Every 15 minutes, someone somewhere in the world plays Ravel’s ‘Boléro’ – it’s a legacy that its originator 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), 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, Boléro demands that Ravel draw on the essence of sound itself to redeem his raw genius, or risk being consumed by it completely.
A tribute to the timelessness of the composer’s haunting masterpiece, Boléro, writer-director Anne Fontaine takes us on a deconstructed, elliptical journey through the idiosyncratic life of Maurice Ravel, via his struggle to complete the 17-minute piece of music.
Premiering at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam, Boléro is a celebration of a classical genius.
Three sessions at Palace Cinemas, Byron Bay – Wednesday 11.30am, 3.30pm and 6pm.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
