QWhat is the story behind the 'Swan Lake' ballet?
ASwan Lake, composed by Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky [1840-1893], tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a white swan by the curse of the evil sorcerer von Rothbart. During the day she must be a swan and swim in a lake of tears. At night she is allowed to be a human again. The spell can only be broken if a virgin prince swears eternal fidelity to her. Prince Siegfried falls madly in love with Odette but is seduced by Odile, who is really Rothbart's daughter transformed into a double of Odette. At the end of the story, Odette and Siegfried commit suicide by jumping into a lake together.
QIs the script for 'Black Swan' available online?
AYes. An early version (dated 10-5-2009) can be obtained here and a revised script (dated January 11, 2010) can be obtained here. It's interesting to compare the two scripts to see the changes that were made to it and the scenes that were omitted from the original screenplay. For example, in the earlier script (June 2009), Lily doesn't show up until after Nina gets the part of the Swan Queen, and she looks exactly like Nina, leading some to conclude that Lily is not real. Also in the original script, Nina sleeps with Michael Brennan (renamed Thomas Leroy for the movie), and he does not tell her to go home and touch herself. The scene where Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder) stabs herself with the fingernail file is not in the early script; neither are the vomiting scenes nor Nina's knees turning into bird legs.
QWho lives and who dies at the end?
AThe most literal reading of the film is that, in the confrontation between Nina and Lily in the dressing room, Nina is really alone and it is herself that she stabs with the glass shard. This means that Lily is really alive at the end. Whether or not Nina actually dies is left unanswered. Thomas calls for help, and the screen slowly fades to white, leaving it up to the viewer to decide whether or not Nina survives. A least literal explanation is that, if we accept that the whole story is a metaphor of growing up, then she doesn't have to die. Since the mother of Nina has always affected her, Nina was prevented from growing up in order to keep her disciplined, which helps her to be perfect (e.g. after her metamorphosis, she mistakes in a part at the show). If we say that the film is about ascendancy, then killing herself (or her 'white side') can be interpreted as accepting that she has to grow up.
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