It could have been a soft erotic film but Besson made it a hardcore lovely fairy tale that can mesmerize you by bringing together opposed and contradictory elements, de-multiplying a Romeo and Juliet fable into a criss cross of antagonisms and happy endings. A mute dancer is the best dancer of them all and yet she is refused in an audition because she is mute. What about that as for segregation? She is black and managed by her brother who is an artist, and a successful one what's more, at antagonizing others, being fired and having his friends fired. What about that as for a chip on his shoulder? Then she is seen and at once adopted by a young scientist, Isaac, who is trying to create a mechanical system that would turn bodily movement into music and a dance into a symphony. What about that as for body language? And she accepts to cross the racial divide, the cultural divide, the sexual divide and a few other divides to do it! And the world does not stop, does not roar, does not kill any one. What about that as for optimism! Luc Besson must believe the world has improved and cooperation is possible beyond, over and across any divide at all, which makes this film charming indeed, even if not the turning point in imagination that will bring the new world that is possible into being. Luc Besson is in no way a politician and his dreaming tomorrow's world is hard enough a task for him to be satisfied with the smile of his dancer and the grin of his scientist.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne