An average movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Cédric Klapisch, I was quite eager to check it out. I don’t think that Klapisch is well known outside of France but I have been following his career from the very beginning with ‘Le péril jeune’ and I always had a weak spot for his work. Well, this movie was another interesting addition to an already solid filmography. Above all, as long as they simply hung out with these dancers and forgot the plot, it was actually quite fascinating to behold and the dancing scenes were very often spellbinding to behold. Unfortunately, it’s too bad the damned thing turned out to be narratively speaking rather weak after all. What bothered me the most was probably the fact that the main character met a famous choreographer earlier in the movie but then, somehow, she bumped into his dance company in the middle of nowhere in France at this artist residency which was rather ridiculous. I mean, by skipping their first encounter and having her meeting him for the first time in Brittany would have worked so much better. There were also a whole bunch of half-baked and rather unnecessary sub-plots. The one involving her physical therapist falling in love with her was the least problematic. In fact, I have to admit that it was actually almost entertaining thanks to a solid performance by François Civil but it still felt rather useless though. Another thread involving her relationship with her father played by Denis Podalydès was however so generic and a waste of time. Finally, even though Mehdi Baki is a fantastic dancer, I don’t think they ever had a single conversation so it was rather difficult to root for their new romance. Furthermore, she had to be reborn and found some new connection with dancing, that was the whole point of this movie, and I don’t think that she had to also hook up with a new boyfriend and fix up her cold relationship with her father on top of that. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject matter.