1927 Paris: Insomniac Ravel (the excellent Raphaël Personnaz), a composer famous the world over but also criticised for a style deemed unemotional, is commissioned to write a composition for ballet by the impetuous choreographer Ida Rubinstein (a scene-stealing Jeanne Balibar) - a woman of turbans and cigarette holders and theatrical exhortations that the music be “Carnal! Bewitching! Erotic!”
Ravel’s genius masked a single-minded faith in his own perfectionist process, so exacting that the critiques of others did not mean that much. Emerging after Boléro’s successful 1928 debut, Ravel even acknowledges to his friend Cipa (Vincent Perez) that it will probably become his masterwork, adding dryly, “Pity it lacks music.” We are delighted to screen the UK Premiere of this elegantly framed period portrait of the man behind the famous piece, which helps us appreciate the music anew - its rustling snare drums, its snake-charmer woodwinds, its revving, roundabout rhythms.
CLOSING GALA
Sun 25 Aug 18:30
Dinner from 18:30 at Brasserie Blanc
Film from 20:30 at Chichester Cinema
Tickets £39
