Sunday, January 23, 2011

A Darker Side in All of Us?

Natalie Portman gives a thrilling performance in Oscar-buzzed film Black Swan, in which she portrays the physical and psychological torment of a determined ballet dancer, helplessly consumed by her obsession with her dancing talent. 


Her emergence - from a fresh-faced naive young woman - into the dark hindered soul of the Black swan is beautifully compelling, as we realise that there is, within all of us, a different personality - the side of our nature we would rather not surrender to. At which point does such resistance fade? Is it possible to detach ourselves from 'the dark side'? 


Fl@unt picks images/clips from some films of the last ten years which closely focus on psychological strain and multiple personalities:

GIRL, INTERRUPTED (1999)




AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000)


We all know Christian Bale has a dark side (ahem) which makes this film even creepier...skip to 1.59secs for Patrick Bateman's self-psycho analysis:



FRANKIE & ALICE (2011)
This true tale of an African-American 70s stripper with multiple personality disorder, changing into a racist white American, is also generating Oscar buzz for main star Halle Berry. Check the trailer for this upcoming film: