This is the realm of the young and vital dancers, individuals who carry themselves with a certain esprit, an undeniable sense of being at the top of their game. Upstairs in the building’s rehearsal spaces, with light pouring in from the great circular windows, the mood is completely different.
The Paris Opera Ballet takes on both contemporary and classic dance and is housed in the grand Palais Garnier, the setting of “The Phantom of the Opera.” Perhaps in tribute, “La Danse” opens with a quiet shot of an underground chamber that subtly echoes the classic Lon Chaney silent film. If you don’t already swoon over this art form, this film will make you wonder what took you so long. “La Danse” takes you inside the essence of dance in a way few films can, not even Wiseman’s 1995 “Ballet,” a look at the American Ballet Theatre. The Paris Opera Ballet proves to be one of his most accessible, seductive subjects, allowing for an enchanting blend of subject and filmmaker. Made with their own rhythms and internal logic, his films don’t build in any conventional way but their cumulative impact is always formidable. He simply looks and observes, avoiding voice-over, talking heads, any kind of obvious framing devices.
“La Danse” is his 36th, following looks at institutions as varied as the Idaho state legislature, a Chicago public housing development and the Neiman Marcus department store.Īs a director, Wiseman’s approach is unvarying. Wiseman has been making his kind of quiet but potent documentaries for decades. Bodies in motion tend to remain in motion, but almost never with the heart-stirring beauty and grace on view in Frederick Wiseman’s exceptional portrait of the Paris Opera Ballet, “La Danse.”
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