From Jennifer Connelly’s harrowing victim of circumstance in Requiem For A Dream’s double-sided dildo crescendo to Marisa Tomei’s turn as a conflicted stripper-slash-Mother in The Wrestler, Director Darren Aronofsky wields sex and its often-murky ramifications (manipulation, submission, shame) with an honesty that quite refreshingly, provokes rather than titillates.
With that track record in mind, we’ll assume Aronofsky’s latest film Black Swan, which features a lesbian sex scene between Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, grounds the pleasure of the flesh in an emotional bedrock of conflict and general weirdness.
According to script review blog Script Shadow Black Swan’s premise is thus: “A ballerina competes against a rival dancer who may or may not be another version of herself.”
Vague? Yes. But the reviewer then explains why his appraisal of the script it both pointless and important:
“Because in this movie, Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis have sex.
Yeah. You read that right. And not just nice sweet innocent sex either. We’re talking ecstasy-induced hungry aggressive angry sex.
Though heterosexual actors playing gay is nothing new (Brokeback Mountain’s Ledger/Gyllenhaal, Milk’s Penn/Franco/Luna, Vicky Cristina Barcelona’s Cruz/Johansson) in Aronofsky’s hands we’re sure it will be suitably twisted (is she having sex with another version of herself?). It also beats the hell out watching Mickey Rourke bone randoms in a bathroom stall. That shit’s depressing.
