Cisne — Negro Final

The answer, like the film’s protagonist, is fractured. Here is a breakdown of the ballet’s climax, its symbolic death, and the haunting final shot.

She is the most tragic of swans: perfect, bleeding, and gone. cisne negro final

Some argue Nina never actually stabbed herself. The mirror shard and the blood are hallucinations. In this reading, she is simply passing out from exhaustion and stress. The "perfection" she feels is a schizophrenic delusion right before she collapses. The white light represents her escape into permanent psychosis. The answer, like the film’s protagonist, is fractured