Film Review: ‘The Dancer’ – The Beauty of a Moment in Oblivion

I believe that truly great people know deep down that they are destined for great things. It is not a matter of ego, but a great hope that drives them, that restlessness, that urge to achieve regardless of everything. The obstacles in their path, the misunderstandings, even their own fears and doubts. It is this eternal questioning of oneself that makes them great, that keeps them grounded and pushes them to be better, to strive and not give up. Because hope is sometimes all a person has. Hope, that wonderful feathered being…

Now imagine a girl growing up in the American wilderness at the end of the 19th century, surrounded by all the harshness of life as a cattle rancher and gold miner, but with one great hope that one day she will spread her awkward wings and fly. This is how the film The Dancer portrays Marie Louise Fuller, a pioneer of modern dance who went through a thorny path to fame, shone for a moment, and then got lost like a page in history.

That girl with great ambitions also had a great sense of insecurity, and the beauty she presented to the world on stage she did not see in herself. She believed that the art she created was something greater than herself, and therefore in her performances, the focus was on the carefully crafted choreography and lighting effects, hiding and placing the person who creates those incredible things in the background.

The dance of flowers, the play of butterflies, the flight of birds, this is how the moving images she created for the audience can be described, gifting them the beauty of the moment.

The film focuses on the rise of Loie Fuller, how she traveled from America to Paris and there began a revolution in the world of dance with her performances at Folies Bergeres. It also speaks of her relationship with Count d’Orsay, who was her patron and support, Gabrielle Bloch, who was her manager (later also her partner), and the fateful meeting with Isadora Duncan, whom Fuller was reportedly unhappily in love with.

Director Stéphanie Di Giusto is not lacking in imagination to create a story (although perhaps not biographically accurate) that will hold the audience’s attention, but she lacks the experience to not get lost in that chaos of ideas.

Nevertheless, The Dancer is an impressive experience, and the performance of Stephanie Sokolinski is very sincere and leaves the viewer indifferent.

We all perform on some stage, with more or less success, but everyone at least sometimes needs and deserves to receive applause.