Grand Jeté

As a kid watching 'Siskel and Ebert at the Movies', I loved Roger Eberts description that movies take you to places you've never been and introduce you to people and lives you'll never encounter.

This movie fits that description freakishly well.

While it's a very watchable film, the characters come across as the last 3 survivors on earth ( there are NO supporting characters) and while fascinating to watch, their personalities fail to elicit any sympathy. I didn't like the characters; I didn't dislike the characters; but I was still too far removed to develop any empathy for anyone.

And for a movie set in Berlin, I expected at least some scenes of architecture, culture, etc, but alas, whereas I met characters I normally wouldn't meet, I never felt that I was traveling anywhere outside of 3-4 studio sets that could have been filmed anywhere.

I think there could have been an interesting story about two very broken, disturbed people and how their disfunction plays out through their very weird/unhealthy sexual relationship. Its at least filmed pretty well. It looks good and the acting is okay. That's pretty much all the positives I can give this movie.

There is pretty much no attempt at character development or motivation. It just lacks purpose and feels totally devoid of any emotion. The sex scenes are not shocking because it does not seem like the two leads are mother and son, they are just two random people with almost no emotions who barely have some rather lame sex.

All that said my real issue with this movie and so many movies like it is its misuse of ballet and its depiction of the stereotypical neurotic, bulimic, crazy ballerina.

BALLET RANT INCOMING:

I have been a ballet dancer since I was in pre school and now fit dancers for their pointe shoes professionally. My first ballet related issue with this film seems rather small but happens very early in the film and told me pretty much exactly what kind of ballet movie I was about to watch.

In this early scene the main character (I don't even know her name or if she is even given a name) is seen teaching a class of young dancers. I immediately noticed that these students were wearing flat shoes and not pointe shoes. This alone is fine as they look quite young and dancers don't typically start pointe until around 10 to 12 ish. However our main character IS wearing pointe shoes. This is very weird and honestly makes no sense. Dance teachers wear dance sneakers, flat shoes, and other types of dance shoes (which she is seen wearing in every subsequent dance scene. The shoes she wears for the rest of the movie are called Grecian Teaching Shoes. They have a very low heal 1/2 inch/ 1.27 cm at most and are made of leather with a flexible sole which can be suede or leather). The only way I could see the inclusion of pointe shoes making sense was if this was a beginner pointe class and she wanted to demonstrate proper technique with her own feet. Even then that is fairly unusual and it was just a really odd choice. There was literally no reason for her to be dancing en pointe at all. I think the reason they put this scene in was so the next scene could be of her painfully taking off her pointe shoes and her messed up toes. This was very reminiscent of Black Swan, another awful ballet film. However in Black Swan it at least makes sense that she would be en pointe because she is dancing in a company. At least in that movie the eating disorder stuff and toe pain made sense for the plot. Here it just makes no sense and really the whole ballet aspect only seems to be in the movie to show how crazy, weird, obsessive, high strung, etc she is. Ballet should not have been a factor in this story at all and I found it gross how they totally misrepresented ballet just so they could have an easy, and maybe even lazy way of saying "look audience this chick is crazy".

The Red Shoes Continues to be the only movie which heavily features ballet that I enjoy. Its sad to see yet another simplistic and insulting portrayal of a ballet dancer in a movie. This stereotype of the crazy ballerina as mentioned in another review is just simply wrong. Ballet dancers are people they are individuals and have all the variations in life experience and personality you would find anywhere else in the world.

BALLET RANT OVER

Basically this movie was boring and pointless with the added insult of the whole inclusion of ballet into the story.

I do not recommend. If you want to experience ballet then go take a ballet class or see a live performance, or watch The Red Shoes.

Just what is it about ballet dancers in movies that they all have to have gnarly feet, eating disorders, self harming issues, be generally unhealthy and be obsessive and plain crazy?

Well if you are expecting this movie to break from those tropes this is the wrong one. It even manages to throw in another disorder to the crazy ballerina pile, incest.

