Of all the films lined up in the 23rd French Film Festival,
it was Polina, danser sa vie/Polina that really caught my
attention. Not just because the movie is about a ballerina, but also because of
this was the film adaptation of the adorable graphic novel of the same name by Bastien Vivès. Once I saw the name Bojinsky in the synopsis, I knew for sure that this
was the same Polina.
In the film co-directed by Valérie
Müller and renowned French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, Polina is first
seen as an 8 year old (Veronikoa Zhovnitska) auditioning for a ballet school
run by Bojinsky (Aleksey Guskov) in post-Soviet Russia. In her teens (Anastasia Shevstova), she is
eventually taught by Bojinksy who never seemed to be satisfied with whatever
she does. But she still makes it to the prestigious Bolshoi. She ends up
leaving Bolshoi to head to France with her boyfriend Adrien (Niels Schneider) as
she ditches classical ballet to shift to contemporary dance.
In France, Polina struggles as
she makes misstep after misstep not just in the studio but also in her
relationship with Adrien, and in life in general. It takes an unplanned trip to
Belgium, hitting rock bottom, and an encounter with improvisational dancer Karl
(Jérémie Bélingard) for Polina to bounce back and find her true calling.
I couldn’t help but compare and
note the differences between the film and the graphic novel while watching. The
film focused a lot on Polina and didn’t show more of her relationship with
Bojinsky throughout the years. Instead, the film gave Polina a father that
somewhat diminished Bojinsky’s role as a father figure seen in the book.
Also missing in the film were her
classmates in Bojinsky’s school and in Bolshoi. Moments that Polina shared with
them in the book gave the reader more insight to the world of ballet. And this also
helped define Polina’s character by showing both how similar and different she
was from the rest of her peers.
The film offered a peek into the
life of Polina as she turns, leaps, and stumbles her way through the dance called life.
The movie is fine on its own but it unfortunately downplayed the importance of
Bojinsky which in the comic continued to hound and matter to her even after she has left his
school. If the film just showed more of their relationship, their
reunion in the end would’ve been a lot more gratifying.
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