Dancers (1987) - full transcript

No! Wait! Put that down! Who are you?

No problem.

I don't speak Italian.

Please.

Let go of my bags!

I don't know you.

Who are you?

Where are you taking me?

-Lisa Strasser?
-Yes.

Io Paolo, come now. Come on.

Thanks.



What?

Teatro. Balletto.

You mean that's our theater?

Si. Si.

Okay. Door opens, you follow me.

Wait off-center.

No, no, no. Downstage.

How do you like my outfit?

I don't like the masquerade, Your Highness.

That's right. Trying to go, and stop me.

That's right. Follow me. Take my shoulder.

I stop. Turn. Take your arm. Shoulder.
Back to center.

What the hell do you want from me,
you old thing?

Old thing? Old friend.



You're so sensitive, huh?

I missed you.

Same here.

Okay. Now it should be very clear.

You're saying,
"I don't like your peasant outfit."

"You're playing dangerous game.
We have to go away."

"Please, I beg you. I'm listening to you."

Looking towards Giselle's door.

Then, I start to go,
you run around and try to stop me.

That's right. Advance towards me.

Say something here, trying to convince me.

Argue with me. Follow me.

I turn. Buzz off.

You get the message.

Okay. You are the Duke.

I haven't told anybody yet.
This is the last time I'll dance.

Tony!

That's why everything
with this movie has to be perfect.

Perfect may be impossible.

Maybe I'm asking for things
which are impossible.

Like Giselle's entrance.

Stage is empty, she comes out.

I want air to change,
to show that she is different.

How you can do things like that
with just electric light?

I want the audience to feel somehow
that she's pure youth.

Light. Energy.

Joy.

So they will understand why
Albrecht is so fascinated with her.

Yeah, and they've got
a phone in the bathroom.

No, the girl who broke her toe
was sent home,

but she left me this really nice note
saying, "Good luck and dance well,"

and all that sort of thing, so...

No, I haven't really talked to
anyone since I got here,

except this Italian guy who's totally crazy.

Mom, Mom. Come on! I am being careful.
You know me.

I'm just here to
do the same thing I do at home.

I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna have coffee,

I'm gonna dance, I'm gonna eat,
and then I'm gonna go to sleep.

Okay? I'll be fine, I promise.

You should've come to the movie.

The fight scenes between the robots and
the spacemen were fantastic. One guy...

It's a stupid story.

Well of course, but it was fun.

No, I mean Giselle.

You are just nervous.

Look, when Giselle finds out
that Albrecht has betrayed her,

why doesn't she just say, "Get lost, Duke,"
and go off to Club Med for a weekend?

Anton, you don't understand
anything about a woman in love.

Come on, Francesca.
You and I are having an affair, yeah?

If you found out that all this time
I was engaged to another woman,

what would you do?

Well, I would say...

"Whose is this?"

You are lucky that I don't love you, Anton.

Forgive me. I'm sorry.

You're not sorry. You have no feelings.

It feels terrible not to have feelings.

Think it's easy?

Where are you going?

I want to sleep in my own room tonight.

-You're punishing me.
-For that? It's okay.

As long as
they don't leave crumbs in the bed.

I've never seen him before.
Except on stage.

Of course.

You're going to wish
you stayed in the audience.

Francesca.

Fever of anticipation and desire. More.

No, cutes.

She knew Tony would give the part to
anyone who played

a little "hide the salami" with him.

I was so surprised
he didn't give the role to you, Nadine.

Very funny.

Stop. Get rid of the gum.

Shit. I don't believe it.

We are filming soon, by the way.

Last couple of bars please.

Sorry.

Be more shy.

Allow him to take your hand.

Focus on the flower.
It's going to decide your destiny.

Heels forward on the glissade.

He loves me.

How fantastic.

He loves me not.

You are crushed.

Francesca, more épaulement.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Stop Gladys.

I want you to take her,
and pull her across the stage.

What's this?

I just don't see Hilarion
as some silent movie villain.

You know, maybe he's this
big, coarse kind of peasant.

But, he loves Giselle.
He wouldn't manhandle her like that.

-Do me a favor. Just grab her.
-Tony.

I think he should take her hand real gently.
Like this.

Giselle. Come on.
What are you doing with this dude?

You don't know that much about him.
What about us?

That's the way I treat her.

