Directed by:
Anne FontaineScreenplay:
Claire BarréCinematography:
Christophe BeaucarneCast:
Raphaël Personnaz, Doria Tillier, Jeanne Balibar, Emmanuelle Devos, Vincent Perez, Anne Alvaro, Sophie Guillemin, Alexandre Tharaud, Marie Denarnaud (more)Plots(1)
In the two decades between the First and Second World War, Maurice Ravel was feted as France’s greatest living composer. Like Debussy, he was aligned with the Impressionists – a term they both loathed. His work also melded modernism, baroque and neoclassicism, with later compositions also embracing jazz. For all his range, Ravel is best-known for his 1928 composition Boléro, whose conception lies at the heart of Anne Fontaine’s elegant film. It weaves Ravel’s working process and life through his encounters with three women: the Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein, whose commission led to the music’s creation; his patron Misia Sert, and his pianist friend Marguerite Long. The past bleeds into the present through restrained flashbacks, which add depth to this consummate portrait of a skilled, sensitive artist. Fontaine is no stranger to the biopic, her Coco avant Chanel (2009) was a colourful portrait of the fashion designer and iconoclast. Based on acclaimed French musicologist and journalist Marcel Marnat’s admired 1986 monograph Maurice Ravel, Fontaine’s drama captures the composer’s life with passion, intelligence and wit, and is aided in no small part by Raphaël Personnaz as Ravel, with excellent support from Jeanne Balibar, Doria Tillier and Emmanuelle Devos. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)
(more)Cast
Raphaël Personnaz
Best movies:
The Vortex of Life (2022)
White Fang (2018)
The First Time I Turned Twenty (2004)
Doria Tillier
France
Best movies:
The Edge of the Blade (2023)
La Belle Epoque (2019)
Mr & Mme Adelman (2017)
Jeanne Balibar
France
Best movies:
A Town Called Panic (2009)
The Sentinel (1992)
Who Knows (2001)
Emmanuelle Devos
France
Best movies:
The Sentinel (1992)
The Other Son (2012)
In the Beginning (2009)
Vincent Perez
Switzerland
Best movies:
The Edge of the Blade (2023)
Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
Kuchňa v Pariže (2014)
Anne Alvaro
Algeria
Best movies:
Danton (1983)
Mr. Morgan's Last Love (2013)
City of Pirates (1983)
Sophie Guillemin
France
Best movies:
My Afternoons with Margueritte (2010)
He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not (2002)
With a Friend Like Harry... (2000)
Alexandre Tharaud
France
Best movies:
Amour (2012)
Marie Denarnaud
France
Best movies:
Chaos (2001)
The Adopted (2011)
I Am Jonas (2018) (TV movie)
Serge Riaboukine
France
Best movies:
The First Time I Turned Twenty (2004)
Long Live Life (1984)
Mondays in the Sun (2002)
Katia Tchenko
France
Best movies:
Law Breakers (1971)
Ronin (1998)
Le Concierge (1973)