Peter Travers: ‘Black Swan’ Is a Fabulous Fever Dream

December is off to a fabulous start with Black Swan , starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, says Peter Travers. The film — which Travers calls one of the best of the year — features Portman as a ballet dancer pitted against Kunis for the dual role of the white and black swans in a production of Swan Lake. Portman’s natural character is more in line with the innocent White Swan, but her competition with the more sinister Kunis turns into a full-blown identity conflict as their rivalry turns into a twisted friendship — and then into a twisted romance.

Travers calls Black Swan a “fever dream of a movie” but stresses that the hyperkinetic pace of the film’s trailer does not represent its pacing: “The movie’s a little out of control, but you’re seeing something real that will go at your pace and not the pace of the trailer,” he says.

Peter Travers’ Holiday Movie Preview: Ten Movies for Popcorn Escapism This Season

This Week’s Reviews:
• Black Swan
• All Good Things
• I Love You Phillip Morris
• Night Catches Us