Albrecht is the only aristocrat in this ballet.
Hilarion is a gamekeeper.

For Chrissakes, he kills rabbits all day long.

The only way he knows how to
handle any situation is by force.

Just take her.

Why would he yank her around?

He's even got her mother on his side.

You know, just this morning, he gave them
a couple of rabbits for their dinner.

Sing the music. Sing it.

How about...

It's a dangerous music.

The audience have to understand
that Hilarion is a threat!

So, act dangerous!

He's so butch. Be butch.

-Fine.
-Fine.

Fine.

-I'll do it just like that.
-Thank you.

I just think it will look real bogus.

Gladys.

How can you
make such a fool of yourself over this man?

I am not ashamed to love him!

It's you who are embarrassing me.

Go!

Tony. Tony.

I don't trust any man.

I don't care if he's God,
and pays child support.

It's just like when have you
ever seen a man clean up after a party?

Am I right?

When you're right, you're right, Nadine.

When we were married even when
you were wrong you were right.

Here he is, Tony Sergeyev.
And this is Silvia Rovello of Click Magazine.

Pleased to meet you.

Cappuccino.

Do you mind if I put the tape on?

Mr. Sergeyev?

Sure.

Mr. Sergeyev?

I understand that you're
dating the Contessa Marcella di Palladio.

Silvia, only questions about the ballet.

We're not dating.
She's a good friend of mine.

Of the ballet.

Yes, I know.
But is there something more between you?

No. I'm dating somebody else.

Who?

A girl named Giselle.

This role you're dancing, Albrecht.
I think he's a villain, a cad.

How do you make him sympathetic?

I don't see Albrecht as a bad man.

He's tragic.

He does not understand true love,
until it's too late.

Is that what happens in your life, too?

Oy.

Oh, my God.

Lisa, don't bother
walking back to the hotel,

we'll send a truck for you.

I hope you don't explode with a big bang in
the middle of my rehearsal tomorrow.

No, really. I'll be able to dance.
I metabolize really quickly.

You're blushing.
I haven't seen that in a long time.

Anton, what are you doing?

A second.

-See you tomorrow.
-Anton.

Good night.

I promise I'll be okay. All right.
I love you, too.

Give a kiss for Daddy. And Skipper.

Okay. Bye.

Inside.

I saw you talking to a
new girl yesterday, a blond.

What do you know about her?

You need her name?

That's a start.

Lisa Strasser.

What else do you want to know?
Does she have any diseases?

I'm sure you'd tell me right away
if she did, Nadine.

You know what I mean.

Is she in love with anybody?

Does she have a boyfriend?

Sure. The Italian Stallion there.

-Him?
-Well, Tony, there's no accounting for taste.

Why are you so interested in her?

She's charming.

From this moment on,
she's also a dead duck.

What?

Nothing.

All men are sluts. You remember that.

Rabbits.

Ladies, take a five.
Muriel, can I talk to you for a second?

You see, darling, you make it
look like Giselle's mother is a little crazy.

Well, she is crazy.
She's absolutely paranoid.

Let's talk outside.

One parent family and all of that.
Believe me, it's not easy.

Besides, she's got this awful premonition
that something absolutely frightful

is going to happen to her daughter one day.

So, she tries to protect her from men,
from life, from everything.

That's why Giselle's so naive.

She keeps telling her,
"Remember. Stop dancing so much.

"If you die before you are married,
you'll be buried in the forest.

"In the graveyard there.

"And each night,
you will rise from the grave,

"as a spirit, as a Wili.

"Condemned to dance and dance

"forever and ever and ever."

She says it because
she's beside herself with anxiety.

You do have a mother, don't you?

Let's go back.

-See you later, darling.
-Ciao.

Anton, you shouldn't flirt with her,
she takes it seriously.

She's very naive.

I like looking at her. She's different.

Everybody's different, and in the morning,
they're all the same.

She's not cynical for one thing.

Lisa!

She's made progress,
don't you think, Tony.

She's supposed to be in love here.

I must see her soul in love.

Feel innocence and hope and purity.

She must be so light, like a cloud.

My problem is,
I don't see Giselle in front of me, you see.

Lisa, hey, Lisa!

Hello, hello.

I'm Guido,
I'm speaking American for my friend.

Paolo ask you,
he likes for you coming to a party

at his family's house on the day of.

Please, bella?

Bring friends, lots of friends.

