I made my way on a gorgeous summer’s evening to Palace cinemas for the 2017 French Film Festival program launch. Upon a friendly welcome, we made our way to the pre film function where guests enjoyed french inspired canopies which featured trout, salmon and a very delicious beef tart. The amazing food provided by Ayres House was washed down with French champagne and wines. Already a french flavor was in the air.
We then all made our way into cinema 3 which being one of the smaller cinemas, made for a more nice and intimate feel between guests rather then all of just being separated into a large cinema.
The movie we were seeing was The Dancer which is a film by Stephanie Di Giusto with music by Max Richter. The Dancer is a biography based on the true story of two rival pioneers of modern dance and theatrical performance in late 19th – century Paris.
We see at the start of the movie Loïe Fuller (Soko) raised in the US by French father Ruben (Denis Menochet). Her dad is unexpectedly shot by bandit cowboys and she travels to Brooklyn where her mother who has a brutal nature makes an appearance in the film. Here Loie tries her hand at acting. Here she starts to think she wants to pursue dancing and decides a move to Paris would help best her with that.
The amazing potential she had was realized after she got to fully express her creative vision at Belle Époque hotspot Folies Bergère. Her dance involves brutal movement, billowing costume, and theatrical lighting. This type of show in the late 1800’s would have been groundbreaking and totally amazed the crowds.
The movie then develops into personal relationships that she had. Those relationships being with Louis and also her young protégé, Isadora (Lily-Rose Melody Depp). Through these relationships, we see betrayal and heartbreak. Isadora is amazing in her scenes and her elegance while dancing and the way she owns the screen is something to behold.
This is a drama filled movie which is dark at times but also shows the work an artist has to put in for total perfection.
The French Film Festival runs at Palace Cinemas from March 30 until April 23, 2017
http://www.affrenchfilmfestival.org/
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