Black swan how does nina kill herself

With Nina and Beth. I honestly don't know. I imagine if she had stabbed Beth, we would have heard someone mention it the next day, the same way we heard about Beth getting hit by the car.

With Beth, we see Beth use the shoe knife on her own face which then becomes Nina's face , causing Nina to run to the elevator. In the elevator, Nina's holding the shoe knife. The implication is Nina attacked Beth. Which is why we think, later, Nina attacked Lily. But since it turns out Nina just stabbed herself and Lily was never in the room Given Nina's insanity levels, it could just be she imagined the whole thing—the shoe knife was still on the table, no one had ever touched it.

She could have cut herself somewhere though we never see it. Or she really could have stabbed Beth. It's a "is the glass half full or half empty" kind of situation.

We don't have enough information to say conclusively one way or another what the truth is, meaning that it's up to each of our own interpretations. Personally, I could see Nina attacking Beth as a precursor to her harming herself, also as a means of sealing her own fate—if she doesn't go through with the "perfect" performance then what awaits her is prison.

But I think more likely is that she just imagined it as part of her ramp up to the performance. Overall, the main takeaway from the Beth scene would be, I'd argue, how it plays into the concept of perfection.

As Nina tells Beth, "I was just trying to be perfect like you. I'm not perfect. I'm nothing. If it's Nina attacking Beth, that'd be because Nina's so violently against the ideal of imperfection and ending up imperfect that she tries to destroy the representation of that fate which is why she sees herself imposed on Beth. There you have it. I hope this was helpful. I think if you re-watch Black Swan after reading this, then the movie is going to feel way more obvious in what it's doing and why.

If there are any other questions you have, then please leave a comment and I'll get back to you! Thanks for reading. Chris Lambert is co-founder of Colossus. He writes about complex movie endings, narrative construction, and how movies connect to the psychology of our day to day lives.

View all posts. Join our movie club to get similar movie recommendations and stories delivered to your inbox every Friday. Hi Chris, Good day. I just wanted to thank you for sharing your insight into what is a great movie. I had just finished watching Black Swan after having not seen it for at least 5 years and the question I had concerning the plot and what was real and what was just imagined arose again.

I must have watched this movie half a dozen times when it first came out. Aronofsky is defiantly in my top 10 directors and I have seen most of his work I saw Pi when it first came out and was impressed but what really got me was Requiem for a Dream, which I consider to be a masterpiece. I love to read about the subtext and not so obvious messages some movies are able to provide and you did a great job in answering all the questions I have had for a long time about a great movie.

Please keep up the great work. Thank you. Was Nina really the black swan or was all that in her head? Did she really sleep with Lily or was that in her too? I just have so many questions. If you could answer them that would mean the world to me. So I just watched the actual ballet, Swan Lake after having watched the movie about 3 or 4 times.

While the ballet originally has the two parts, the white swan and the black swan, increasingly, both parts are danced by the same ballerina. The few parts where the two dancers would appear onstage together have been gradually removed and merged into a part of just one dancer. Which begs the question, did Lily ever exist at all? Karen-I had the same thought process regarding lily. Or Lily could be real, but just simply a soloist. I thought Lily was a hallucination multiple times while watching.

I think there are multiple scenes that allude to this interpretation. Half of the article is about The Wrestler. They are two different movies.

Yeah but after watching Black Swan, I have a question regarding the relationship between Nina and her mother. Was Nina abused by her mother? Was her mother jealous of her? He has included a few clips from the movie! Also what was the point of the lipstick, like what did it symbolize? Nina stole the lipstick to be more like Beth. My question is Does Nina really die at the end of the movie?

She actually stabbed herself. She dies at the end, just like how the white swan kills herself at the end of the performance. The ballet performance in the movie are supposed to parallel. Not necessarily. I think that both Aronofsky and Portman have said that Lily survives. What dies what she killed! Thomas and the dancers run to get help immediately, putting pressure on the wound fights the bleeding, and Lincoln Center is across the street from a hospital.

