An enthralling world of darkly dangerous desire

And Then We Danced

15 cert, 113 min ★★★★★

Dir Levan Akin

Starring Levan Gelbakhiani, Bachi Valishvili, Ana Javakishvili, Giorgi Tsereteli, Tamar Bukhnikashvili, Marika Gogichaishvili

This film, which had a theatrical release last weekend and can now be streamed, takes you to another world – a Georgian dance academy in Tbilisi – and lets you reach it from the safety of your sofa. Since there’s also nowhere to see great choreography in our shuttering public spaces, this suddenly provides a double fix of both radiantly lovely photography and electrifying sequences of traditional folk dance.

The whirling engine of the whole film, though, is a central character of bolting-hare energy, a young hero whose unstable paths through career and love are at cross-purposes. Merab, played in a great acting debut by dancer Levan Gelbakhiani, is an ambitious student on the brink of great things; his female partner, played very sweetly by Ana Javakishvili, is a kindof-girlfriend, but more of a best friend.

A new recruit, Irakli (Bachi Valishvili), enters the fray, darkly handsome and in danger of upstaging Merab just as auditions for a national ensemble spot are hotting up. Their rivalry is charged from the off by a dangerous frisson of desire.

Yet Gelbakhiani’s movement provides all the drama the film needs, and its star could hardly be better qualified to make Merab’s learning curve a blazing arc through the sky.

Available on Curzon Home Cinema