Encore (original title: En Corps) is a gripping drama film about a talented prima ballerina, who has to stop dancing at the peak of her career because of a serious ankle injury.
But it's also a pleasant feel-good film, because after some inner and family tumult, Elise (Marion Barbeau) comes into contact with a group of modern dancers, who challenge her views about dancing.
Encore is the work of French filmmaker Cedric Klapisch, who has been making films for over thirty years. Over the years he has scored international arthouse hits with films such as Chacun Cherche Son Chat (1996), L’Auberge Espagnole (2002) and Retour En Bourgogne (2017). He has also made several dance films.
All that experience pays off in what must be a career high movie: all the dance scenes look great, of course with matching music. The acting performances are also convincing, and not only by the professional actors, such as Denis Podalydes, who in just a few scenes makes quite an impression as Elise’s caring but distant father.
Leading actress Marion Barbeau is a prima ballerina by profession, but in her first proper film role she immediately reveals herself as a talented actress.
As the artistic director of the Hofesh Schecter Company - the company Elise joins later on in the film - Hofesh Schecter in fact plays himself, but he also acts as if it were his day job.
Props to Klapisch, who is not only on a roll as a director but also as a storyteller. The screenplay he wrote with Santiago Amigorena is full of lively, vital scenes that appeal to all emotions and touch the heart of the viewer. More, please!
(C) Cineart