23rd French Film Festival: Polina, dancing from the page to the screen

Of all the films lined up in the 23^rd 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.