I don’t get ballet. I have learned to tolerate many an intolerable thing in my life: broccoli, Libertarians, soccer, etc. Ballet, however, baffles me. I can appreciate the dedication and athleticism that went into the discipline; after that, however, I may as well be watching The Finnish Home Shopping Network uncaptioned.
Today’s film takes the odd stance of being pro-dedication and anti-dedication at the same time. I’ll get to that in a sec. First, the players: Li’l orphan Felicie (voice of Elle Fanning) is a French bumpkin with dreams of dancing with les étoiles. Given half a chance, she and would-be inventor/fellow captive Victor (Dane DeHaan) escape their haybale stalag and beat it for Paris. The year is never mentioned in this film, but when they arrive, the Eiffel Tower is mid tumescence, which Wikipedia tells me makes it 1887 or 1888 — take your pick, mon ami.
Lacking a plan of any kind, Felicie invents an unpaid internship swabbing the stairs of a manor opposite the Parisian ballet school, in the process helping out the school serf, Odette (Carly Rae Jepsen). Felicie, of course, loves ballet at first glance and steals an acceptance letter to join up. (The thievery is perfectly acceptable as the other girl is a dick. That’s how this works, right?) Stealing a tutu and toe shoes from the, I dunno, ballet school science lab (?), Felicie proceeds to embarrass herself while trying out for the big role in The Nutcracker Suite that Christmas.
It’s possible I was ok with the stolen invitation and fairly selfish behavior so far, but this next part went tutu farfar – to belong to the school, ballet novice Felicie has to win the Nutcracker role ahead of peers who have danced ballet for years. Odette, of course, is a former ballet standout and can teach Felicie the discipline, but, wait: At this point, Leap! is both encouraging Felicie to work hard to learn ballet
in ten days while completely discounting the hard work other girls have put in for years. Which is it, movie? Is hard work and discipline important, or is it not?
Oh, and Victor does some shit with girders. Doesn’t matter. May as well be another film.
While it takes a Leap! to stomach the plot of this film, the characters and action aren’t terrible; it’s easy to support orphan dreams even when tempered with a healthy amount of orphan naivete. What kind of Grinch decides that Tchaikovsky is only for the upper crust, anyway? As a parent, I don’t know that I could take more than a few viewings of this film, but odds are it will appeal to a slightly older or at least slightly more mature crowd than, say, Shrek – in which case, you might not have to. Try not to Leap! off that bridge when you come to it.
In practice instead of a book
The disciple is often a shnook
But with a noob named Felicie
It’s ballet made easy
‘Specially if there’s Leap! before look
Rated PG, 89 Minutes
Director: Eric Summer, Éric Warin
Writer: Carol Noble & Laurent Zeitoun & Eric Summer
Genre: Ballet, un, deux, trois
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Ballet dreamers
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Students of disciplines it takes years to master
