Les enfants d'Isadora (2019) - full transcript
After the death of her two children, the legendary dancer Isadora Duncan composed a farewell solo entitled "The Mother". A century later, four women meet this upsetting dance.
ISADORA'S CHILDREN
Isadora Duncan (1877-1927)
is a mythical American dancer
who was behind modern dance.
On April 19, 1913, the car
carrying her children, aged 4 and 6,
accidentally fell into the Seine.
Both children drowned.
Isadora never recovered from it.
October 21st
After the death of my two children,
I spent my days and nights
in the studio with blue curtains.
In my grief
I was trying to compose a dance,
but I could hardly move.
How I wish this horrible accident
had become something of beauty.
I'm working late tonight
Sorry
Big kisses
October 24th
I imagined a mother
carrying her dead child
with a slow step,
a hesitant step
towards the resting place.
I danced the descent to the tomb
and the flight of the spirit ascending,
ascending to the light.
October 27th
November 1st
The next day, at dawn,
I suddenly got up and danced.
It was my first dance
since the accident.
Body signs
Take the children by the hand
November 3rd
November 5th
Rock the children
Caress one last time
November 6th
I feel the heat of the sun.
I feel the warmth of my body.
I look down at my bare legs,
at my soft breasts,
at my arms floating in soft waves.
And I realize
that since the death of my children,
this chest
encloses an inexhaustible pain,
that these hands have been
forever marked by sadness
and that when I am alone,
these eyes are rarely dry.
November 7th
Mother
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Is this where we're doing the show?
No, the show will be
in the big hall.
We're just rehearsing here.
- Let's get started.
- OK.
She was very inspired by ancient Greece.
I'll let you browse.
There's a photo of...
I think it's around here.
Here it is.
- With her children.
- Yes.
Deirdre and Patrick.
That was the year before they died.
What is beautiful here
and which can inspire us
is the gestures,
laying her arms around them,
embracing them.
It reminds me
of when her kids come back.
- Yes, before she...
- Before she...
That's right. Absolutely.
November 10th
- Hello, Manon.
- Hello.
- Are you OK?
- Yes.
Been here long?
No, not really.
Sorry, I had some trouble on the way.
Turn your palms outwards, please.
Give it a try.
Upwards, like this.
Try that.
It makes a change.
And upwards. Slipping away...
Hold your arms up, look down.
Your feet.
You understand,
you grasp what's happened.
Your arms become wings,
they come down
to cover...
Yeah.
Left hand to their heads,
right hand to their feet.
They're no bigger than that.
Now it's the right hand
that caresses,
that goes towards the head,
starts again with the head.
You can do...
Just one thing, but from here,
Here are the feet
and the heads...
the feeling of caressing their heads.
But on the other side
with your right arm.
Yes.
Then you come back to the head,
you go to the foot...
You take the shroud,
you cover them one last time.
You can rock them.
Yes.
And then you hug them,
you want to hold them.
It's better to be
in the right direction.
You hold them tight
and then... they go away.
And you follow them. Follow them.
The children come back,
you look for them.
Your arms rise up.
And now you come back.
Come back,
take them in your arms.
And then...
You feel dizzy, looking down.
They slipped. No, at your feet.
Right at your feet. Yes.
Your arms open,
become wings, they float a little.
Now you have to get on your knees.
We take a step right
and bend over.
And as you bend,
I want you to imagine the volume
we worked on earlier.
Go ahead, lean towards them.
And there's still the volume
of the arms, yes.
It's extremely soft. And here too,
this arm, imagine the volume.
Unlock your elbow,
your elbow isn't tensed.
It's not very tense.
OK? And here too,
you imagine the volume
of what we worked on this morning,
these volumes, like a ball.
There's no volume in the arm.
Try it...
Try it.
Take me in your arms.
Hold me.
I'm the volume.
And from here, we move together.
Is that your kids in the photo?
Yes, when they were younger.
Here the audience is quite close.
So you might...
see them watching you.
When there's an audience...
well...
I feel more comfortable
in the way I dance, actually.
That's interesting. Why is that?
When there's an audience,
it helps me.
It helps me to have the people
watching me dance.
It helps you...
Can you say more?
When I'm in rehearsals,
I dance, but it's just so-so.
It's not...
Not everything is...
perfect the first time.
I have to adjust several things.
But when there is an audience,
I pressure myself by thinking...
Well, I tell myself
that I just have to do it.
And every time I start dancing
in front of the audience,
it works right away.
Excuse me.
Hello...
"Isadora...
January 1913.
I was dancing that night
at Kiev's city theatre.
Towards the end of the show,
I suddenly told my pianist:
"Play Scriabin!"
"Why?" he asked.
"You've never danced to it."
"I don't know. Play it."
I insisted so much
that he finally agreed.
I imagined a mother
carrying her dead child
with a slow step,
a hesitant step
towards the resting place.
I danced the descent to the tomb
and the flight of the spirit escaping
from the prison of flesh,
and ascending,
ascending to the light."
Let's carry on, Manon.
November 12th
Come on the stage,
you don't need shoes.
