First look at Aronofsky’s Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky‘s upcoming feature Black Swan has been selected as the opening night film of this year’s Venice International Film Festival. To celebrate, USA Today have the first batch of images from his mysterious project.

The USA Today piece also offers us our first glimpse at the film’s plot:

The dark tale with psychological twists stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a technically brilliant ballerina whose life takes some strange turns after being picked as the lead in a New York City production of Swan Lake. Pressures mount as her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey) pushes her to succeed and her manipulative dance master (Vincent Cassel) commands her to be more seductive and loose in her performance. Complicating matters is the arrival of Lily (Mila Kunis), a sultry dancer who exhibits all the innate ease and sexuality that Nina lacks. Nina begins to fixate on the newcomer as the two forge an unusual relationship.

Aronofsky’s last film The Wrestler took Venice’s top prize – the Golden Bear – back in 2008. Black Swan will debut at the fest September 1st. It remains our 10th most anticipated film of the year.

Discuss: I’ve said it before, but this project reminds me of Dario Argento‘s own ballet/horror film Suspiria. And that’s a good thing.