The Bolshoi

Even as a young girl, Julia (Margarita Simonova) harbors a great dream: she wants to dance on the big stage! Far from Moscow, that's easier said than done – after all, her impoverished family has other problems than the question of how to become a great ballerina. When Julia meets Vlady Pototsky (Aleksandr Domogarov) one day during one of her street performances, a door almost imperceptibly opens to the glittering world of ballet. The former solo dancer recognizes Julia's great talent and gets her into the legendary ballet school of the Bolshoi Theatre. But before the glamour and fame, there is now hard work. Envious competition with Karina (Anna Isaeva), a rival from a wealthy family, fuels her ambition to become even better. Julia wants to convince her strict teacher Galina (Alisa Freyndlikh) and the brilliant choreographer Antoin and thus fight for her place in the front row as prima ballerina. "Todorovsky's film undoubtedly recalls 'The Red Shoes' (1948), the genre classic by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, but the Russian director lends the film a strict local character and subtly highlights, without mentioning them, the contradictions that arose from the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)." The performance of the entire ensemble is wonderful, with the incredible portrayal by Alisa Freyndlikh, an actress over eighty years old, standing out in a role worthy of her: a ballet school director with memory loss and a sharp sense of art, who becomes Yulka's mentor, advisor, and friend. [...] With this decision to use real dancers instead of actors, Todorovskiy succeeds in bringing a great freshness to a film with a good story about the rivalry between friends and the paths to fame, which fully expresses the Russians' love for ballet and the great tradition they have built around the iconic classical works." (Martín Chiavarino, on: metacultura.com.ar)