The story is very important,
because I want to hear it until then.
That's where it's confused,
it's not precise.
You don't take the time,
I don't understand what you're doing.
I don't see what's going on.
I can understand the rocking,
because the gestures tell me.
You bring them, you change direction,
I understand that,
because the gestures tell me more.
I can see a story.
But then, you don't hold them anymore,
Why do you move forward?
Why do you stop, then start running?
What's going on?
All your gestures go too fast,
I don't understand the story.
I need it to be present for you,
for this story to be told,
you tell it to yourself, it exists,
you see the children,
project them, visualize them.
Where are they? You see what they do,
they make you happy. Why?
The gestures will follow your story,
but I need to hear it to be sure
that it's clear to you.
Because we can't see it in the gestures.
You're losing the audience
when it's an extremely important place,
it's the heart of the solo.
It's there that the tragedy happens.
Almost everything is played out.
So if we lose you here...
we don't know...
We won't understand the rest,
we won't follow you.
And all the meaning...
This point is extremely important.
So I need to hear it,
I need you to live it so I can feel it.
For that, you need to tell the story
and enrich it
and immerse yourself in this story
which is yours, it is your story.
You must do it properly.
You'll be the only one dancing it,
so it has to be rich for you
and precise in the gestures.
Each gesture has a meaning,
each gesture tells
a moment in their story.
I can do it.
Why do the children resist?
They resist,
because at first they don't dare.
She helps them...
to get over their fear
or to get over...
moments that are a bit...
more difficult for them.
Why does the mother collapse?
Because the children are dead.
What's her last gesture?
To say goodbye to them.
I like this season.
The colours are beautiful.
That's true.
You don't want the leaves
to fall right away.
Yeah.
November 16th
We're lucky it's sunny.
See how beautiful
the rocks are in the sea?
Yeah.
- Need a hand?
- Yes.
- Let's go back in.
- You'll get soaked!
You're the one who'll get soaked!
Why did your son go to England?
To study English.
He's in high school for a year.
He plays basketball.
What about your daughter?
She's been in Brussels for 3 years.
She's studying theatre.
You're sad?
I'm not sad.
I miss them.
But I'm not sad.
Do you know what Isadora did
after her children died?
She tried to start a school
to teach her dance.
It was her lifelong dream.
But the war broke out.
She said
that dance doesn't belong to anyone
but everyone must find
their own gesture...
their own way of doing things.
That really touches me.
November 17th
9:30 PM
Hello.
How are you?
It's a bit cold.
Mother
"I didn't invent my dance,
it existed long before me...
It had been asleep for centuries
and my sorrow woke it."
ISADORA'S CHILDREN
Subtitles: J. Miller, a.s.i.f.
Isadora Duncan (1877-1927)
is a mythical American dancer
who was behind modern dance.
On April 19, 1913, the car
carrying her children, aged 4 and 6,
accidentally fell into the Seine.
Both children drowned.
Isadora never recovered from it.
October 21st
After the death of my two children,
I spent my days and nights
in the studio with blue curtains.
In my grief
I was trying to compose a dance,
but I could hardly move.
How I wish this horrible accident
had become something of beauty.
I'm working late tonight
Sorry
Big kisses
October 24th
I imagined a mother
carrying her dead child
with a slow step,
a hesitant step
towards the resting place.
I danced the descent to the tomb
and the flight of the spirit ascending,
ascending to the light.
October 27th
November 1st
The next day, at dawn,
I suddenly got up and danced.
It was my first dance
since the accident.
Body signs
Take the children by the hand
November 3rd
November 5th
Rock the children
Caress one last time
November 6th
I feel the heat of the sun.
I feel the warmth of my body.
I look down at my bare legs,
at my soft breasts,
at my arms floating in soft waves.
And I realize
that since the death of my children,
this chest
encloses an inexhaustible pain,
that these hands have been
forever marked by sadness
and that when I am alone,
these eyes are rarely dry.
November 7th
Mother
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Is this where we're doing the show?
No, the show will be
in the big hall.
We're just rehearsing here.
- Let's get started.
- OK.
She was very inspired by ancient Greece.
I'll let you browse.
There's a photo of...
I think it's around here.
Here it is.
- With her children.
- Yes.
Deirdre and Patrick.
That was the year before they died.
What is beautiful here
and which can inspire us
is the gestures,
laying her arms around them,
embracing them.
It reminds me
of when her kids come back.
- Yes, before she...
- Before she...
That's right. Absolutely.
November 10th
- Hello, Manon.
- Hello.
- Are you OK?
- Yes.
Been here long?
No, not really.
Sorry, I had some trouble on the way.
Turn your palms outwards, please.
Give it a try.
Upwards, like this.
Try that.
It makes a change.
And upwards. Slipping away...
Hold your arms up, look down.
Your feet.
You understand,
you grasp what's happened.
Your arms become wings,
they come down
to cover...
Yeah.
Left hand to their heads,
right hand to their feet.
They're no bigger than that.
Now it's the right hand
that caresses,
that goes towards the head,
starts again with the head.
You can do...
Just one thing, but from here,
Here are the feet
and the heads...
the feeling of caressing their heads.
