Black Swan/YMMV

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Much of the movie runs on this.
• Non Sequitur Scene: The scene on the subway with a Dirty Old Man making kissing noises at Nina, followed by masturbating to her.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Nina smashes (breaks?) her mom's fingers in a door partly by accident...and then again on purpose the next day!
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: Nina's dance at the end of the film. Damn.
• Double Standard: Both this film and Blue Valentine had sex scenes of similar length and graphicness, but only Valentine was threatened with an NC-17 rating.
• Everybody Remembers The Part Where Mila Kunis Eats Out Natalie Portman: As Natalie Portman put it: "Everyone was so worried about who was going to want to see this movie. I remember them being like, ‘How do you get guys to a ballet movie? How do you get girls to a thriller?’ And the answer is a lesbian scene. Everyone wants to see that."
• Fetish Retardant: Remember that lesbian scene in the trailer? It's horrifying.
  • Any feet enthusiasts hoping for some Foot Focus scenes...well, see below.
• Freud Was Right: Nina could use a few hours on the couch with the good doctor. No, not doing that!.
• Fridge Brilliance:

Thomas Leroy: We're going to do Swan Lake. Done to death, I know, but not like this. We strip it down, make it visceral and real.

• Fridge Logic: Presuming that Nina actually stabbed herself, how did she manage to dance with a piece of glass stuck inside her?
  • It's possible that she was hyped up on adrenaline. That's how she was able to "lose herself" in the performance of the Black Swan. No one noticed the blood stain because it was either too dark or the other dancers were focused on their own performances. Or maybe they thought it was part of the act? There's also the possibility that Nina was hallucinating the severity of the injury and size of the blood stain.
    • Even if that were the case, she'd have been dancing clumsily; adrenaline just keeps you moving, but it plays hell on your fine motor skills. It should've been like trying to thread a needle with frostbitten hands, while wearing mittens.
  • It's also possible that she stabbed herself after she caused the other dancer to drop her, and then imagined the perfect performance as she was dying.
• Hate Dumb: Many people are angry that Natalie Portman won Best Actress at the Academy Awards for the film because she didn't do all of her own dancing. Because, you know, the Best Actress Oscar has nothing to do with acting or anything.
• Hell Is That Noise: Those whispers that always seem to be around Nina and the sound of Nina's nails being cut.
  • Don't forget the laughter, or the exaggeration of Nina's breathing that seems to show up EVERY TIME SHE DOES SOMETHING.
  • "I'M NOTHING! I'M NOTHING! I'M NOTHING! I'M NOTHING! I'M NOTHING!"
  • Erica cutting into the cake.
• Jerkass Woobie: Beth.
• Les Yay - What most people are talking about in regards to the movie, sadly. Played straight or subverted, depending on if you think that Lily really is coming on to Nina or if Nina is just projecting her repressed urges onto the more adventurous woman.
  • Seems to be part of Nina's delusions. When Nina confronts Lily about the pretty graphic sex scene, she denies it, and even teases Nina about her having a psuedo-lesbian crush. Additionally, Nina's door is still barred and yet Lily is gone the morning after.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Thomas watching Nina's dance rehearsal and noting her lack of seductiveness, asks her dance partner "Would you fuck that girl?" He just laughs, indicating no. The dance partner is played by Natalie Portman's choreographer Benjamin Millepied, with whom she began a Romance on the Set. They are now engaged and have a child together.
  • Portman addressed this in her Golden Globe acceptance speech: "He's the best actor! It's not true! He totally wants to sleep with me!"
• Magnificent Bastard: One interpretation of Thomas.
• Memetic Mutation: "I'M THE SWAN QUEEN!"
• Nightmare Fuel: And loads of it!
• Paranoia Fuel: Fucking mirrors are everywhere. And your new coworker? Don't trust her.
• Rewatch Bonus: Watching the movie a second time after learning that Nina is having a nervous breakdown the entire film, there's clear but subtle signals of what's reality and what's all in her head.
• Spiritual Successor: To The Wrestler, according to Aronofsky. It's pretty much that movie's foil: Wrestler is about finding beauty in a brutal sport while Swan is all about the brutality of a beautiful artform.
• Tear Jerker: "I was perfect."
• Uncanny Valley: The final Black Swan makeup, and Erica's creepy paintings.
• The Woobie: Poor Nina. Sexually repressed, emotionally stunted, self-abusing, smothered by her mother, suffering from an apparent eating disorder, and, oh yeah, she also might be completely batshit insane!
• X Meets Y: Swan Lake meets Perfect Blue.
  • Swan Lake meets Fight Club and/or Dead Ringers.
  • Swan Lake meets Neon Genesis Evangelion.
  • Swan Lake meets Pi.
  • Swan Lake meets Repulsion.
  • Swan Lake meets The Pianist (The book by Austrian author Elfriede Jelinek).
  • Swan Lake meets The Machinist.
  • Swan Lake meets The Fly.
  • Perfect Blue meets The Wrestler.
  • Perfect Blue meets The Red Shoes.
    • The Red Shoes meets Roger Corman .
  • Perfect Blue meets Suspiria.
  • Chicken Chicken meets Sander Cohen. In a great way.
  • Princess Tutu meets Perfect Blue.
  • Perfect Blue meets District 9 (come on, as if all the transformation scenes weren't as horrifying as Wikus turning into an alien?)
  • Perfect Blue meets The Fly.