This story is billed as a mystery drama. At the opening scene - concerning a very much alive young girl arriving in a coffin at a ballet school for girls - we immediately know something's wrong with this picture (no pun intended): nobody ever arrives in a coffin on first day of school. We also implicitly know, from the IMDb page, this is not a Gothic terror movie with ghouls, vampires and sacrificial offerings. Moreover, we know, soon after the girl's arrival, this ballet school is way out of the ordinary; so much so, it's impossible to accord the school, staff and students any measure of actual reality. And, there's no suggestion this effort is a fantasy - although it could be, at a stretch.
Ballet, as we know, is primarily for girls; boys are not even permitted at this particular school. Boys, as we know, get to roam free from home, generally; girls must stay within these school grounds, their temporary home, always. And, at this school, there is a strict daily regime which, although full of pleasant, mundane tasks and activities, is still rigidly controlled by the staff. Conformity is paramount; dissidence is strongly discouraged, even punished. If it wasn't so idyllic, it would be suffocatingly annoying and depressing.
The story has a mix of protagonists, each of whom is moving through a certain period of their imprisonment, beginning with Iris (Auclair), the girl who arrives in the coffin. We then meet Selma (Lalieux) who has been there for a bit and who is every bit the dissident trouble-maker. We next encounter Alice (Bridarolli), an older girl who is perhaps close to being "chosen" by the arch- antagonist Headmistress (Marchand). But, chosen for what? And throughout, we follow Bianca (Haubruge), a senior who eventually leaves the school through a tortuous process, and who finally, with four other "graduating" girls, discovers exactly what she and they have been training for, year after tedious year....
Considering the setting, the simple but unsettling daily routine, and the all female ensemble, I'd suggest this story is a bizarre allegory which explores the development and enforced channeling of young girls into sex objects within our real world. It achieves that goal within the prison-like confines of the much lauded skills of ballet that the girls learn and practice daily, monotonously, at the school which is enclosed completely within a high brick wall. At every moment, the girls are both prisoners of time, space and the demands of the staff. Hence, to that extent, this story is a distant cousin to the school regime we can recall in Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975).
I'll leave you to discover the nature of the girls' graduation at your leisure, literally, because the pacing of this story is almost glacial. Necessarily, in line with the allegorical nature of the narrative, sexual innuendo is - if not rampant, beginning with rivers of water - pervasive throughout; indeed, some might infer overtones of pedophilia, occasionally. In fact, I think they are all central to the thematic underpinnings that the director, Hadzihalilovic, is presenting to the viewer. Unhappily for this viewer, at denouement there are no surprises, even to the final, inevitable scene.
The photography is often dark, almost creepy, shadowy, fuzzy at times, and accompanied by discordant, rumblings sounds from time to time; it's no accident it will remind viewers of movies from David Lynch who, I think, is the better story-teller and director, however. There is no physical horror and violence, though: only the violence and horror done to the female persona in the name of patriarchy, societal stability and bliss.
Recommended for viewers who appreciate Lynchian-style movies. Six out of ten.
April 2, 2015.
Ballet, as we know, is primarily for girls; boys are not even permitted at this particular school. Boys, as we know, get to roam free from home, generally; girls must stay within these school grounds, their temporary home, always. And, at this school, there is a strict daily regime which, although full of pleasant, mundane tasks and activities, is still rigidly controlled by the staff. Conformity is paramount; dissidence is strongly discouraged, even punished. If it wasn't so idyllic, it would be suffocatingly annoying and depressing.
The story has a mix of protagonists, each of whom is moving through a certain period of their imprisonment, beginning with Iris (Auclair), the girl who arrives in the coffin. We then meet Selma (Lalieux) who has been there for a bit and who is every bit the dissident trouble-maker. We next encounter Alice (Bridarolli), an older girl who is perhaps close to being "chosen" by the arch- antagonist Headmistress (Marchand). But, chosen for what? And throughout, we follow Bianca (Haubruge), a senior who eventually leaves the school through a tortuous process, and who finally, with four other "graduating" girls, discovers exactly what she and they have been training for, year after tedious year....
Considering the setting, the simple but unsettling daily routine, and the all female ensemble, I'd suggest this story is a bizarre allegory which explores the development and enforced channeling of young girls into sex objects within our real world. It achieves that goal within the prison-like confines of the much lauded skills of ballet that the girls learn and practice daily, monotonously, at the school which is enclosed completely within a high brick wall. At every moment, the girls are both prisoners of time, space and the demands of the staff. Hence, to that extent, this story is a distant cousin to the school regime we can recall in Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975).
I'll leave you to discover the nature of the girls' graduation at your leisure, literally, because the pacing of this story is almost glacial. Necessarily, in line with the allegorical nature of the narrative, sexual innuendo is - if not rampant, beginning with rivers of water - pervasive throughout; indeed, some might infer overtones of pedophilia, occasionally. In fact, I think they are all central to the thematic underpinnings that the director, Hadzihalilovic, is presenting to the viewer. Unhappily for this viewer, at denouement there are no surprises, even to the final, inevitable scene.
The photography is often dark, almost creepy, shadowy, fuzzy at times, and accompanied by discordant, rumblings sounds from time to time; it's no accident it will remind viewers of movies from David Lynch who, I think, is the better story-teller and director, however. There is no physical horror and violence, though: only the violence and horror done to the female persona in the name of patriarchy, societal stability and bliss.
Recommended for viewers who appreciate Lynchian-style movies. Six out of ten.
April 2, 2015.