Darren Aronofsky’s follow-up to the outstanding THE WRESTLER is another backstage insight into the life of a professional entertainer whose mental and physical health comes under threat from the demands of the profession. This time out, the tone is more intense, a sense of foreboding doom apparent from the very beginning as the story slow burns its way into disturbing, suffocating Polanski territory. It wears its other influences on its sleeve, from Argento (SUSPIRIA being the obvious thematic inspiration), Cronenberg (a FLY-like fixation on grotesque body mutilation from split toe nails to unnerving rashes and peeled fingers) and even CARRIE (although relatively underplaying, Hershey calls to mind Priscilla White).

   It’s a beguiling journey into a very dark place, shot like THE WRESTLER via a voyeuristic handheld single camera and anchored by Portman’s extraordinary star turn (a rare example where the Academy Awards got it right). At the centre of every single scene and vividly capturing an introvert’s descent into a madness triggered by the pressure of her chosen vocation and the influence of her peers/elders, she is spellbinding. Portman boldly pulls off difficult scenes ranging from the heartbreaking to the uncomfortably sexual : notably, a masturbation scene and a simultaneously erotic and unsettling hallucinatory love scene with Kunis).

   The support cast are terrific : Kunis and Cassel in particular find a subtle menace in their portrayals of the most important figures in Portman’s life at the ballet school, while Hershey’s welcome presence calls to mind how Aronofsky utilized the under-valued Ellen Burstyn in REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. Ryder, although limited in screen time, is striking as the faded star Portman alludes to, and she figures in perhaps the film’s most shocking and unexpected burst of face-stabbing violence.