But on the other side
with your right arm.
Yes.
Then you come back to the head,
you go to the foot...
You take the shroud,
you cover them one last time.
You can rock them.
Yes.
And then you hug them,
you want to hold them.
It's better to be
in the right direction.
You hold them tight
and then... they go away.
And you follow them. Follow them.
The children come back,
you look for them.
Your arms rise up.
And now you come back.
Come back,
take them in your arms.
And then...
You feel dizzy, looking down.
They slipped. No, at your feet.
Right at your feet. Yes.
Your arms open,
become wings, they float a little.
Now you have to get on your knees.
We take a step right
and bend over.
And as you bend,
I want you to imagine the volume
we worked on earlier.
Go ahead, lean towards them.
And there's still the volume
of the arms, yes.
It's extremely soft. And here too,
this arm, imagine the volume.
Unlock your elbow,
your elbow isn't tensed.
It's not very tense.
OK? And here too,
you imagine the volume
of what we worked on this morning,
these volumes, like a ball.
There's no volume in the arm.
Try it...
Try it.
Take me in your arms.
Hold me.
I'm the volume.
And from here, we move together.
Is that your kids in the photo?
Yes, when they were younger.
Here the audience is quite close.
So you might...
see them watching you.
When there's an audience...
well...
I feel more comfortable
in the way I dance, actually.
That's interesting. Why is that?
When there's an audience,
it helps me.
It helps me to have the people
watching me dance.
It helps you...
Can you say more?
When I'm in rehearsals,
I dance, but it's just so-so.
It's not...
Not everything is...
perfect the first time.
I have to adjust several things.
But when there is an audience,
I pressure myself by thinking...
Well, I tell myself
that I just have to do it.
And every time I start dancing
in front of the audience,
it works right away.
Excuse me.
Hello...
"Isadora...
January 1913.
I was dancing that night
at Kiev's city theatre.
Towards the end of the show,
I suddenly told my pianist:
"Play Scriabin!"
"Why?" he asked.
"You've never danced to it."
"I don't know. Play it."
I insisted so much
that he finally agreed.
I imagined a mother
carrying her dead child
with a slow step,
a hesitant step
towards the resting place.
I danced the descent to the tomb
and the flight of the spirit escaping
from the prison of flesh,
and ascending,
ascending to the light."
Let's carry on, Manon.
November 12th
Come on the stage,
you don't need shoes.
The story is very important,
because I want to hear it until then.
That's where it's confused,
it's not precise.
You don't take the time,
I don't understand what you're doing.
I don't see what's going on.
I can understand the rocking,
because the gestures tell me.
You bring them, you change direction,
I understand that,
because the gestures tell me more.
I can see a story.
But then, you don't hold them anymore,
Why do you move forward?
Why do you stop, then start running?
What's going on?
All your gestures go too fast,
I don't understand the story.
I need it to be present for you,
for this story to be told,
you tell it to yourself, it exists,
you see the children,
project them, visualize them.
Where are they? You see what they do,
they make you happy. Why?
The gestures will follow your story,
but I need to hear it to be sure
that it's clear to you.
Because we can't see it in the gestures.
You're losing the audience
when it's an extremely important place,
it's the heart of the solo.
It's there that the tragedy happens.
Almost everything is played out.
So if we lose you here...
we don't know...
We won't understand the rest,
we won't follow you.
And all the meaning...
This point is extremely important.
So I need to hear it,
I need you to live it so I can feel it.
For that, you need to tell the story
and enrich it
and immerse yourself in this story
which is yours, it is your story.
You must do it properly.
You'll be the only one dancing it,
so it has to be rich for you
and precise in the gestures.
Each gesture has a meaning,
each gesture tells
a moment in their story.
I can do it.
Why do the children resist?
They resist,
because at first they don't dare.
She helps them...
to get over their fear
or to get over...
moments that are a bit...
more difficult for them.
Why does the mother collapse?
Because the children are dead.
What's her last gesture?
To say goodbye to them.
I like this season.
The colours are beautiful.
That's true.
You don't want the leaves
to fall right away.
Yeah.
November 16th
We're lucky it's sunny.
See how beautiful
the rocks are in the sea?
Yeah.
- Need a hand?
- Yes.
- Let's go back in.
- You'll get soaked!
You're the one who'll get soaked!
Why did your son go to England?
To study English.
He's in high school for a year.
He plays basketball.
What about your daughter?
She's been in Brussels for 3 years.
She's studying theatre.
You're sad?
I'm not sad.
I miss them.
But I'm not sad.
Do you know what Isadora did
after her children died?
She tried to start a school
to teach her dance.
It was her lifelong dream.
But the war broke out.
She said
that dance doesn't belong to anyone
but everyone must find
their own gesture...
their own way of doing things.
That really touches me.
November 17th
9:30 PM
Hello.
How are you?
It's a bit cold.
Mother
"I didn't invent my dance,
it existed long before me...
It had been asleep for centuries
and my sorrow woke it."
ISADORA'S CHILDREN
Subtitles: J. Miller, a.s.i.f.