New level of dance film
It’s the plot that’s launched a thousand cheesy teen movies: Young dancer feels shackled by the strictures of ballet, discovers modern dance, storms the establishment in an onstage performance of spectacular rebellion. Power to the people! Roll credits.
Then along comes “Polina” to show how a feature film can depict a dancer’s — a human’s — journey toward authenticity with sophistication, artistry and love for the art form, kicking the histrionic mockery of films like “Black Swan” and “Save the Last Dance” to the curb.
Directed by choreographer Angelin Prejlocaj and filmmaker Valérie Müller, who are married, “Polina” is based on French artist Bastien Vivès graphic novel, adapted by Müller.
We follow Polina Shanidze (newcomer Anastasia Shevtsova, who trained at the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia) from the ritual child auditions for the school of Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet through grueling training under archetypal taskmaster Bojinski (Aleksei Guskov).
On the eve of joining the world-renowned company, a contemporary-ballet performance has made Polina aware of other possibilities, most saliently the potential for dancing as her true self: the young girl introduced early in the film, who danced free and wild in the snowy woods on her way home from the academy.
Polina follows her boyfriend (Niels Schneider) to France, where choreographer Liria Elsaj ( Juliette Binoche, whose bona fides include dancing with London’s thrilling Akram Khan Company) puts the first crack in Polina’s shell. Paris Opera Ballet etoile Jérémie Bélingard plays the partner with whom Polina eventually finds communion in art and life.
“Polina” is spare in dialogue; more is conveyed through painterly wide-screen cinematography by Georges Lechaptois: pink satin pointe shoes against the Bolshoi’s splintering wood floors, the swirl of a tutu seen from the rafters, a jagged metal staircase framing a painful conversation between Polina and Elsaj.
Movement does a lot of the talking. Shevstova, Bélingard and the supporting cast are a far cry from the non-dancer actors usually cast in this genre, and “Polina” could be considered an evening-length dance performance with elements of theater and spoken word.
Overly dark lighting, and Shevtsova’s grim mien, could use more brightness — even classical ballerinas enjoy life and smile from time to time. But we’ll leave the nitpicking to the ballet teachers.