Lisa! Lisa!

Hey! Lisa!

Lisa! Hey!

Thank you. Grazie.

Paolo!

Molto bella here.

His mother say you two thing, okay?

And she want for you to eat much, okay?

-All the food here, okay?
-Okay. No problem.

Thank God for unions.

Boy, am I glad
you're forced to take the day off.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It shouldn't be a day off.

This is a special situation. This is film.

This is forever.

You know, you're working on everybody
else's performance but your own.

I can do Albrecht in my sleep.

And that's how you want it to look?

What's that mean?

There's no passion in it.

Maybe you can have Albrecht
come on stage with those Ray-Bans on.

Are you sure it's still
Albrecht you are talking about?

I guess not.

I haven't seen you dance
since I left the company.

And at rehearsals, I was so struck.

You seem empty.

All these years have passed by,

and you haven't gotten mature somehow.

You've just gotten professional.

I know there's something wrong.

Sure I can dance, Patrick.

What I can't do is feel it.

You don't know
what it's like to dance without the spark.

Always looking for it.

But it stays lost.

Paolo, no. Be nice, okay?

Take it easy, Paolo.
Leave me alone now, okay?

It's all right, we were just
having trouble communicating.

Thank you.

You're still blushing!

Hey!

Hey! Would you do me
the greatest of favors?

It would mean a lot to me.

What?

I would like to go for a walk.

I would like for you to accompany.

Could you try to think of me as just a guy?

I could try.

Where are we going?

I don't know.

To the mine.

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go

Lisa!

-Come on!
-Hey, Lisa!

Lisa!

Lisa!

When I was a boy, we used to
spend our summers in the country.

I remember there was a grove
of birch trees near the house.

Tall and slender.

Leaning towards each other.

And so white.

I imagined they were inhabited
by very pale, beautiful women.

I gave them all names.

Maria, Svetlana, Olga.

I used to hold onto their skirts looking up.

But I could never

hear the secrets they've been
whispering to each other about.

That's what I thought of
when I saw you first time.

Tall, slender, and white tree.

Where's princess ring!

No, no. It's too small, It's too small.
I can't see it.

The big ring shine too much, Tony.

Aspetta, you don't understand!
You don't have a story without that ring.

The big ring shine too much.

You don't have a storia senza ring.

-Understand?
-Si.

You see,
principessa asks Giselle in the ballet,

"Why are you so happy?"

Giselle points at her finger and says,
"Because I'm engaged."

Then principessa points
on her huge diamante.

È grandissimo diamante.
Listen, isn't that coincidenza?

I'm engaged, too...

But, what they don't know,

that they are both engaged
to the same man, Albrecht.

Relax, will you?
You're getting through this.

They don't want to admit
that they don't understand.

They smile at you, "Si, si, si. Si, si, si."
They go, and do it their own way.

Tony, I'll get you a big ring, I swear.
It'll be as big as a bagel, okay?

Nadine, am I supposed to be afraid of you?

You look like a tired stewardess.

I know you're supposed to be dead,

but you don't have to be
so goddamn lifeless.

Why do you think all these women

came back from the grave as spirits?

Come on, you're their queen,
you should know.

Gosh, what?

She doesn't know.

Anger.

Hatred.

Revenge.

What is this?

Rosemary.

What does it mean?

-Remembrance.
-That's right.

When you hold it up, it's
not a bunch of twigs prop man gave you.

It means remember. Remember.

Now. Take this. Look at her.

Tell her...

"Now you are one of us.

"We are sisters. We must kill him.

"Remember how he treat you."

I've seen that look on your face before.
When you want to kill some guy.

Okay, now is your chance.

Remember what men have done to you.

Remember and kill 'em all.

You got that?

How could I forget?

My God, where did you find those?

I found a drugstore. They even had M&M's.

Tell Mommy to forgive your daddy.

Are you out of your mind?
She's too young for candy.

She's not eatin' 'em,
she's just playing with it.

You know,
you really should forgive me, Nadine.

Don't you ever get tired of being mad?

No. The thrill is not gone.

I know I've been bad,
but you've been bad, too.

You're just as mean as a sack of snakes.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

You want to go for a ride?

-Sure.
-Okay.

You'll have to wait for a second, okay?

All right.

Cold?

One second.

Take this.

This is beautiful, whose is it?

Someone left it in my car.
It looks good on you. Keep it.

