Screened as part of NZIFF 2016

The Dancer 2016

La danseuse

Directed by Stéphanie Di Giusto

French singer Soko and Lily-Rose Depp star in this exquisitely dressed, spectacularly danced drama inspired by the true story of two rival pioneers of modern dance in late 19th-century Paris.

Belgium / Czech Republic / France In English and French with English subtitles
108 minutes CinemaScope / DCP

Producer

Alain Attal

Screenplay

Stéphanie Di Giusto
,
Sarah Thibau
,
Thomas Bidegain. Based on the book Loïe Fuller, danseuse de la Belle Epoque by Giovanni Lista

Photography

Benoît Debie

Editor

Géraldine Mangenot

Production designer

Carlos Conti

Costume designer

Anaïs Romand

Music

Max Richter

With

Soko (Loïe Fuller)
,
Gaspard Ulliel (Louis)
,
Mélanie Thierry (Gabrielle)
,
Lily-Rose Depp (Isadora Duncan)
,
François Damiens (Marchand)
,
Louis-Do de Lencquesaing (Armand)
,
Amanda Plummer (Lily)
,
Denis Ménochet (Ruben)

Festivals

Cannes (Un Certain Regard) 2016

Proudly Sponsored By

Kate Sylvester

This gorgeously mounted Belle Epoque drama presents a fictionalised account of the rise and fall of Loïe Fuller, the American-born pioneer of modern dance (and theatrical lighting design) whose ‘serpentine dance’ took Paris and then the world by storm. French singer-songwriter Soko plays the dancer, opposite Gaspard Ulliel, with Lily-Rose Depp, the daughter of Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp, as her friend and rival Isadora Duncan.

“Combining furious movement, billowing costume, and theatrical lighting, it’s not hard to imagine how the shows would have astounded audiences more than a century ago. The film doesn’t disappoint with its rendition of Fuller’s iconic pieces, either. Both on stage – where an incredibly agile human form whirls and twirls until it disappears into a storm of shifting shapes – and out in nature – as a group of female dancers becomes one with the misty forest under her guidance – first-time director Stéphanie Di Giusto turns these sequences into feats of electrifying elegance aided by artful production design, textured costuming, and fluent cinematography…

Soko has both the willful masculinity and a feminine vulnerability down. Playing Louis, Ulliel is his usual charismatic self, exuding an effortless, pansexual allure that enriches a rather underwritten character infinitely. And though she only appears later in the film, Depp positively dazzles as Isadora. With her elfin litheness and an almost contemptuous self-assuredness, she owns the screen during every appearance.” — Zhuo-Ning Su, The Film Stage