Before we ever see a face, closeups of backbones and muscles take over the frame. The body, punished in the pursuit of physical aestheticism, belongs to Nadja (Sarah Grether), a strict ballet teacher. Though her joints ache, she refuses to use a cane. A shot of one of her bleeding toes after a session teaching young girls confirms her masochistic mindset.
From director Isabelle Stever, the provocative, if emotionally inert, German drama “Grand Jeté” — named after a jump in which a ballerina floats midair for an instant — deals with the transgression of the flesh but remains impartial to the actions of its characters, arguing that bodily pleasure and the outcome of said enjoyment don’t abide by the rules of morality.
Stoic to a fault, Nadja lives with a boyfriend whom we only see briefly. One night after visiting her mother, she hangs out with her teenage son Mario (Emil von Schönfels...
From director Isabelle Stever, the provocative, if emotionally inert, German drama “Grand Jeté” — named after a jump in which a ballerina floats midair for an instant — deals with the transgression of the flesh but remains impartial to the actions of its characters, arguing that bodily pleasure and the outcome of said enjoyment don’t abide by the rules of morality.
Stoic to a fault, Nadja lives with a boyfriend whom we only see briefly. One night after visiting her mother, she hangs out with her teenage son Mario (Emil von Schönfels...
- 9/22/2022
- by Carlos Aguilar
- The Wrap
Grand Jeté’s director Isabelle Stever on Sarah Nevada Grether, who studied with John Neumeier and was a member of the Stuttgart Ballet. “It was in a way my desired cast for this role because I was looking for a woman that I cannot immediately put in a drawer …” Photo: Constantin Campean
Isabelle Stever’s emotionally complex Grand Jeté, screenplay by Anna Melikova, based on the novel by Anke Stelling and starring Sarah Nevada Grether with Emil von Schönfels and Susanne Bredehöft had its World Premiere at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. Shot by Constantin Campean and co-produced by Olga Dykhovichnaya is a film of exquisite closeups, from well-worn beige T-strap dancing shoes to hairpins taken out for a ritualistic weigh-in.
Isabelle Stever with Anne-Katrin Titze on Chris Marker: “La Jetée is one of the best short films ever made …”
Ballet dancer Nadja (Sarah Nevada Grether) with injuries...
Isabelle Stever’s emotionally complex Grand Jeté, screenplay by Anna Melikova, based on the novel by Anke Stelling and starring Sarah Nevada Grether with Emil von Schönfels and Susanne Bredehöft had its World Premiere at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. Shot by Constantin Campean and co-produced by Olga Dykhovichnaya is a film of exquisite closeups, from well-worn beige T-strap dancing shoes to hairpins taken out for a ritualistic weigh-in.
Isabelle Stever with Anne-Katrin Titze on Chris Marker: “La Jetée is one of the best short films ever made …”
Ballet dancer Nadja (Sarah Nevada Grether) with injuries...
- 9/15/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Premiering at Berlinale earlier this year to a controversial response, Isabelle Stever’s Grand Jeté captures a taboo mother-son romance relationship, recalling other daring European dramas like Christophe Honoré’s Ma mère and Bertrand Blier’s Beau Pere. Now picked up by Altered Innocence for a theatrical release beginning in LA on September 20 at Laemmle Royal and coming to VOD on October 25, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the striking trailer.
The film follows Nadja (Sarah Nevada Grether), an aspiring ballerina with the scars to prove it. A masochistic pursuit at her dream career has left her body battered, a map of the tumultuous torture dancers withstand on a daily basis. Working now as a dancing instructor for children, rather than as the dancer she always wanted to be, she decides to visit the adult son she has been estranged from since he was a child. Mario (Emil von Schönfels), raised by his grandmother,...
The film follows Nadja (Sarah Nevada Grether), an aspiring ballerina with the scars to prove it. A masochistic pursuit at her dream career has left her body battered, a map of the tumultuous torture dancers withstand on a daily basis. Working now as a dancing instructor for children, rather than as the dancer she always wanted to be, she decides to visit the adult son she has been estranged from since he was a child. Mario (Emil von Schönfels), raised by his grandmother,...
- 8/26/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
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