She was the black swan, in a Tyler Durst role. Pulling out the very essence of the passion Nina needed in order to sacrifice herself for the art. I only noticed this on my third viewing. Annie—Thomas introduces Lily in one of her first scenes as having flown straight in from SF. Lots of side characters acknowledge her presence. There are moments where Lillys character even denies things that Nina was hallucinating.

It was getting to her head that Lily wanted her spot, and she saw her face more and more. Thanks for such an in-depth analysis of Black Swan. I wanted answers behind the story plot and yours was the first article that appeared and the only one I needed to read. Referring to a great review in the N Y Times — we were in an elevator going to the fifth floor in the Hotel Ansonia. Yes, I identified with Nina because she was me and I was her.

First you were the mortal enemy of any baritone who roamed the face of the earth. Being hit on by everyone from Mr. X at Columbia to divos and divas backstage or in the coffee shops of Broadway. If you sang like a God and I did, and you were drop dead good looking and I was — you were red meat.

This was the asphalt jungle. Take away the green and smell of the jungles of Vietnam and you have just as deadly a theater to play in. The psychological abuse is rampant — whether tolerated from a jealous teacher who was a flunky tenor and became a member of the New York Vocal Teachers Association, or an overpriced coach playing for one of your auditions at City Opera. The undermining comments were the same. I entered the stage from stage left and looked out to see someone who was supposed to be the director behind the glare of the stage lights under the balcony.

I took my position in the crook of the piano. Vas vollen zi zingen hauter? With all eight high Cs? No, with all nine high Cs — I responded. Beware the tyranny of the weak. She was Ninas muse, what she envisioned the black swan to be, but her decent into paranoia and madness to be perfect makes it difficult for her to separate imagination from reality, almost like an imaginary friend a child might have.

Nina is treated like a child by her mother. Lily is a rebellion against her mother and how she feels others see her. I absolutely love this movie and see something new and more disturbing with each viewing. Especially with Nina. Was it significant to the plot at all or was he just there as a love interest? Also what was their relationship status? Did they have feelings for each other at all or was it all just lust? Hey Gale! Broadly, Black Swan retells the ballet Swan Lake.

So each character has an equivalent in the original ballet. To the point that at the end of Black Swan the credits show the movie character and ballet character. Thomas is, surprisingly, not The Prince, despite being, at times, the love interest. The obverious parallels would be The Prince or the evil wizard Rothbart. Or a combination of those two. I think Thomas definitely fooled around with his ballerinas, but also had that fucked up idea that he was trying to get Nina out of her shell.

But his role in the movie is someone Nina needs to impress and win over. The judge. When the movie is about her performance in a role, you need someone to grade her performance and give her hurdles to overcome and drive the story forward. Or, weirdly, Good Will Hunting. Good Will Hunting is less dramatic, kind of. But the dynamic between Matt Damon and Robin Williams is kind of similar, narrative wise. Damon starts changing his behavior based on the interactions he has with Williams and the expectations Williams sets.

You could bring in a separate character to bring out that aspect of her. But you create more efficiency by having the judge kind of be that person. Thomas just lights the spark. I guess all of that is a long way of saying, yes, the person who caused her to grow up lol. I think Nina probably had feelings for Thomas born out of her desire for approval and lack of a father figure?

I was wondering at one point how Nina suppressed her itch normally as part of being perfect. It most likely took energy not to itch and not going that route. And then Thomas tells her to let go. Imagine you know that you are at the brink and in order to get further you just know that you need to go the extra step that will get you off the cliff. The spell is broken, and everyone lives happily ever after. While I watched the ballet, I noticed how the casting for the Black Swan was someone with a lot more oomph-factor than the White Swan.