That is right this is a movie about a ballerina who apparently gave her son to her own mother to raise while she pursued her dancing career and now she is back in his life. But for some reason her and her son decide to embark on an incestuous affair. And that isn't a spoiler by the way that is the premise of this movie from the outset.

There is nothing really explored as to why this situation has occurred nor at any point does the son and mother discuss their motivations for their acts. It is basically numerous sex scenes with very little in the way of dialogue. Strangely enough the mother does seem to have a partner at the start of the movie but with him being replaced by the son he is never seen again. At no point is he there to ask what happened to the relationship, he is simply removed from the narrative. There are some hints that the mothers own parents were disturbed, yet its hardly enough to fill in the blanks of the narrative.

While this is similar in tone to The Piano Teacher it doesn't have the same emotional impact. Its also not surprising this was directed by a woman, its highly unlikely a man would have been given the green light to film such a movie. As people would have questioned his motives for making a movie about incest. Its also German and centred on Berlin where apparently anything goes. Maybe these movies are "trendy" in certain far left leaning places like there.

While it seems competently shot there are some very odd camera angle choices which can look absurd. There are also plenty of close ups of feet for some reason. There is also a very strange BDSM performance theatre scene involving the son, like I said this is all "very Berlin" in tone.

This is unlikely to be picked up by many platforms or to be seen by many people. Although I am sure that for those certain individuals who have a "thing" for the subject matter will be its biggest fans.

While some people are saying female directors are the future of cinema, based on this showing its unlikely cinema will survive.

A niche viewing experience based on the belief that taboo subjects should be on the big screen, produced by those who lack moral judgement and common sense.

The only plus was that at least the main character had the physique of a ballerina.

The ending is also very unsatisfying and doesn't resolve anything.

Review of Grand Jeté (2023)

Grand Jeté is a film that explores the complicated, sometimes messy nature of motherhood and the emotional weight of choices. It tells the story of a ballet teacher who, in pursuit of her career, becomes estranged from her son, leaving him to be raised by her mother. Years later, when they meet again, their relationship becomes increasingly intense, leading to a bond that crosses the line between a mother's love and something darker.

As I watched the film, I couldn't help but feel unsettled by the growing connection between mother and son. The way their relationship shifts is disturbing but undeniably human-two people trying to reconnect after years of separation, but in a way that feels more like an emotional affair than the reunion of mother and child. It raises difficult questions about love, guilt, and the blurry boundaries between what is acceptable and what is not.

The mother, trying to balance her passion for ballet with the need to care for her son, is deeply flawed but relatable. Her struggle is palpable. She loves him, yet her actions reveal a selfishness, a detachment, even in the midst of wanting to make up for lost time. Her son, now an adult, is caught in the middle, confused by the affection that feels too heavy, too intimate for what is supposed to be a motherly bond.

I think what the movie does best is show how complicated relationships can be when people try to reconnect after years apart. But honestly, I couldn't shake the feeling that the film was too subtle at times, leaving me wanting more depth in their emotional journey. It was hard to fully connect with the characters, especially when the emotional tension felt more uncomfortable than moving.

While the idea of a mother and son becoming emotionally entangled like this is disturbing, it does shine a light on the psychological complexities of love and desire. It's not a story of pure affection-it's about what happens when love becomes suffocating and boundaries get blurred. I won't lie, I felt conflicted watching it.

Overall, Grand Jeté is a film that sticks with you, though it's uncomfortable and at times hard to watch, where a son develop unconscious emotional or romantic feelings for his mother.

And maybe even "wrong" love - well no pun intended as always. There have been other movies that have delved into the human psyche and may have given us a better overall picture (I reckon that can count as a pun too) ... but this is also quite well made. It never reaches those heights ... but it is well played and may be a bit more "silent" and slow than other movies.

Try to suspend your disbelief, be prepared to be shocked (not so much from the nudity hopefully, but the relationship the two main characters have ... and their "connection") ... also be prepared to fill in the blanks ... to read between the lines (silences) ... the movie challenges the viewer ... performances are really good. And casting a real dancer in the main role may have helped it a lot.