After experiencing the much anticipated Black Swan, the idea of gothic hybridity and transformation in the cinema of Darren Aronofsky has returned to me again and again. The film’s popularity, compounded  by the recent Oscar nominations and the apparently “insane” ending (according to film reviewers in Ireland and the UK at least), has led me to think critically not only about the increasing mainstream interest in the transformative body onscreen, but also in a continuing focus in director Darren Aronofsky’s films to date. In a myriad of ways, Pi (1998), Requiem for a Dream (200

‘Black Swan’ is an intense, dark, psychological thriller set in the rarefied world of New York ballet, and is as much about repressed sexuality as it is about sacrifice for art. Yes, it is melodramatic, yes, it is vulgar, and yes, at times, it is completely over the top. However, it is also genuinely terrifying, with every gothic convention bar the kitchen sink thrown in, and I loved it.

I'm sure there is no one who hasn't heard (endlessly) about the forthcoming Black Swan...