Rise/En Corps (#442)


The final film of the weekend was, in my opinion, the best, and there’s a funny story about it.  When I looked at the movies that would be playing at my daughter’s art theater, I saw one entitled Rise, so I searched the internet to see what it was about.  It was described as a semi documentary about two African boys who were raised in Greece, became professional basketball players and won the pro championship in the U.S.  It sounded interesting so I persuaded my daughter to join me.  We asked for tickets to RISE, picked out seats and went in.  Imagine my surprise when it was another French film, entitled En Corp, or En Corps, and not about basketball but dancing, and I was charmed, delighted and I loved it.  This is the story of a beautiful young ballerina, talented and in love with a fellow dance, and about to make her debut as a lead dancer.  Waiting to go on stage, she observes her boyfriend embracing another female, who is her backup.  She enters the setting and in the midst of a beautiful dance sequence, falls and badly hurts one of her ankles.  In subsequent meetings with her doctor, she learns it is so serious, she may never dance again.  In desperation she travels to a country setting where artists, singers and dancers congregate and rehearse, and eventually falls in love with a young man who is the leader of a contemporary dance group and recovers to dance with the group happily.  It is a love story, a family story, a dancer story and an against-all-odds story, and it was wonderful.  Did critics like it?  Only 100%!  But I was surprised that only 75% of audiences did.  Good luck in finding it as Rise or En Corp.  Is En Corps Rise in French? 

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