Boléro (2024 film)

Boléro
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anne Fontaine
Screenplay by	Anne Fontaine Claire Barré Pierre Trividic (collaboration) Jacques Fieschi (collaboration) Jean-Pierre Longeat (collaboration)
Based on	Maurice Ravel by Marcel Marnat
Produced by	Philippe Carcassonne David Gauquié Julien Deris Jean-Louis Livi Patrick Quinet
Starring	Raphaël Personnaz Doria Tillier Jeanne Balibar Vincent Perez Emmanuelle Devos
Cinematography	Christophe Beaucarne
Edited by	Thibaut Damade
Production companies	Ciné@ Cinéfrance Studios F comme Film France 2 Cinéma Artémis Productions RTBF VOO BE TV Proximus Shelter Prod
Distributed by	SND
Release dates	27 January 2024 (2024-01-27) (IFFR) 6 March 2024 (2024-03-06) (France)
Running time	120 minutes
Countries	France Belgium
Language	French
Box office	$3.35 million

Boléro is a 2024 French biographical film directed by Anne Fontaine. It is about the life of musical composer Maurice Ravel during his preparation of Boléro, as commissioned by Ida Rubinstein. It is loosely adapted from Marcel Marnat's 1986 monograph Maurice Ravel.

Plot

In the opening scene, the composer Maurice Ravel takes the dancer Ida Rubinstein into a factory and tries to tell her that the machine noises are music to him.

The film flashes back to 1903, when Ravel fails in his application for a scholarship. Hearing an oriental melody outside that fascinated him, he accidentally falls out of the window and injures himself.

In 1927, Ravel meets the dancer Ida Rubinstein at a reception, who announces that he would soon be writing ballet music for her. During the composition process, he shares the company of women such as piano teacher and pianist Marguerite Long and the artist-muse Misia Sert, who is in an unhappily marriage and takes an interest in Ravel.

Before an American tour, he suggests to Ida Rubinstein that he orchestrate the dance cycle Iberia by Isaac Albéniz. In America, he encounters jazz and expresses his interest in this musical genre. In an interview during the tour, Ravel explains that an idea could take up to several years to mature before he starts to compose it.

After his return from the American tour, Ida Rubinstein repeatedly urges Ravel to write the ballet music, but he was suffering from writer's block. Hoping to overcome his block, he retreats to the seaside and spent his time with Lisia. Then Ravel learns that he is not allowed to orchestrate "Iberia" because the copyright belonged to the conductor Arbós, and so he returns to Paris. There, Ida Rubinstein was considering having Igor Stravinsky compose the ballet. Instead, Ida Rubinstein and Ravel agree on a ballet length of 17 minutes.

Finally, Ravel comes up with the right theme for the new ballet music, the Boléro; he decides to repeat the one-minute-long theme 17 times in the work before its conclusion. Ravel presents the Boléro to Ida Rubinstein in the factory, because he sees it as an "ode to modernity" and a "metaphor for the modern world." Ida Rubinstein is enthusiastic about the idea of performing the Boléro in a factory setting. However, during rehearsals, she downplays Ravel's factory idea and instead spices her dance performance of the Boléro with eroticism, which upsets Ravel.

Ravel recalls taking a leave of absence from his war-time medical service, visiting his mother, and learning of her illness, from which she died. He then recalls a scene with his mother from his childhood. He also remembers his five defeats at the Prix de Rome.

At its premiere, "Boléro" was a huge success. Ravel admitted to Ida Rubinstein that "Boléro" might have something erotic about it, something he himself hadn't noticed until then.

The pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm due to a war injury, commissioned Ravel to compose the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. At the same time, Ravel was working on his Piano Concerto in G major. At this time, he began to experience difficulties concentrating while composing. Ravel collapsed during a rehearsal. As Ravel told his friend Cipa, his neurologist had said he was unable to write down the music in his head; Ravel was reluctant to undergo brain surgery. When Marguerite put on a recording of Boléro, Ravel did not recognize his own composition. Marguerite takes Ravel to the hospital. In a dream, Ravel hears the "Boléro."

Cast

• Raphaël Personnaz as Maurice Ravel
• Doria Tillier as Misia Sert
• Jeanne Balibar as Ida Rubinstein
• Vincent Perez as Cipa
• Emmanuelle Devos as Marguerite Long
• Sophie Guillemin as Madame Revelot
• Anne Alvaro
• Marie Denarnaud

Release

The film had its world premiere on 27 January 2024 in the Limelight programme at the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam.

It was released in French theaters on 6 March 2024 by SND.

External links

• Boléro at IMDb 
• Boléro at AlloCiné (in French)