Abbreviated Swan

The other day, I saw Black Swan, and have discovered that someone can have a brilliant eye, but no ear for music. Darren Aronofsky presented us with some top notch acting (Natalie Portman, Barbara Hershey), some entertaining performances (Vincent Cassel), and a beautifully choreographed tale of desperation to be perfect. Every step seethes with potential to succeed magnificently or crash magnetically. Each wave of an arm seems ready to create or destroy. I was swept up in a story too cold and contained, but burning with desire. Then, suddenly, the sound effects push their way into my trance. I'm listening to incessant slurping while a character is experiencing a breakthrough. Then, in the climactic moment of a woman surging into life too powerful for her own mortality, I am pushed away by the repetition of a song that had already--perhaps too soon--played its part.
The movie itself seemed too short, yet too long at some scenes. It overstayed its welcome, but seemed unable to achieve its aim. Perhaps it strove too hard for perfection, like it's protagonist, and fell. However, it was so much less elegant, tragic, and poetic in itself and its failure, that it made me wonder why the director focused so much on the movie and so little on the story. Strange as it sounds, that's how I felt-- like he was so overly-focused on creating a metaphor that he missed the point...no pun intended.