I wish I don't have to go back.

I don't wanna go either.

I like being with you.

It feels very simple.

I know you're trying to be just a guy.

But you're also a great artist.

Really, you're the greatest person
I've ever stood close to before in my life.

And I just want to say that

if I can ever do anything for you,

ever be anything to you,
just company or whatever you want...

Listen, you don't have to say anything.

I just meant

that if I could mean something to you...

...I would love it.

I mean, I would love you.

If you wanted.

Let's go.

And, action!

Second group.

Faster.

Dogs, come in.

Bambini. Run around.

Now, mothers. Rest, rest!

Aristocrats. That's right, that's right.
That's two men.

Keep action, keep action!

Have you noticed
he's coming onto the new girl?

Well, that's just Tony for you.

He's been under a lot of pressure.
You know how he deals with a headache.

He takes two girls
and feels fine in the morning.

To your place. Good.

Everybody, attention to the Princess!

Bow to the Princess.

Cut.

One second.

She's back.

-Hello, darling.
-Darling.

We have come to bring you good luck.

Only for movies and funerals,
I wake up so early.

Ciao.

This is Lisa. Our new girl in company.

Lisa, Contessa Marcella di Palladio.

Piacere.

Why don't you sit here and watch.

Tony, isn't that my jacket she's wearing?

No, it's hers, it's just exactly like yours.

It's madness to buy off the rack.

Actually, you arrived exactly on time.
We'll start in ten minutes our run-through.

Mom, I'm just tired.

I had to get up very early
for rehearsal today,

and I had a really hard day.

No. Yeah, yeah,
we start shooting tomorrow.

Look, Mom, this is a terrible connection,
and I don't feel like shouting, okay?

Look, everything's fine, I promise.

Okay, I'll call you later. All right. Bye.

You must think I'm stupid.

This is the kind of magazine
that cuts up pictures of people,

pastes them together,
and then makes up stories about them.

You are a hopeless jerk.
I wish I had never been nice to you.

Hey, Paolo.

Okay?
That's something you should understand.

Nadine, do you have any extra cotton?

Over there.

Is Tony getting married to
that Countess who was here yesterday?

The Contessa?
Sure, she probably thinks so.

Tony really knows
how to pour it on, you know.

I'm sure he's told her how he likes being
with her better than anyone else.

How gorgeous she is.

Maybe he even told her
she reminds him of a tall white tree.

I remember that one really got to me.

But I was a kid.

Listen, don't stay young
any longer than you have to.

-Are you having dinner with us after?
-Sorry, darling, I can't.

By the way,
I heard you and I are getting married.

Isn't that rubbish.

Tony.

Okay, what happened?

I thought we were supposed to
exit after Giselle died.

I don't know.

Couldn't leave the stage.

Welcome back.

What's wrong with him?

It's about some girl named Lisa.
It seems she's run away.

Tony, are you crazy?

I think I know where she went.

Lisa!

Lisa!

Lisa!

If anything happened to her, you did it.

Tony! We're not sure
that anything has happened.

Then what is this?

Lisa!

There's nothing more we can do here.

We'll go back to the theater, call the police.

Wherever she is,
they'll find her faster than we can.

Listen, if something like that ever happens,
I'll take care of it. Why did you leave?

Because it's my fault. Call the police.

-What are you talking about?
-Now!

Would you do me the greatest of favors?

Will you try, please,
to think of me as just a guy?

Bravo, Tony.

Well, what do you say?

Well, I think I should do it.

Great. It's the last
three weeks of November, all right?

Perfect.

-Shall we have some supper?
-Come on, I'm starving.

What about Sergeyev?

Do you know? I'm so happy
about dancing at Covent Garden.

Come on, hurry up.

Wade, can't you go any faster?

You know,
I'm not so sure this is gonna work out.

You made me cry.

I'm sorry.

No. I mean, when you danced just now.

You were wonderful.

Please, I don't want to
talk about this goddamn ballet.

Listen...

I'm sorry that I...

I mean... I'm sorry that you...

I'm not.

It was great.

You made me feel very special.

Different.

I guess you don't even know
when you're doing it.

I was looking for you everywhere.
You just disappeared.

You can't imagine what I think.

I'm not in act two.

This is not funny. I was crazy.

I even went to the church looking for you.

I was sure you were dead.
Where the hell were you?