Sad Birds

Every time I ask people about this film they start gabbling. Its either 'great' or 'unspeakably great' or 'so true' etc etc. It made it a Must See but troubling afterward.

I have seen a little of the Ballet world and, while the discipline is greater for dancing, there are similarities with Performance. The exploitation and obvious sexual predation seem less now but this is a whole new era where these things are less acceptable. It was not so thirty years ago. If this film is so true then the Ballet world is stuck back there.

It's not appealing. The self harm and body focus are real and made alarmingly more likely when model ages seem to be going down catastrophically. But the infantilasation and exploitation of the dancers goes right back to Vaslav Nijinsky whose huge talent (which so often goes with great unworldliness) was so used by ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev, he was driven mad. Nijinsky lives in my imagination as the greatest dancer of all time whose skill flickers out dimly from the superb photos taken of him.

We are lucky to have such a high level of this demanding art available in Australia. It treats its adherents with great cruelty but in every audience there is a sprinkling of young girls...really young, all dressed up in tutus sitting by their mothers. Take care, take care. I wanted to dance and the small amount I did was as close to heaven on earth as I have ever felt.


Click here for a trailer of 'Black Swan':