Published: Friday, December 4, 2009
‘La Danse' a treat for ballet fans
Frederick Wiseman is one of the most esteemed names in documentary film, a director known for surveying different institutions from top to bottom: hospitals, legal systems, governments.
The approach is strict. There are no interviews with talking heads, no narration or explanatory titles, no music that isn't already in the scene. Wiseman doesn't tell stories, exactly; he exposes systems.
If “La Danse” sounds lighter than his usual fare, it is, but it's no less controlled and disciplined in its approach. The subject is the venerable Paris Opera Ballet, a famed dance company.
This affords Wiseman many opportunities to depict dancers, both in rehearsal and final performance. But he also sticks to his style, which is to eavesdrop on the artistic director's meetings, to look in on the costume crew and to listen to a union rep describe the complicated retirement plans for dancers — whose careers will probably be over by the age of 40.
Sometimes his camera glances down the staircases and hallways of the Palais Garnier, the “old” opera building in Paris — at one point peeking into the watery caverns beneath it, a sight familiar to fans of the many incarnations of the Phantom of the Opera.
But the greatest concentration is on dancers dancing and this is superb. Most sequences show the dancers in full frame — no cutting to close-ups or body parts — as they work out their routines in real time.
Later, during stage performances, Wiseman actually allows a few dramatic camera moves, in reaction to the drama on stage — in one case, a stunning ballet of “Medea,” the scene depicting the title character murdering her children.
Earlier, we have heard the choreographer of this piece tell his dancers about the emotion of a certain move by invoking “X-Men” characters. Well, whatever works.
The pieces, which we see in a jumbled order with no apparent plan, are a mix of modern and classical works. Like everybody else, the dancers are unidentified, which gives a strong sense of the ballet company as one big organism.
If you don't care about dance, I suspect this film's seemingly formless 138 minutes will feel like a very long slog, even if you can appreciate the way Wiseman sizes up the different levels of institutional activity.
But if you like dance, and you don't need a story to carry you along, it'll keep you rapt.
“La Danse”
The esteemed documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes his camera inside the Paris Opera Ballet company, bringing his fly-on-the-wall style (no narration, no interviews) to the various levels of the institution. If you don't care about dance, this will be a long 138 minutes, but otherwise the lengthy scenes of rehearsal and performance are fascinating.
In French, with English subtitles.
Rated: Not rated, probably PG-13 for subject matter
Showing: Northwest Film Forum
The approach is strict. There are no interviews with talking heads, no narration or explanatory titles, no music that isn't already in the scene. Wiseman doesn't tell stories, exactly; he exposes systems.
If “La Danse” sounds lighter than his usual fare, it is, but it's no less controlled and disciplined in its approach. The subject is the venerable Paris Opera Ballet, a famed dance company.
This affords Wiseman many opportunities to depict dancers, both in rehearsal and final performance. But he also sticks to his style, which is to eavesdrop on the artistic director's meetings, to look in on the costume crew and to listen to a union rep describe the complicated retirement plans for dancers — whose careers will probably be over by the age of 40.
Sometimes his camera glances down the staircases and hallways of the Palais Garnier, the “old” opera building in Paris — at one point peeking into the watery caverns beneath it, a sight familiar to fans of the many incarnations of the Phantom of the Opera.
But the greatest concentration is on dancers dancing and this is superb. Most sequences show the dancers in full frame — no cutting to close-ups or body parts — as they work out their routines in real time.
Later, during stage performances, Wiseman actually allows a few dramatic camera moves, in reaction to the drama on stage — in one case, a stunning ballet of “Medea,” the scene depicting the title character murdering her children.
Earlier, we have heard the choreographer of this piece tell his dancers about the emotion of a certain move by invoking “X-Men” characters. Well, whatever works.
The pieces, which we see in a jumbled order with no apparent plan, are a mix of modern and classical works. Like everybody else, the dancers are unidentified, which gives a strong sense of the ballet company as one big organism.
If you don't care about dance, I suspect this film's seemingly formless 138 minutes will feel like a very long slog, even if you can appreciate the way Wiseman sizes up the different levels of institutional activity.
But if you like dance, and you don't need a story to carry you along, it'll keep you rapt.
“La Danse”
The esteemed documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes his camera inside the Paris Opera Ballet company, bringing his fly-on-the-wall style (no narration, no interviews) to the various levels of the institution. If you don't care about dance, this will be a long 138 minutes, but otherwise the lengthy scenes of rehearsal and performance are fascinating.
In French, with English subtitles.
Rated: Not rated, probably PG-13 for subject matter
Showing: Northwest Film Forum
Story tags »
• Movies • Dance“La Danse”
The esteemed documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes his camera inside the Paris Opera Ballet company, bringing his fly-on-the-wall style (no narration, no interviews) to the various levels of the institution. If you don't care about dance, this will be a long 138 minutes, but otherwise the lengthy scenes of rehearsal and performance are fascinating.
In French, with English subtitles.
Rated: Not rated, probably PG-13 for subject matter
Showing: Northwest Film Forum
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