Did Nina freally die at the end?

I don't think she died at the end. Like in the movie the wrestler it is left purposely ambiguous. There are 3 possible interpretations I can see.

1) Yes she was stabbed and was bleeding from the wound. If we assume based on the fact that she pulls out the shard before the last dance, that she started bleeding out then but didn't get it on anyone else, meaning she started to bleed out when she fell on to the mattress, depending on what got stab she could be dead in minutes or it could take hours. Stomach wounds can take hours to kill someone without medical help if no vital organs were punctured. Since she still dance the finally this is a safe assumption. So she probably didn't die if they got her medical help quickly (which seems like they were doing. That would be a literal translation of the ending and would have to assume that there was no delusions or hallucinations going on, which was going on throughout the film.

2) According to the trivia, "While the crew was applying blood to the stab wound on Natalie Portman, she commented to director Darren Aronofsky that she was uncomfortable with the placement of the blood on her tights because it looked like a period. Aronofsky told her he intentionally placed the blood where it was to symbolize Nina becoming a woman. As a result, Portman has stated that she doesn't believe Nina dies at the end of the film. She sees it more as Nina having to kill the little girl in order to mature into a woman." Which implies heavily that it is a metaphor more than literal. She had her period because she finally "killed the little girl" part of her and became a woman. The blood we see is actually her having her period and it got on her costume because she didn't really do much about it before (since she was trapped as the sweet, innocent, little girl) but as she kills off that part of her and allows the woman insider come out, she bleed onto her costume. Remember there is a lot of symbolism in the movie and hallucinations that Nina was experiencing while taking on that role, so she lost a large part of her innocents and possibly sanity at the end and embraced her darker side. Which could easily lead to her being in an almost robotic state of mind and not paying any attention to the fact that she was having her period or what was going on around her until the show ended and she was lying there.


So no I don't think she died at the end.
3) She loses her mind completely after being Obsessed with being perfect and afraid of Lily taking over her role and she stabbed herself with the mirror and then pulled the shard out causing her to bleed out finally whereas before it was keeping the blood in. She started to bleed out slowly and danced getting blood unnoticably on the stage and the other dancers. Then when she goes up to do the final act of jumping on the mattress it rips the wound worse and she bleeds out faster. Then she realizes at that she was perfect during the show and is now dieing. Like her Swan character, she kills herself and die in the final act. Hence the fading to white.


Personally I think it is number 2. I don't think she dies and I don't think she was fatally wounded by the glass. Getting stabbed like that would be extremely painful and she would not be able to gracefully dance. Also it can't be 3 because no one else notice any blood on their costumes, the stage, nor on her until they saw her lying down. The guy who picked her up and danced with her (the prince) would have had blood on him and his hands and would have said something. Secondly it can't be 1 because if it was 1 once again there would be blood all around the stage, the dressing room, and her costumes. Since she is only bleeding in the white swan costume and the whole film had lots of scenes where it blended her hallucinations with reality it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn't. Clearly she imagined the sex scene with lily, she imaged the feathers coming out of her, she didn't have as bad of scratches in the final scene when she is getting ready and when she looked around her dressing room the mirror was broken with clothes on the floor but no blood anywhere and no bloody shards which she had left on the floor. Which again makes it seem like it was mostly in her head that she stab anyone including herself. So if that is the case that the blood is from her period and not a stab wound, the confusion on the other dancers and director still make sense. Also the fading to white can imply the death of The White Swan part of her psyche and not a literal death. Therefore her childlike innocence and personality are dead and she finally became an adult. Also she could have passed out from exhaustion both physical and mental as she went through a lot as she prepared to take over as swan queen. The fade wasn't death but exhaustion and the toll of the mental strain and psychical strain she had to endure finally catching up to her as she relaxed knowing she became the Black Swan and put on an amazing perfect performance.

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