La Danse - Le Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris

La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet

by Frederick Wiseman

France - 2009

Friday, June 7th • 6PM
At Bophana Center

Documentary – 160mn

Color

French with English Subtitles

FormatHD – Mono

GenreDocumentary

First releaseSeptember 11, 2009 (Venice) October 7, (France)

ProductionIdéale Audience

SynopsisBesides aiming to reveal “how the company functions as an organic whole”, the film follows the production of seven ballets by the Paris Opera Ballet. Dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet who appear in the film include the étoiles Kader Belarbi, Jérémie Belingard, Émilie Cozette, Aurélie Dupont, Mathieu Ganio, Dorothée Gilbert, Marie-Agnès Gillot, Manuel Legris, Nicolas Le Riche…

AboutThe style of Wiseman’s films is often referred to as the observational mode, which has its roots in direct cinema. However, Wiseman dislikes the term. Wiseman’s films are, in his view, an elaboration of a personal experience and not an ideologically objective portrait of his subjects.
Wiseman works only four to six weeks in the institutions he portrays, with almost no preparation. He spends the bulk of the production period editing the material, trying to find a rhythm to make a “movie”. Present in every Wiseman film is a dramatic structure. Frederick Wiseman feels that drama is a crucial element for his films to “work as movies”. The rhythm and structure of Wiseman’s films pull the viewer into the position and perspective of the subject (human or otherwise). The viewer feels the dramatic tension of the situations portrayed in the films, as various environmental forces create complicated situations and conflicting values for the subject. Wiseman openly admits to manipulating his source material to create dramatic structure, and indeed insists that it is necessary to “make a movie.”

Selective filmography of Frederick Wiseman
(born in 1930)

1967 – Titicut Follies

1969 – Law and Order

1971 – Basic training

1974 – Primate

1980 – Model

1982 - Seraphita’s diary

1983 – The Store

1985 – Racetrack

1987 – Missile

1989 – Central Park

1989 – Near Death

1995 – Ballet

1999 – Belfast, Maine

2005 – The Garden

2007 – State Legislature

2010 – Boxing Gym

2011 – Crazy Horse

With the courtesy of Institut français