Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings.   Today’s post is an examination of the use of Unhinged Ballerinas in film and how they are representations of the Dangers of Perfectionism!   In particular, I will be looking at the films Suspiria (both versions), The Red Shoes, and, most particularly, Black Swan.   

I thought that the examination of Unhinged Ballerinas and Perfectionism was a great choice for an October post, as it is used in the horror genre a good bit.   However, the earliest film depiction of a Ballerina going a bit mad was in The Red Shoes, which most would not categorize as horror, with IMDb categorizing it as drama, romance, and music only.    The story of The Red Shoes is about a young dancer named Victoria (played by real-life Ballerina Moira Shearer), who gets her big break into show business.   This leads to an internal struggle between pursuing her dream of being a Prima Ballerina or pursuing her romantic relationship.    It is obvious where her struggle with perfectionism and even becoming a bit mad would come in.   There are blurred lines between her life and her art, as is a common theme when exploring Unhinged Ballerinas.   The film also takes inspiration from the Hans Christian Andersen story of the same title, as it is the story that inspired the Ballet they are producing in the film.

From there, Unhinged Ballerinas takes a much darker turn, making an appearance in a Giallo film.   The original Suspiria from the 1970s explored the paranoia facing a young American dancer named Suzy, who gets a spot at a prestigious German Ballet Academy.   The film smartly keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, trying to figure out if Suzy is going mad because of the stress of her dance studies or if there is something darker going on.   The 2018 remake has the same basic plot but deepens the story to show how much of a conspiracy is really going on!   It takes the Susie (spelled differently in this version) character in a new direction that makes for quite a surprise for long-time fans of the original film.   This change also lends to the idea of the Unhinged Ballerina overtaken by Perfectionism we have seen in other films, most notably the final film I will be discussing in this post, Black Swan from 2010!

Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan does the whole concept of a Ballerina becoming Unhinged due to Perfectionism perfectly.    Nina is a young dancer obsessed with getting her big break, the lead role in ‘Swan Lake.’   She is dealing with a mother who is a failed dancer herself, her own self-doubt, and the newfound rivalry with a new dancer in the company.   The new dancer, Lily, is everything Nina is not, she is undisciplined and free with her body, making for the perfect ‘Black Swan’ where Nina is the ideal ‘White Swan.’   However, to dance the lead in ‘Swan Lake,’ Nina needs to be able to embody both.   Slowly, over the course of the film, Nina is confronted by her perfectionism and ambition.   She deals with the previous star calling her out for sleeping her way to the role and the unwanted advances of the director of the Ballet.   

Nina’s mother is also still treating her like a small child, leading to new confrontations of rebellion against this authority.    Over the course of the film, Nina explores her sexuality in ways she never had before, which helps her embody that ‘Black Swan’ energy she sought to achieve.   However, her obsession with Perfectionism never wanes, in fact, it only grows more profound!   This leads to the tragic conclusion of the film, seeing Nina lose herself completely to her Perfectionism.

While this is a very extreme example of how toxic Perfectionism can become, it is still a valid critique of how the performance arts tend to push artists (in this case, dancers) to unhealthy degrees of idealized Perfectionism.   The reason these stories grip us on such a visceral level is that we all can relate to feeling not good enough and fighting to be as perfect as possible in our work, especially if we have an artistic temperament!  

I hope you have enjoyed this short examination of how the Unhinged Ballerina in Film reminds us of the toxicity that can come from extreme Perfectionism.   Have you ever gone too far in your Perfectionistic tendencies?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a poster for Black Swan.   I found the poster on https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_swan_2010.

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Further Watching

• The Red Shoes (1948)
• Suspiria (1977)
• Suspiria (2018)
• Black Swan (2010)