Film Review: La Mort du cygne (English title: Ballerina)

A big thank you to Mark Smith for unearthing this rare gem and for reviewing it so eloquently; it's a delight to welcome him back to the blog.

La Mort du cygne is a 1937 film directed by Jean-Benoît-Lévy, starring Janine Charrat, Yvette Chauviré, and Mia Slavenska, with choreography by Serge Lifar. Music from Chopin and Gounod is played by the Paris Opera Orchestra. Also featured are the Corps de Ballet and Dancers of the School of the National Opera of France.

12-year-old Rose Souris (Janine Charrat), a pupil at the Paris Opera Ballet School, idolises Mlle Beaupré (Yvette Chauviré), the Ballet’s leading dancer. A new soloist, Mlle Karine (Mia Slavenska), joins the company, and it appears that she will usurp Mlle Beaupré’s position. To the consternation of all, she is assigned the main role in a ballet about a swan killed by a hunter’s arrow, in preference to Mlle Beaupré. Rose is determined that her idol will not be supplanted. There is a trap door in the floor of the stage of the opera house, so during a performance she removes the wooden support that keeps it in place. When Mlle Karine lands on the trap door in the course of her solo, it gives way beneath her and she falls through, breaking her leg so severely that her career is ended. Mlle Beaupré is reinstated in the swan’s role, which she dances to great acclaim. Mlle Karine is offered a teaching position in the Ballet School but declines it, wishing to have nothing to do with dancers if she cannot dance herself.

Rose is sent to Mlle Karine’s flat to return her old pointe shoes to her. In the course of their conversation there, Mlle Karine learns that Rose is an aspiring dancer. She asks Rose to dance for her and is so impressed that she changes her mind and decides to teach at the Ballet School after all. Rose becomes her star pupil. Meanwhile, Rose, consumed by guilt, begins to hear the swan music in her head. She confesses what she has done to two of her classmates, who swear they will not reveal her secret to anyone. However, one tells her mother, who tells the mothers of other pupils in the class. Just before the all-important examinations, which will determine who will be allowed to progress to the next level, Mlle Karine receives an anonymous letter identifying Rose as the one who inflicted her career-ending injury. She asks Rose if the accusation is true and she confesses. Rose asks for forgiveness, but Mlle Karine tells her a real dancer would never forgive her and orders her to leave. She says Rose can take the examinations, but she will report what she has done to the directors of the Ballet School afterwards.

Rose takes the examinations and passes brilliantly. She is easily the best. Unaware of this, and convinced that Mlle Karine will report her and she will be expelled, Rose goes to Mlle Beaupré’s dressing room for solace, but her idol is not there. Rose learns that she has given up her career as a dancer and is going to be married instead. One of Rose’s classmates tells her that the directors of the Ballet School wish to see her. They actually want to congratulate her, but Rose, not knowing this, fears the worst and runs away and hides in the cellars beneath the Opera House. As the search for her continues, the head of the Ballet School asks Mlle Karine if she knows of anything that Rose has done that would cause her to run away. Instead of revealing the fact that Rose had destroyed her career, she answers that Rose’s conduct was irreproachable.

At length, Rose is discovered asleep in one of the cellars beneath the Opera House and informed of her examination success. She is told to go and join her new class, which is taught by Mlle Karine. When she arrives, her teacher asks ‘Found?’, and then smiles and tells her to take her place with the others. Once again, Rose asks to be forgiven for what she has done, but Mlle Karine tells her that the dance is greater than any personal troubles. She exhorts Rose, ‘Work, and I will make you the dancer that I might have been.’

La Mort du cygne is a powerful film which explores a number of serious themes, not least how to achieve a proper balance between life and art. It also demonstrates that idols do not always live up to our expectations. But there are several humorous moments as well. A recurring joke is that Rose is so focused on her dancing that she forgets to smile and has to be reminded to do so by her teachers. The French equivalent of ‘Smile!’ is ‘Souris!’, which also happens to be Rose’s surname.

This film can be viewed online (with English subtitles). See https://vimeo.com/615510060. It provides an opportunity to see great dancers like Yvette Chauviré and Mia Slavenska near the peaks of their careers. The acting of Janine Charrat, who plays Rose, is particularly noteworthy. She really was only twelve when the film was made, like the character she played, and went on to enjoy a brilliant career as a dancer and choreographer.

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