Polina, danser sa vie

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.

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.

This is the best film on artistic integrity ever. It's very cinematic and subtly told but it's an emotional journey also, one you go on firstly with Veronika Zhovnytska as the very young Polina, and then with Anastasia Shevtsova as the teenage and adult Polina. It's her story, her development artistically, that you are fortunate to witness. I don't want to say too much about it because that will ruin it for you but this is one of those films whose images draw you in. Soak yourself in them and luxuriate in them till the end, an end you won't want to come as it's affect grows upon you. This is the best dance film ever but it's also much more than that. Excellent supporting performances throughout as well.

Really enjoyed this film. Unlike most dance films it doesn't try to be silly or uplifting. Instead it's more akin to a moody indie film about a young woman who has been stifled all her life finally finding her voice.

The beats of the film will be familiar to anyone who has ever watched a dance film but the sincerity of the actors and the beautiful choreography makes this incredible to watch.

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.