«Ballerina»

Cinema Wednesdays - Loris S. Musumeci

«Dreams don't come true. They're just pipe dreams. Life is merciless.»

Félicie and Victor hear it every day. But the two Breton orphans dream of escaping the old monastery in Quimper to fly to Paris and experience its magic. She already sees herself shining as a star at the Opéra Garnier; he wants to become the greatest inventor.

The ballets of this majestic artistic institution spread throughout Europe. The engineer Eiffel realized a certain project for a tower, still under construction, in the city center, or for the famous statue that would become a symbol of the other side of the Atlantic. We're back in the glorious, charming Paris of the 1880s, decorated with Baron Hausmann's new architecture.

The mother superior, though pitying the two children, hears nothing of their hopes. The fat, mustachioed overseer, always on the lookout for any escape attempt, seems to see through their deepest desires; his role, however, is that of an armored door, and only that.

The night of the big departure arrives: Félicie and Victor, joyfully cunning, finally leave the orphanage, but not without obstacles. Landing in Paris, their eyes captured by the grandeur of its monuments and the dazzling fire of its life, they were soon separated: Victor actually slipped off a bridge into a barge on the Seine. He shouts to his girlfriend to meet him the next day, same place, same time.

In one day, the young boy, from one circumstance to another, manages to be hired as an all-purpose assistant to the inventor Eiffel. Félicie, amazed and anxious, runs through the streets of the metropolis to find her dream opera house. She sneaks in through the entrances and sees the luminous Rosita Mauri dancing «Swan Lake» on stage. Complications soon ensue, as the little girl is discovered and has to flee immediately. Will she succeed in setting herself up as a moving rose in the same theater?

Directed by Eric Summer and Eric Warin, this French-Canadian animated film is technically worthy of any famous American company. The images are excellent, the characters precise and subtle, the scenery finely crafted. Paris, reconstituted down to the finest detail of the Trocadero Palace building, is a marvellous spectacle, fragrant with the flavour of old France.

The story is beautiful too. It provides children's audiences with noble entertainment, with classical dance for a good half of the film and, of course, music of the same type. The language is also highly polished, from «lampposts» to «however» to the inversion of subject and verb for interrogation.

A real dream, a lesson in courage and praise for high standards. Ballerina. Today, it's one of the few animated films that lifts up its viewers, however small and innocent they may be.

«Dance is part of me. It helps me live.»

Write to the author : loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: AlloCiné