Black Swan: Does Nina Die After The Final Performance?

Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan ends with Nina (Natalie Portman) dying after performing the final number of Swan Lake. But did it actually happen?

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Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is a haunting and tragic tale of Nina (Natalie Portman) descending into madness, but does she actually die after her final dance performance? Released in 2010, Black Swan saw Portman transform into Nina, a ballerina in pursuit of the perfect performance, as she is selected to lead a new production of “Swan Lake.” But, the pressure of her new role pushes Nina to the brink.

“Swan Lake” is a ballet originally composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875 and became one of the biggest ballets of all-time. The story follows Prince Siegfried as he attempts to find love and does so when he sees a white swan transform into Odette. Her transformation results from a curse put on her and others by an owl-like sorcerer named Rothbart. The curse can only be broken by Odette finding true love before Rothbart dies, but she ultimately sacrifices herself after Siegfried professes love for her black swan twin. Even with Thomas Leroy’s (Vincent Cassell) twisted take on “Swan Lake” in Black Swan, the same basic story is told, with Nina tasked to play the white swan and the seductive black swan. As a result, Nina performs the closing number with a stab wound in her chest, which results in her actually dying at the end.

In the ending of Black Swan, the movie fades to white while Nina bleeds on stage after having completed her perfect performance, but whether she actually died at the end of the film has been a source of debate. There is plenty of evidence in Aronofsky’s movie that supports Nina dying at the end. The entire ballet cast and Leroy see the blood coming from Nina’s abdomen, and call for help. The scene fading to white could also signify that Nina is going towards the light and into death. The main character dying is also a perfect fit for the movie thematically, as it occurs after her perfect performance, giving her the freedom in death that the white swan similarly finds.

Despite all of this, Black Swan is also a movie that is told through the mind of an unreliable source. As the movie progresses, Nina has a psychological breakdown and sees several hallucinations. She envisions the black swan version of herself on multiple occasions. She has fantasy encounters with her understudy Lily (Mila Kunis), one where they are romantic and another where Nina appears to kill her. However, the latter is when Nina actually appears to stab herself. Nina’s performance of “Swan Lake” is also filled with more hallucinations, so some believe that it might not have happened as we see it or at all. Nina might have never left her house in reality or stabbed herself. There’s even the chance that doctors were nearby and they managed to save her life.

Much like Aronofsky’s prior film The Wrestler, the ending of Black Swan is left open to each viewer’s interpretation. Most of the evidence in the movie suggests that Nina did die after the final performance and that, even with the hallucinations, Nina and viewers see the truth of the events by the end. While the rationale behind the theories that she’s still alive does make sense, Black Swan’s story and themes do not support Nina surviving.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/black-swan-movie-ending-nina-dead/