Bolero

Writer-director Anne Fontaine presents a deconstructed, elliptical journey through the idiosyncratic life of composer Maurice Ravel via his struggle to complete 'Bolero,' a 17-minute piece of music.

Every 15 minutes, someone somewhere in the world plays Ravel's "Bolero" – it's a legacy its artist could never have imagined.

Renowned composer Maurice Ravel (Raphaël Personnaz) is haunted by self-doubt and melancholy. Commissioned by eccentric and magnanimous Russian dancer Ida Rubenstein (César-winning Jeanne Balibar), he must compose a carnal, rapturous fanfare for her latest ballet. Blocked creatively and cast aside by his peers, Ravel turns to his closest friends for inspiration – pianist Marguerite Long (Emmanuelle Devos, Masquerade, AF FFF23), his friend Cipa (Vincent Perez) and Cipa's sister Misia (Doria Tillier), whom he hopelessly adores. Set against the decadent, industrialised Paris of the 1920s, "Bolero" demands that Ravel draw on the essence of sound itself to redeem his raw genius, or risk being consumed by it completely.

• Luna Leederville
• Luna on SX
• Luna Windsor
• Palace Raine Square

"Bolero is a film concealing a muted pain under its traditional appearance..." -CINEUROPA