OVERLAY REPORT

The ending of *Black Swan* is famously ambiguous, but most interpretations—and the physical evidence presented in the final scene—suggest that **Nina Sayers likely dies**, or is at the very least fatally wounded. Here are the specific details from the conclusion of the film: **The Self-Inflicted Wound** During the intermission before the final act, Nina hallucinates a confrontation with her rival, Lily (Mila Kunis), in her dressing room. In a fit of rage and madness, Nina shatters a mirror and uses a large shard of glass to stab Lily. However, after performing the "Black Swan" sequence perfectly, Nina returns to her dressing room and discovers that Lily is actually alive and knocking on her door to congratulate her. Nina then realizes that she did not stab Lily; she stabbed herself in the abdomen with the glass shard during her hallucination. **The Final Performance** Despite the deep puncture wound in her stomach, Nina dresses for the final act as the White Swan. She performs the final "suicide" scene of the ballet, where the Swan Queen throws herself off a cliff to escape the sorcerer. Nina leaps from the stage prop onto a hidden mattress behind the scenery. **The Final Moments** As the lights dim and the audience cheers, the artistic director, Thomas (Vincent Cassel), and the rest of the cast rush behind the curtain to congratulate her. They quickly notice that Nina is bleeding profusely, the white fabric of her costume becoming soaked in red. As Thomas frantically calls for help and the cast looks on in horror, Nina remains in a state of trance-like euphoria. Her final words are: **"I felt it. Perfect. It was perfect."** **The Interpretation** The film ends with a "fade to white" accompanied by the sound of the audience's applause and Nina's heavy, rhythmic breathing, which eventually stops or fades out. * **Literally:** She has suffered a deep abdominal wound and proceeded to perform an incredibly strenuous physical routine, likely causing massive internal hemorrhaging. From a medical standpoint, her survival is unlikely. * **Thematically:** Her death completes the arc of the "tragic artist." To achieve the artistic "perfection" she craved, she had to destroy her old, repressed self. The death of the dancer mirrors the death of the White Swan in the ballet, suggesting that Nina has finally become one with the role. While the film does not show a coroner or a funeral, the visual of her bleeding out while "losing the light" strongly implies that her moment of perfection was also her final moment of life.