Polina, danser sa vie

A modern dance piece like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly used to do in the 1940s and 1950s. Instead of the magical musical and dance acts, Polina is grounded in contemporary realism , but the magic comes from the process of perfecting one's art and pursing one's passions. I walked in this movie by accident and stayed by curiosity, sitting next to a kind movie-goer who was there for a purpose - and on purpose. I asked her briefly what this was about and she seemed to know what she was in for, and it intrigued me enough to give it a try. She also happen to ended up enjoying it immensely as we spoke more after the experience,

Not a particular dance aficionado myself, having seen a mere dozen of ballets and modern dance performances, I was impressed with Wim Wenders'homage to Pina Bausch in his beautiful daring documentary of modern dance. In Polina, neither dancer nor choreographer is at the centre, but rather dance itself, the collective dancers and their lively creations. This fiction grounds you first in the characters and their passion for life, themselves and art, namely dance in various forms, and thus amplify the artistic achievements that is stellar in its own right with emotions, conflict and conviction. Polina is because of this much better than Pina (2011) can ever be, as good as the dance choreography, venues and performances are in Wenders Academy Award nominated film.

Polina starts in Russia with what may seem a typical ballet banality, but quickly evolves into a change from Eastern to Western Europe, but an internal change, brought by challenges and exploration of one's love, limits, power, purpose and potential. The journey is unexpected and worthwhile, where failures or dead ends are seen as progress and positive understanding of a beautiful world of creators where this is no right or wrong. Beauty emerges from these discovery and Valérie Müller films the process with powerful scenes and engaging visual organic ordinary beauty.

The last dance is the ultimate gateway into the gorgeous world of dance and is much simpler but more powerful and beautiful than for example the famed American in Paris ballet at the end of American in Paris (1951) The editing and emotional tie-in to Polina's past and possible future elevates the deciding audition dance into a euphoric endeavour of love and possibilities.

Few films offer an authentic look at ballet or modern dance. This is one of those few. Unlike Black Swan, which was totally absurd, we get to see real dancers engaged in real dancing -- as in such great films as The Red Shoes (1948) and The Turning Point (1977). The makers of Polina understood that dancing isn't about faces -- it's about bodies moving through time and space -- so they present long takes that show the dancers from head to toe.

For me the high point of this movie was the long scene with Sergio's improvisation group -- the skinny guy with arms & legs like noodles, and then Polina's wonderful solo.

Unfortunately, the story falls apart not long afterward, and then, after a rushed montage that leaves too much unresolved, it ends abruptly. The disintegration of the narrative is the reason why I rated this movie six stars instead of seven or eight.

This is not a movie I would normally seek out, a fictional story of a young dancer coming of age, dialog in Russian and French with English subtitles. But my public library just added this title and there were no requests yet. So I got the DVD, I watched it, I enjoyed it.

In the DVD extras we learn that the search for the lead dancer and actress involved looking at literally hundreds of young ballet dancers. They had to be an accomplished dancer, they had to be able to act believably, they had to be able to speak French. In the end Anastasia Shevtsova, still a teenager and a ballet student in Russia, was picked to play Polina.

It is her first feature film and she is remarkably good in the role, which requires several successive character transitions. First she has to be a student for the Bolshoi, then a seeker of modern dance in France, then a budding choreographer. The crux of the story is her desire to dance, a harder worker you will not find, but eventually she realizes she is not happy just trying to perfectly perform choreography invented by someone else. She wants to express herself in improvisational dance and choreography.

Excellent movie.

Thanks to the movie, I was able to realize I don't like modern (contemporary?) French ballet at all. I don't enjoy watching it, I don't get it.

I basically see the Russian main character as a silly reckless girl who ditched everything she worked for (Bolshoi) for her French boyfriend and ran off with him to France to follow her "passions", despite her family's sacrifice which enabled her to dance in the first place. So the story lost me by then. I didn't care about the characters, the plot, or the French dance (I found it too weirdly carnal with strange movements. )

I like the first part of the movie about Russian ballet though.

It is difficult to create an acted dance film with mostly unedited performances; choreography; rehearsal; practices; auditions. A joint Russian - French production that auditioned hundreds for the roles and they chose well. The storyline is in part about the sacrifice by families and dancers to get to the highest level. Also, the search for one's self as our lead explores different dance genres. Of course since it's a film that part is somewhat dramatized, but not excessively offtrack. I think what the film misses most is the pain of six plus hours a day practices - the sprained ankles; torn muscles; bleeding feet; the weary exhaustion.