Nina Sayers opens up the film saying she had the craziest dream last
night she was dancing the white swan. Something she will indeed
obtain. On the subway she notices another woman who looks like her
perhaps an alter persona. She is wearing black and could be the dark
side to Nina’s innocent side.

In the changing room the other dancers trash Beth Macintyre but Nina
lifts her up. She is surrounded by mirrors. “The director’s use of
mirrors and reflections in numerous scenes are a constant reminder of
Nina’s altered perception of reality.” (Vigilant Citizen) In a
following scene Beth goes crazy destroying her dressing room. After
she leaves Nina goes in and steals her lipstick.

Now why does she steal her lipstick? I am sure there is an esoteric
meaning to this. A good contrast between Lily and Nina is that when
they first see each other Nina asks Thomas if she should go again
(practice again). She is fiercely disciplined whereas Lily when asked
to warm up says she’s fine. Lily has that inner confidence where Nina
does not.  Thomas says if she was just playing the white swan she,
Nina, would get the part. Thomas is seen as her handler. Someone who
breaks her down into a disassociate state.

“A promotional poster for Black Swan. Nina (played by Natalie Portman)
is shown with a crack in her face, representing the fracturing of her
personality, an important concept, and symbol of mind control.”
(Vigilant Citizen)

Now I am not an expert on Illuminati symbols and their meanings so I
will let the following citation do the explaining.

“Nina’s bedroom. Notice the butterflies on the wall, a reference to
Monarch programming. Next to the window is a big white rabbit, a
symbol of mind control originating from Alice in Wonderland – a fairy
tale used in the programming of MK slaves.  By following the White
Rabbit Alice is lead to an alternate world, Wonderland, which, in mind
control terms, refers to a slave’s dissociative state.“(Vigilant
Citizen)

Thomas wants her to lose herself and not fight him, the handler. It is
evident he wants to put unimaginable pressure to break her psyche.  He
wants results. After a lame attempt to flirt with him he sees her as a
bit corrupt and realizes she does have the black swan within her. He
picks her to be The Swan Queen. She is emotional and thrilled to have
gotten the part. She tells her “mommy” as she refers her accentuating
her innocence and naivety.
If you watch carefully when she gets back to her apartment in her
mom’s room a painting with eyes follows her and this begins her
psychosis.

A boundary and disturbingly sexual shot is when her mom Erica feed
some cake from her finger to Nina’s mouth. Thomas says he wants more
of that bite referring to the bitten kiss she gives him. He is trying
to seduce her to loosen her up for the role and of course for the
pleasure of sex. It seems as though everyone in the film, her mother,
Thomas, Lily and the old pervert in the subway sees Nina in a sexual
way perhaps because of her innocence they want to corrupt.

Her transformation is not just psychological but also physical as she
bleeds randomly on her body. On her back, fingernail and toenail. Lily
and Nina officially meet in the bathroom. Nina is wearing white,
virginal and pure and Lily is wearing black. Not to say she is evil
but let’s say more enlightened and experienced in the ways of the
world
.
Thomas asks Nina if she’s had many boyfriends and if she enjoys having
sex. He is trying to bring out the Black Swan she is having trouble
conveying. He gives her homework: to touch herself. He wants her live
a little. There is “sexual familiarity” when Erica, Nina’s mom,
undresses her with no hesitation. (Vigilant Citizen). Nina comes
around to masturbating herself as suggested by Thomas. Nina later puts
a rod to block the door so no one can get in. It is hinted that her
mother might be sexually abusive.

Thomas and Nina practice together in the dance hall. He touches her
all over, vagina and breasts. He tells her that is he seducing her and
that it should be the other way around.
“An old pervert makes obscene gestures to Nina while riding the train.
This disturbing scene tells a lot about Nina’s relation to sexuality.
Sexual predators sometimes have the sick ability to sniff out and prey
on sex-abuse victims.” (Vigilant Citizen)

It is interesting when she comes home with “Lily” you can see her
reflection in many mirrors which may symbolize her mental fracturing
is taking place. Just a thought. I’m not an expert on that sort of
work. She and “Lily” go home and have sex. This means that she is
becoming the black swan. At the theatre she watches Lily practice. She
is really watching her idealized self.

Nina grows paranoid that she thinks Lily is after her role when she
learns she has become Nina’s alternate. Nina still practices too hard
without letting go. At home she starts physically changing – her eyes
become red, growths coming from her skin and her toes sticking
together.

At opening night she gives a great performance as she inhabits both
the white and black swan.

“The Black Swan is the artistically brilliant yet spiritually
destructive force Thomas wants to see born in Nina. He obviously knows
about the Black Swan’s devastating powers, but he doesn’t care and
never did: he is after the ultimate performance. Once Nina has been
“used” up by the Swan, he will find another dancer to replace her. He
is a representation of the entertainment industry, which manipulates
artists into becoming Black Swans,  ultimately trashing them when the
Swan’s effects have faded.” (Vigilant Citizen)

Works Cited

https://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-occult-interpretation-of-the-movie-black-swan-and-its-message-on-show-business/

IMDB.com