BOLERO

(Boléro)

CINEMA COMPETITION
RENOIR THEATRE
Biopic / Drama

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 30
8:25 pm (Screening ends at 10:30 pm)
Followed by a conversation with writer/director Anne Fontaine

Presented in association with:
Alliance Française de Los Angeles
France Télévisions
SND Groupe M6
Women In Film

Directed by: Anne Fontaine
Written by: Anne Fontaine, Claire Barré, Jacques Fieschi, Pierre Trividic
Produced by: Philippe Carcassonne (Ciné-@), Jean-Louis Livi (F Comme Films), David Gauquié and Julien Deris (Ciné France Studios), France 2 Cinéma, Artémis Productions
Cinematography: Christophe Beaucarne
Film Editing: Thibaut Damade
Original Score: Bruno Coulais
Cast: Raphaël Personnaz (Ravel), Doria Tillier (Misia), Jeanne Balibar (Ida Rubinstein), Emmanuelle Devos (Marguerite Long), Vincent Perez (Cipa), Sophie Guillemin (Madame Rouveleau), Anne Alvaro (Ravel’s mother), Alexandre Tharaud (Lalo)
International Sales: SND

Paris in the 1920s. Russian choreographer Ida Rubenstein commissions Maurice Ravel — already considered France’s greatest living composer — to write the score for her next ballet. She wants “something carnal, something bewitching, something erotic.” Yet the phlegmatic Ravel comes up empty… and is thrust into a protracted creative limbo. A tribute to the timelessness of the composer’s haunting masterpiece, Bolero, writer-director Anne Fontaine takes us on a deconstructed, elliptical journey through the idiosyncratic life of Maurice Ravel, via his struggle to complete that 17-minute piece of music. Sumptuously photographed and boasting an exquisitely restrained performance by Raphaël Personnaz, the film is a moving tribute to a perfectionistic artist and his struggle to give voice to the intoxicating sounds in his head.

Dancer-turned actor-turned filmmaker Anne Fontaine was born in Luxembourg and raised in Portugal, before moving to France at 16 to study modern ballet. After appearing in several films and TV series, between 1978 and 1993, she turned to writing and directing with her first feature, Love Affairs Usually End Badly (1993), which won the coveted Prix Jean Vigo. However, it was her third feature, Dry Cleaning (1997), that truly launched her career, premiering in Venice and nabbing the Golden Osella prize. She has been nominated for six César Awards and one BAFTA, and has written and directed 20 films to date, including Augustin (1995), How I Killed My Father (2001), Nathalie (COLCOA 2004), In His Hands (COLCOA 2006), Coco Before Chanel (2009), Gemma Bovary (COLCOA 2015), The Innocents (COLCOA Audience Award, 2016), White as Snow (2019) and Presidents (2021), as well as the English language film Adore (2013), based on a Doris Lessing novella and starring Naomi Watts and Robin Wright. Bolero premiered at this year’s Rotterdam International Film Festival.