Black Swan is a classic story of the obsessed artist, a troubling depiction of a passion descending into obsession resulting in complete self destruction. 

‍

Black Swan is not about the talent  the main character Nina Sayer may have had, but about her self-created spiral into madness. The inside of Nina's psyche was filled with the idea of other ballerinas that could replace her at any given moment. 

‍

Ballerinas ranging from klutzy outgoing city girls to perfectly posh women who're better than her in one way or another, women who are somehow able to perfect the black swan role without fail, unlike her. 

‍

The constant look of fear in her eyes along with the slow awareness of her loss of control paved the way for a stunning performance of a white swan.

‍

However, to play the shadow swan was to become one with it, and the only way for her to do that was to be able to get rid of the innocence she lived with everyday and compel the audience in a way they had never seen before. 

‍

Throughout the movie, a noticeable pattern that's seen with side characters is that they appear in a flash-like manner. 

‍

Short and choppy scenes that are hard to distinguish as real or not are emphasized through the dark lighting and slow pacing it seems to take at times.  

‍

In the moments where she feels as if she's going insane, the audience sympathizes with her and understands where she's coming from because they too, have a difficult time being able to tell what's happening in her head and what's truly going on in her surroundings. 

‍

It could be an indirect way of showing that as the black swan comes closer to engulfing Nina entirely, so do the people in her life. 

‍

During the climax of the movie, a nearly heart wrenching scene is displayed. The songs chosen to play while she gets herself ready to perform matches the tone of the film in ways that are both beautiful and almost hard to watch. 

‍

While she had finally let go of the innocence that had held her back the whole time, the dramatic sounds show that despite the calm and collected demeanor she puts on for herself, everything she had worked so hard towards would ultimately be the end of her. 

‍

In a sense, by destroying herself,  Nina would also preserve herself and her memory forever. She would become immortal in a way where she would never be forgotten. To die by the hands of the only thing she lived for was to be nothing but absolute perfection. 

‍