I literally cannot rate this.

This movie was released about a half decade ago, and I finally got around to seeing it. It was a lot better than I thought it was, it was superbly made and nothing would make me happier than to give it 10 stars.

But I can't. I can't because then I'd be lumping myself with the thousands of other 10-star raters who didn't really appreciate the movie or the complexity of Nina's character; or how the director managed to portray crazy without being too over the top.

The one thing these boards needs is some honesty, and it's an insult to my intelligence to presume I don't see why people really rate movies as high as they do. Most people give high ratings to movies that reflect their own worldview. They really don't care how good the acting is, how clever the script is, or whether they found themselves relating to the characters on a human level. They give high ratings because something in the movie mirrored what they value.

In this case, high raters don't really relate with Nina as a character/personality, they see her as a symbol. They see her as the symbol of women who destroy themselves trying to be something they aren't for someone else's gratification. Throw in some lesbian sex, masturbation, a female villain over the age of 35, and you've got a 10-star rating. For the shallow and myopic, it's veritable a rabbit hole of fetishizing eating disorders, morbid female competitiveness, and hyperconformity.

I can almost guarantee without a doubt, that if there were no masturbation, lesbian sex, or an older woman to scapegoat for a grown woman's problems; there would be no fans of this movie. No, really. Cut out all the scenes that are meant to titillate and appeal to fetish, and nobody but me would like this movie. Everyone on here would be saying how boring and pretentious it is, rather than how brilliant and masterful it is for having hot masturbation and lesbian sex.

And it really is a good movie. Just not for the reasons most people would rate it 10 stars for.