Cinema Wednesdays - Virginia Eufemi
It's Christmas Eve, and young Clara (Mackenzie Foy) receives from her father (Matthew Macfadyen) a gift that Clara's late mother had prepared for her: a silver egg-shaped box. The only drawback is that the key to open it is missing. It's just as well, because Clara's godfather, Drosselmeyer (played by a magnificent Morgan Freeman), is giving a lavish party, and it was he who made the egg. The search for the key leads the young girl into a kingdom populated by mice, soldiers and gentle inhabitants who help her on her quest. But beware, appearances can be deceptive.
This holiday season, Walt Disney Studios brings us a film based on the German fairy tale by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816). This tale (in its version by Alexandre Dumas) was adapted in 1891-92 by the famous Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for his world-famous ballet-féérie. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms stands as a tribute to this ballet, from the omnipresent music to the presence of a choreographed section, right up to the castle reminiscent of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow's Red Square. Russia is subtly present, but the very particular aesthetic of this film is much more complex: revisited baroque bordering on the kitsch - especially in the ballet section, which looks like a tasteless musical - the costumes are lavish, the sets sumptuous and the effect « wow »guaranteed. Disney pulls out all the stops from the very first seconds, inviting us into a «film-féérie» that won't disappoint.
Above all, this film is about the difficult grief this family is facing; Clara's father is left alone with three children, who are themselves faced with the incomprehension of this loss. Visit The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is very touching and conveys beautiful values. When Clara's entry into these realms is similar to that of the little girl in The World of Narnia (2005), she enters a world far removed from stereotypes. Disney knows how to ride the wave of the times, depicting a true warrior woman, courageous and fearless. Like Mattel with its Barbies curvy, we'll be able to say anything except that Disney is misogynistic, homophobic or racist.
If Disney's magic still works, isn't its fantasy a little rusty? For several years now - and there's no sign of it stopping anytime soon - Disney has been reviving all its great animated classics. The Lion King (2019), Dumbo (2019), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Mary Poppins (2019) or Winnie the Pooh (2018) - to name but a few - have recently seen, or will soon see, a film version with actors and computer-generated images. Could it be that the American giant that made generations of children dream is running out of ideas? We're inclined to think it's because marketing to win back the generation of millenials who grew up with these cartoons and can't resist the temptation to relive their childhood, if only for the space of an hour and a half, by rediscovering those familiar songs and characters.
Read also: «Jean-Christophe and Winnie»: childhood and the quest for self.
If the The Nutcracker has no counterpart in VHS, the story - and perhaps even more so the ballet - is well known. But it's impossible to ask Disney Studios to respect a story; faithful only to themselves, the story of the young Clara drawn into a dream becomes a chivalric epic coupled with a putsch by clones. The essence of this story, which focuses on the passage from childhood to adolescence, is nevertheless preserved. This symbolic passage between dream and reality is also found in Alice in Wonderland (2010) - Tim Burton's version of which is at times reminiscent of this The Nutcracker. Whether you're a child, a young person or an adult, you'll be swept away into this realm(s) of magic, courage and love, where a heroine in search of meaning draws us into her adventures, in search of herself.
Write to the author: virginia.eufemi@leregardlibre.com
Photo credit: © Walt Disney Company CH
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