Movies: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

[WendyMichelle]

Her part is sort of like a background theme...........it's there but it's not the main focus. What dancing there was in the movie was excellent, but if you are basing your decision on seeing the movie soley on how much ballet there is then there isn't enough of it to justify sitting through 2 hours and 40 minutes.

[Serendipity]

Thanks for the tip! I'm not a movie-goer, generally, so when I do go, I choose carefully. ;-)

[beckyb]

I saw the movie Friday night and am wondering if Cate did her own dancing? I saw a quote that said she did everything but the big pirouette series and a leg lift. If she did do her own dancing she did quite a good job. I thought it could possibly be Wendy Whelen as a body double.........but I can't find anything to support this.

Well, W-M, I took this as a personal challenge because I don't get back to teaching for another week, and because it's time to start thinking again because I'm getting bored. I finally found the body doubles' names: Katherine Crockett, a Principal Dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company, who lists Mikhail Baryshnikov (!) as a reference on her resume; and Jessica Cropper, whose credits list training at San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and The Edge (primarily jazz).

 

That was fun!

[WendyMichelle]

Next question............are they sisters? ;P

[beckyb]

OOPS!!

Jessica CROPPER, not Crockett! So, not sisters.

I have edited my post to reflect your "catch"! Thanks!

[vagansmom]

I saw this movie. Yes, Blanchett does most of her own dancing, except for anytime she turns. She's not all that bad, considering she only took ballet as a child for a short period. She says she took movement classes as an adult. She also says that she was scared of the dancing parts and worked really, really hard.

 

While there's not much ballet at all, it certainly is very important to Daisy, and is a secondary theme. There are lots of references to Balanchine. Dancer2010, one of my favorite parts was the scene where Daisy is teaching ballet! That must've been so much fun for you.

 

We saw the movie on Christmas Day in a packed theater. One very funny scene did not occur on film; my husband caused it. Daisy's daughter is reading Button's diary, and that's what's used as the narration. When she got to the part about Daisy being passionate about ballet and leaving home to study it under Balanchine at the School of American Ballet, my husband burst out laughing, and said loudly, "We can't escape it - it's a ballet movie!" (which caused the folks around us to start laughing).

[pavlova]

I loved the film, and I recommend it, but not because it is a "Ballet Movie" (It's not)

I did catch a reference to Balanchine's creation of Serenade. The writers did some homework.

[WendyMichelle]

I didn't mean to make it sound like a bad movie; I absolutely recommend it. I was just saying if you are going to see the movie based on how much ballet is in it then it's not worth it.

[Garyecht]

FYI New York Times review

 

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/331176/The...Button/overview

[dancingawaymylifesavings]

For my part, I loved it. It for me captured the joy, pain and anguish of life and also a dancer's life. It did not have a lot "ballet" performed but it did have a lot of the ballet experience. I find Blanchett dazzling--ohh that glorious bone structure in her face! (the young Brad Pitt wasn't bad either!)

[msd]

Dd got a preview pass to the movie...so hey -- it was free. The (minimal) dancing was lovely. But what she found hilarious was the dancer's "career" -- she studied at SAB, appeared to have a stage career in New York, and also there were hints of Paris Opera Ballet -- not too shabby! (Cracked dd up!) This is a LOOOOONG movie (over 2 1/2 hours). It took less time to read the short story that "inspired" it. (Actually, I think I preferred Fitzgerald's spin.) Dance movie? Not really. Good movie? Was worth our free passes. And it was nice to see the dancing that was there nicely performed. Now if only our dancers could have similar career paths...

[ABTBluebird]

This was a very interesting movie, and the dancing in it made it a little easier for me to sit through (it was SO long). I don't like how it portrayed the ballet world.

[dancer2010]

I finally saw the movie early this week and was not surprised to find that I was only visible for about 2 seconds. haha

I have to agree that the portrayal of a dancer's life was inaccurate;however, considering that ballet was not the focus of the movie I still enjoyed the film.

[kwdancer13]

Haha! I quite agree that it was off. I saw it with some non-dancer friends who asked if I wanted to do the same thing she did. I informed them that pretty much no one gets to do that...ever!

[balletbooster]

Congratulations on your 2 seconds of fame, Dancer 2010! That is very exciting, even if it was short! You will have to buy the dvd when it comes out and freeze frame yourself and put it in your memory book. That will be something quite wonderful to share with your children and grandchildren someday!