Le Bal

If someone would ask my top 10 movies,this one will be,without any doubt there.I wonder why is so difficult to get a DVD copy. Basically,this movie is about some 50 years of 20th century European history.Basically,because the movie is far more then this:is a declaration of love for cinema,is also a theatrum mundi,a world theater, in which human passions,the good and the bad ones,are its main characters. The big bet is that all this is told without saying a word.Rooted somehow in the music-hall,classical ballet and still movie,this masterpiece unfolds its beauty in dance,mimic,a peculiar semiotic intended more to suggest than to affirm. 2 hours of music and dance,without the slightest second of bore.It's delicate,funny,cerebral,interesting,diverting,remains in your mind and soul for ever.A must.

This film it is only with music, no words and tens of characters. The same artist makes 3,4,5 roles. Each time I see this movie, I cry and laugh, I get convinced that Scola is a genius. A brilliant script, a conception very original, and many surprises in most of the scenes. I highlighted Marc Berman, Nani Noël, the Penchenat and Anita Pichiarini. What Ettore Scola made with this film should be repeated with all mankind. It is the world united by ball dance, popular music and not with words. What count are the ideas. Here in Brasil, the DVD of "Le Bal" still sells very well and is one of the most expensives. I wish that "Thêàtre du Campagnol" ever and ever have a success. Congratulations to all technicians for this magnificent spectacle.

This movie is absolutely magical - taking place in a French ball room, it takes you through time. Year in year out, the music, the dances, the style and fashions change. We see the characters' hopes, fears and desires, we watch their interactions. We see how changes in the outside world affect them. Ettore Scola does this without letting his characters speak.The music, the cinematography, the dancing and interacting are the elements which let us experience the intensity of the voyage through time. Scola does not need language for this. However, this movie should not be mistaken for a kind of dancing medley. It is a keen observation of human behavior, accompanied with deep insight and empathy.

I'm not one to use the term "brilliant" when describing a film, but LE BAL certainly merits it. It sounds so dry when you tell people the plot: a bunch of people in a timeless (in more ways than one) dance hall in Paris, with a series of vignettes that give the viewer a history of not only France but Europe (and in some places, the world) from the late 20s to the mid-80s. And yet that's what it is and what makes it so incredibly brilliant. The director uses each time's music and dance to make a statement about life as it was, whether during the Occupation or the 60s era student riots. His performers are all, to a man/woman, spot on with their characterizations: the man who's more concerned about his perfect hair than the safety of his dancing partner, the controlling woman who rhythmically waves her hands to keep her men at a suitable distance, the near-sighted wallflower who IIRC never gets on the dance floor. Even the buffoons are so elegantly shaded that you find yourself rooting for them in the end.

This little masterpiece is now almost impossible to find, so grab it when you do see it. Trust me, you will not be disappointed. Yes, it is that good.

A movie without any word, no dialogue, but you don't feel that something is missing. The music, the dance and choreography, replace any missing dialogue. You get a history of France as seen and heard from a dance-hall stage at certain points in time : 1936,1940,1944,1946,1956, 1968, & 1983. Special remarks for Marc Berman & Jean-Francois Perrier and for the man behind writing and acting Jean-Claude Penchenat - La "croix de feu". Real nice movie - a 9 mark.