This poorly publicised film might just slip away unnoticed, which would be a great pity, as it holds many pleasures for ballet lovers.
A Life for Ballet is a documentary about the French choreographer Pierre Lacotte (b 1932) and his wife and muse, Ghislaine Thesmar. Lacotte is not well known in Australia but he is an important international choreographer based at the Paris Opera Ballet, as well as the founding director of the Ballets de Monte Carlo and a former director of the Ballet de Nancy. The documentary begins with tantalizing glimpses of his early choreography in the 50s, when he collaborated with such artists as Charles Aznavour and Edith Piaf. These excerpts reveal dramatic story ballets with original plots, with post war Expressionist and jazz overtones. In 1972 he created his seminal reproduction of La Sylphide, staged by the Paris Opera Ballet, gleaned from documentation of the original ballet created for Marie Taglioni (as opposed to the Bournonville version, which was never performed by Taglioni). There is some beautiful footage of the pas de deux (and many of the ballets, amazingly, seem to have been lovingly filmed).
The success of this enterprise set him on a course of reproducing old ballets, large and small. We see excerpts of these as well as his own ballets: Hamlet, Le Papillon, Lady of the Camellias, Marco Spada (with Nureyev), The Three Musketeers and others. More recently Lacotte recreated The Pharoah’s Daughter for the Bolshoi and Ondine for the Mariinsky.
Much of the film features Thesmar in the leading roles, and what a dancer she is! A natural beauty, with a lissom, suprisingly contemporary physique, she is a wonderfully expressive artist who seems to excel in any role (though she claims she was considered to be more a “contemporary” dancer”). She is particularly touching – and sensual - in La Sylphide (performed with her frequent partner, Michael Bernard). Also noticable is her fleeting cameo as the Scottish dancer in Coppelia. Her use of epaulement is a lesson in itself.
As the film moves to the present day and Thesmar’s role as a valued coach at the Paris Opera Ballet, we are taken inside the rehearsal rooms and treated to some superb dancing from etoiles of the company. It is the icing on the cake of what has already been superb dancing throughout.
The documentary itself is rather frustratingly put together – there is no introduction to the pair or explanatory voice-over. The only information comes from the couple themselves, filmed relaxing at their luxurious home in France and speaking to the camera. The titles of the ballets and dancers flash past so fast that you miss them. But the choice of dance excerpts is excellent.
A Life for Ballet is a must-see for ballet lovers – not just for the quality of the dancing but for the rare view it provides of the French ballet tradition. But hurry, it will be gone in the whisk of a Sylphide's frock.
- KAREN VAN ULZEN
Presently screening in Victoria at Classic Elsternwick, Cameo Belgrave and Nova Carlton.
Starts in South Australia on May 5 at Wallis Mitcham and Wallis Mount Barker.
Starts in NSW at Forum 6 Wagga Wagga.