While Robert Altman might not seem the obvious candidate to make a film about a ballet company, the old master nevertheless gives it a try – with largely successful results – in The Company (2003). Thanks in part to his involvement (most notably the injection of his sly wit and his skill in directing ensemble casts), the movie casts a wider net of appeal than one would expect for a film about the professional trials and tribulations of a group of dancers.
Co-written and produced by Neve Campbell, who also stars in the film, The Company is less interested than chronicling the personal life of a woman who happens to be a ballet dancer than following, in a quasi-documentarylike fashion, the day-to-day life of a ballet troupe which happens to feature Neve Campell's character.
Most of the actors/dancers who appear in the film are actual members of Chicago's renowned Joffray Ballet Company, adding an authenticity to the dance sequences and a relaxed, familiar feel to the backstage scenes. The plot – if you can call it that – deals alternately with Ry (Campbell), a dancer longing for her chance in the spotlight and struggling with recent heartbreak, and the company's director, Alberto Antonelli (played by Malcolm McDowell, enlivening the picture with his witty, colorful performance), who balances fundraising with the difficult task of keeping his "babies" (as he calls the dancers) in line. James Franco also shows up from time to time in the role of Ry's new love interest; seemingly still in-character from his title role in the James Dean TV biopic three years ago, Franco's function in the film does not seem to extend far beyond gazing adoringly at Campbell.
As in other Altman ensemble films, even the most minor characters come across as having vivid inner lives, an attribute that helps strengthen a film largely uninterested in plot. The dynamics between the dancers are given center stage, as are the routines they perform throughout the film.
The only confusing note is The Company's somewhat abrupt ending, and the dance sequence which proceeds it. Halfway through the picture, real-life choreographer Robert Desrosiers appears to introduce a ballet for the company to perform. The ballet, called "The Blue Snake," is sent-up as an over-the-top piece of artistic pretentiousness, and yet Altman chooses it to end the film with, an odd note for a movie that had up until then taken a more affectionate look at the craft and the dancers' dedication to it.
Despite this misstep, the film nevertheless succeeds in realistically documenting the backstage world in a way rarely seen in the movies today.
Copyright © Beth Gilligan 2002-2005
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