Etoile

A subtle, slow-paced Italian horror film --where the horror is mostly implied rather than overt-- about a ballerina who flies to Italy to try out for an exclusive ballet school and instead becomes lost in a surreal world where time stands still for a hundred year old ballet company, it's long closed theater, and it's diabolical director.

WARNING: DESCRIPTIONS CONTAINS NUMEROUS SPOILERS:

Jason (Gary McCleery), who is working for his cantankerous uncle Joshua (Charles Durning), sees the hauntingly beautiful Claire (Jennifer Connelly) as she climbs the stairs to her hotel room and drops a single ballet slipper behind her. In a Cinderella moment Jason hands her the slipper, introduces himself, and from that moment on he becomes obsessed with her to an almost unhealthy degree. Jason is so distracted by her, that he abandons his uncle in the middle of an important auction of antique clocks when he sees Claire sight-seeing in the auction hall (the clock theme is obviously a reference to the idea that time has stood still, or has become, at the very least, fluid here in this town, an idea further underscored by a scene where Jason wakes up late for work because the array of antique clocks in his hotel room all have the wrong time). In a scene which almost looks as if it was plucked (or "borrowed") from the film "Flashdance," Claire arrives for her ballet audition, looks at all the other girls nervously, peeks through the audition room door and sees how difficult its going to be, then becomes even more nervous when she hears the rejected ballerina's tearful account of how poorly she was treated. Claire freezes when they call her name and does not respond. She then gathers her things and leaves quickly. Unfortunately, in her panic and haste, she becomes lost in the theater and ends up standing in the gloom of the main stage where she puts on an impromptu performance (done by a double, not Connelly) which is witnessed by the tormented and haggard looking Marius Balkan (Laurent Terzieff). He says the name "Natalie" and Claire freezes. When he drops his cane she runs away. And so is set in motion a new and strange turn of events, where Claire becomes haunted by a past that is not her own (or is it?). When wandering the city with Jason she finds an old mansion that seems familiar. She knows exactly where the spare key is hidden and enters the house where she discovers numerous effigies of swans and paintings all of which reference "Swan Lake," the ballet which she has told Jason is her absolute favorite. The next time Jason sees her in the park by the mansion, she is sitting alone in an old fashioned dress, watching the swans swim on the pond. She no longer responds to the name Claire. And in a moment of unintentional humor, the otherwise brilliant composer Jurgen Knieper makes the most unfortunate choice to use a tremolo string motif that sounds exactly like the "Twighlight Zone" theme just as Claire reveals that her name is not Claire, but "Natalie."

From this point on the story focuses on Jason's struggle to bring Claire back to reality, and his eventual discovery that she's not, as he first thinks, confused or insane, but rather there are powerful and dark supernatural forces in play. He discovers Natalie was a dancer who died long ago after she fled a performance of "Swan Lake" and the ballet's director, Marius, has been alive for at least a hundred years. Jason must now try to save Claire from the sinister ballet.

There are many scenes in this film that could have been cut to make the movie flow better, and there are many edits within scenes which could have been made to make the flow tighter. And there is one bizarre and surreal moment during the climax of the film, which I will not reveal, which will either leave the viewer in riotous laughter from the unintentional humor of the situation, or will leave the viewer confused and ripped out of any sense of any kind of reality, or subtle sur-reality, that the film had maintained to that point.

Overall the film is pretty much a failure. It's too slow, too vague, and too unfocused in its mission. Other Italian horror directors suffer this same problem (i.e. Argento and Bava) but those directors make up for the lack of focus and clear direction by drenching their films in artistic style. "Etoile" lacks this style, and so everything rests on the shoulders of the story, and the actors. Unfortunately the story is flawed and the actors are all sorely lacking in strong direction from the director. Gary McCleery as Jason is too over the top in his obsession with Claire and comes off a little bit stalker-ish at moments. Connelly is trying to play her character as dreamy and almost childlike, but with no apparent solid direction from Del Monte she ends up looking lost in her part. Horror fans, and fans of Italian horror will probably be more likely to at least partially enjoy the experience of viewing this film, but the casual film viewer will most likely be bored to tears. Fans of Jennifer Connelly might enjoy it purely because she looks so ethereally beautiful throughout the film (her features caught here in-between her earlier "lolita" looks and her later refined beauty). And good luck finding a copy. Thus far it has only been released in Japan on VHS.

Honestly, I don't care about the plot-I just want to get lost in Jennifer Connelly's deep, soulful eyes and catch that little flash of her pointed canine teeth when she smiles. That's all I need; everything else is just icing on the cake. I absolutely love this movie-any chance they'll ever put out a 4K-restored Blu-ray edition? To me, it's a work of Italian beauty at its finest, second only to Phenomena (1985) and Once Upon a Time in America. It didn't make a bigger splash back then because of poor marketing, not poor quality. "I long to take Jennifer Connelly's hand and count the stars together."That's why I'm giving it twenty stars. Thanks!

As the first and so far only review of this film I will summarise the plot for any of you who feel like taking on the challenge of finding a copy of this film. The story follows Jennifer Connelly, a ballerina, and her exploits as she grows closer to the leading male in the film, only then for mysterious things to start happening. I wont say any more regarding the plot because it's pretty thin, one more sentence about it would pretty much tell you everything that happens in it. This is not the worst film I have ever seen, but it's also far from the best. Stuff happens without explanation, and it's not easy to figure out for yourself why said stuff happened. Connelly looks like she would rather be somewhere else at times, and so her performance lacks charisma. So considering the film rides on her performance, it would probably be quite apt to say that the whole film lacks charisma. I gave it 4 out of 10.

There is a charm to this enterprise, though you must be willing to go for the journey, rather than pick holes. If you're here to see a younger Jennifer in action you will not be disappointed. I would view as a great companion piece to Phenomena, another Italian product in which she also shines. Romance, ballet, mysterious locations and people, it has them all, but it still lacks that final something that elevates a performance to the heights. A delightful curio rather than an essential watch.

Okay. Yeah, I warched this because I'm obsessed with Jennifer Connelly.

I didn't expect much from this but I was pleasantly surprised. The plot is easy to follow and understand. In my opinion this movie is well written. Even though the third act is not as good as the first hour os so.

I for one cared about the characters. I'm not just talking about Connelly even though she is just so sweet and lovely in this.

If you like a mystery with surreal tones and a minimalistic plot this is maybe you. And definitely if you are a fan of Jennifer Connelly.