Boléro (PG)

In 1928 Paris, choreographer Ida Rubinstein commissions Maurice Ravel to compose the music for her next ballet. Facing a crisis of inspiration, the composer revisits his life and dedicates himself to create a universal masterpiece, Bolero.

Cast: Raphaël Personnaz, Doria Tiller, Jeanne Balibar, Vincent Perez, Emmanuelle Devos

Director: Anne Fontaine

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 is haunted by self-doubt and melancholy. Commissioned by eccentric and magnanimous Russian dancer Ida Rubenstein, 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, his friend Cipa and Cipa's sister Misia, 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.

A tribute to the timelessness of the composer’s haunting masterpiece, Bolero, writer-director Anne Fontaine takes us on a deconstructed, elliptical journey through the idiosyncratic life of Maurice Ravel, via his struggle to complete that 17-minute piece of music. Premiering at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam, Boléro is a celebration of a classical genius.