Etoiles - Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet

Starring:Nicolas Le Riche, Laurent Hilaire, Elisabeth Platel, AurÃ©lie Dupont, Manuel Legris, JosÃ© Martinez (II), Jean-Guillaume Bart, CÃ©line Talon, Clairemarie Osta, Marie-AgnÃ¨s Gillot, Nathalie RiquÃ©, Wilfried Romoli, Miteki Kudo, Sylvain Durand, JirÃ Kylian, Maurice BÃ©jart, Brigitte Lefevre, Claude Bessy
Director: Nils Tavernier
Studio: First Run Features
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Great
Cropped from the widescreen
Subtitles cut off
Bejart's Ninth Symphony
More than just behind the scenes...

Etoiles - Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet
Starring: Nicolas Le Riche , Laurent Hilaire , Elisabeth Platel , José Martinez (II) , and Manuel Legris
Director: Nils Tavernier
Manufacturer: First Run Features
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

Ballet & Dance | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

Biography | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video

General | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Dancer
The Children of Theatre Street - The Story of the Kirov Ballet School
Ballets Russes
Balanchine - Jewels / Aurelie Dupont, Alessio Carbone, Marie-Agnes Gillot, Agnes Letestu, Jean-Guillaume Bart, Clairemarie Osta, Kader Belarbi, Paris Opera Ballet
Minkus - La Bayadere / Guerin, Hilaire, Platel, Paris Ballet

ASIN: B0000AZT67
Release Date: 2003-10-21

Customer Reviews:

Great.......2007-05-01

I love ballet documentaries almost more than I like watching the on-stage performances.

Paris Opera Ballet had never been one of my favorite companies but after watching this and being introduced to some of their extraordinary dancers (i.e. Agnes Letestu, Carol Arbo, Kader Belarbi and Marie-Agnes Gillot), I have since bought about every Paris Opera Ballet DVD I can get my hands on.

If you are a ballet fan, I highly recommend this DVD.

Cropped from the widescreen.......2007-01-27

I would have given this DVD five stars except for the way it was produced. It has been cropped from the widescreen aspect to fit a standard TV, and the subtitles have almost been cut out; they're just barely readable. The DVD looks to be made from a print meant for English-speaking audiences since the subtitles are part of the film and not a choice provided on the menu. I'm really annoyed that the producers would take such a cheap shortcut when they're charging so much for the disk.

Subtitles cut off.......2006-09-28

If you speak french this dvd is probably fine - but for me there are better dvd's that focus on a dancer's life in a ballet company. The subtitles were cut off at the bottom and on the sides so you either looked at the dvd without knowing what was being said or you struggled to figure out the subtitles since they were only partially shown.

Bejart's Ninth Symphony.......2005-02-09

To be able to see some portions of Bejart's'Ninth Symphony" itself is worth owning this DVD. I wish they have the entire performance recorded to be released. Like other reviewers I really think this is a well-made documentary.

More than just behind the scenes..........2005-02-08

A variety of experiences are presented through interviews with members of the company, from the principal dancers (etoiles) to the understudies. It allows us to hear first-hand the opinions on issues such asthe pressures of being an etoile; the decision whether to start families from both the male and female dancer's perspectives; the reservations a former etoile has about her daughter's career choice, who is now in the company, as well as the pressure that daughter feels being the child of a former etoile; dancers who love dancing more important than life itself, to dancers who appear more cynical, and seem to take dancing as more of a career than a passion; the labors of the understudies to learn ALL the choreography knowing full well they will likely not get to perform them, but hopefully wait in the sidelines just in case...; dancers who have stage fright, etc.

You see how physically difficult dancing is, not just the beautiful illusion that is portrayed on stage. You see the process of rehearsal, including arguing like "No, you need to put your hand HERE, or else you'll drop me." You see the lines drawn on the stage to help dancers hit their mark; you see the beautiful swan-like ballerinas with sweat pouring down their faces during a performance; you see them leap gracefully on stage, and once they're backstage they pace about holding their backs and stomachs, panting in exhaustion just as a marathon runner would; you see rehearsals and find out how beneath the music, the chorus dancers sound like stampeding horses because of the pointe shoes; and the dancers bandaging their blisters, describing how uncomfortable rock hard pointe shoes are.

These are things you don't get to see and don't know about unless you are a dancer yourself. Throughout the film, scenes are intercut with black & white photographs which were taken at the same time, and the effect is very jarring and beautiful.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in the gritty reality of ballet, and to see how much heart and hard physical labor goes into the making of something so smooth and graceful when it makes it to the stage. If you're looking for performances, though, you will be very disappointed. There is not one complete performance in the entire dvd. This documentary focuses on what leads UP to the performance, and stops there.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Miracle (Full Screen Edition)

Tom Robinson - Bedrock Live : DVD

Hancock: The Best Of Hancock

DVD: Moulin Rouge

The Avengers - Vol. 19 - A Surfeit Of H2O / Superlative Seve