What is Black Swan about?
A committed dancer struggles to maintain her sanity after winning the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake."
Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)
It leaves the ending open to interpretation.
A ballerina's pursuit of perfection unravels her mind in a bleak and darkly comic descent.
Suspenseful. A full-attention watch at a measured pace. Emotionally it is devastating.
Not on a US subscription service as of Oct 25, 2026.
Black Swan parents guide
Nothing past what an R promises: real scares and several jump scares.
- Scare
- Properly scary
- Frightening, not just tense.
- Jump scares
- Several
- More than a couple of sudden jolts.
- Gore
- Light gore
- Some blood or injury, briefly.
- Violence
- Some violence
- Some fighting or peril.
- Sex and nudity
- Moderate
- Moderate means a sex scene or nudity on screen, even brief, or sexual violence that is described or implied but never shown.
- Language
- Moderate
- Some strong profanity, a few f-words.
How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.
Three questions
- Is Black Swan scary?
- Yes, properly. Black Swan is the real thing without being an endurance test.
- How gory is Black Swan?
- Light gore and some violence.
- What is Black Swan rated, and is it OK for kids?
- Real scares, several jump scares, and moderate sex and nudity. The R is earned, so not for kids.
Cast and crew
Directed byDarren Aronofsky
StarringNatalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, Benjamin Millepied
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Black Swan is on our Scary, not gory; Set in New York; 2010s; Horror; and Thriller lists.
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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.