Simply mesmerising

AS far as films about ballet go, this one is the 'tour de force' and frankly, it left me with my jaw on the floor more often than not!

Natalie Portman steals the show as a ballet dancer who wins the starring role in a production of Swan Lake. I imagine that, like me, most men have no idea what Swan Lake is but, don't worry guys, I'm here to help!

It's basically a story (told through dance) about a girl who is transformed into the White Swan by an evil sorcerer. The sorcerer did this to other girls too, including her evil twin, the Black Swan, and the tears of their parents' weeping formed the lake in which they live.

She tells a wandering prince that the only way the spell can be broken is, if a man, pure in heart, pledges his love to her ... however, that's not the interesting part.

After the attempted suicide of the show's star (Ryder), the sleazy producer offers the shy, timid dancer Nina (Portman) her part.

Since the show requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan (graceful and innocent) and the Black Swan (dark and seductive), Nina descends into madness while trying impress the producer by getting in touch with her darker side.

Nina practices for hours each day, often to the point of damaging her body, one particularly vivid scene involving a toenail will feature in my nightmares for years to come.

Her inability to be as good as she'd like leads her to self-harm, much to the dismay of her overbearing mother, who lives vicariously through her daughter after giving up a career as a ballet dancer to have children.

There are some well-scripted emotional elements between the mother and daughter and you're never really sure which one to side with during their intense and disturbing interactions.

Meanwhile, Nina reluctantly befriends a new dancer in the production called Lilly (Kunis). However, their friendship soon sours when (much to her dismay) Nina realises that Lilly is the personification of the Black Swan and is also vying for the role.

Now, if that doesn't sound entertaining enough, throw in some seriously disturbed hallucinations, a little bit of self-mutilation and a plot that will leave your head spinning and you have my pick for the best film of the year.

Portman not only delivers a transcendent acting performance, but also manages to dance around the stage with the grace of a real ballerina (all this in a very flattering tutu no less).

What I loved most is her ability to bring real empathy to her often annoying character, making her descent into madness totally mesmerising.

There are parts of the movie when you're not sure if what you're seeing is reality or her warped perception of it, which although it can be slightly confusing at times, weaves the esoteric thread that binds the plot together.

Towards the end of the film, as I sat tentatively, afraid to take my eyes off the screen, I felt a cold shiver of realisation shoot down my spine. I had sat through an entire movie (about ballet no less) and been completely entranced from start to finish, something that hasn't happened for a long time.

If you don't love this movie then we can't be friends, it's that simple.

Coming to Bahrain soon