But on reading the cast listing, it turned out that both characters were played by the same ballerina. The difference in physicality and sensuality brought forward by her was extraordinary. Which brings us to the film, Black Swan. Thomas Leroy Vincent Cassel is directing the ballet, and the movie sees a production that has an ending where only the White Swan dies.

She jumps to her death. Over the century the standard practice for all productions has been to cast the same ballerina as the White and Black Swan. Thomas intends to do the same. Her mother is shown to be overly protective and controlling.

That said her mother has given up a lot apparently, a career as an artist to raise Nina. It also seems that Nina may have been conceived because her mom was naive and somebody in the art field took advantage of her.

Because of her mother, Nina has grown up to be a very delicate, sweet girl. It appears that she may have been bullied along these lines in her growing years. Nina is a dedicated dancer who is looking to achieve perfection. In short, she is exactly like the White Swan. The film begins with her dreaming about her playing the scene where Odette is cursed by Rothbart to becoming a swan.

The production company has not seen a lot of visitors, and Thomas wants to change things up. Lily Mila Kunis a ballerina from San Francisco who has come to join the group for this production. Nina auditions for the role of the Swan Queen and Thomas tells her that if he were casting only the White Swan, it would be Nina. Lily enters the audition room, and this causes Nina to stumble.

Thomas ends the audition. She goes back crying to her mother who consoles her and puts her to sleep. On the way back home Nina notices another woman in black. Nina is at the onset of a Dissociative Identity Disorder.

The character is to throw the audience off. The next day Nina dolls herself up to have a word with Thomas and says that she has completed her practice of the Black Swan act. Nina thanks him and is about to leave. Thomas notes that Nina clearly came with the intention to change his mind, to try and seduce him, in the mildest sense of the word.

Thomas wants Nina to lose herself, that is how she can become the Black Swan. Thomas forcefully kisses Nina and she bits him. Thomas is known to be a jerk but this moment makes him realize that Nina probably is the right choice. She heads out, and the results are soon put up.

Innocently, thinking that Veronica as made the part she congratulates her. Many assume that Nina must have slept with Thomas to get the part. Nina has been developing a rash on her back. This is not a rash. Her mother comes in with a cake to celebrate. Nina, avoiding the calories, says no. Her mother gets annoyed, and so Nina has a little. The scene again shows the kind of control her mother has on Nina. Things that never really happen. Thomas tells Nina that he saw a flash of the Black Swan in her and he wants her to give him more of that bite.

There is a banquet thrown to announce the retirement of Beth, and Nina the new Swan Queen. Beth is terribly annoyed for being patronized and leaves. At the restroom, Nina meets Lily who seems friendly. Beth says that Thomas always considered Nina to be a frigid little girl. Looks like that bite really changed things up. Nina leaves with Thomas to his place. He asks her to go home and touch herself as a homework assignment.

He wants Nina to connect with her sensuality which is crucial for the role. Nina sees her mother crying in front of her art. Her mother knows about the scratching habit that Nina has. She attributes it to the pressure of the role. Her mother is not wrong about this. Nina wakes up the next morning and begins touching herself but soon notices that her mom is on a chair sleeping.

Looks like she has been there all night to keep an eye on Nina. After the party, Beth walks into the road and gets hit by a car. Thomas explains how everything Beth does comes from some dark impulse.

The scene fading to white could also signify that Nina is going towards the light and into death. The main character dying is also a perfect fit for the movie thematically, as it occurs after her perfect performance, giving her the freedom in death that the white swan similarly finds. Despite all of this, Black Swan is also a movie that is told through the mind of an unreliable source.

As the movie progresses, Nina has a psychological breakdown and sees several hallucinations. She envisions the black swan version of herself on multiple occasions.

She has fantasy encounters with her understudy Lily Mila Kunis , one where they are romantic and another where Nina appears to kill her. However, the latter is when Nina actually appears to stab herself. Nina's performance of "Swan Lake" is also filled with more hallucinations, so some believe that it might not have happened as we see it or at all. Nina might have never left her house in reality or stabbed herself.