The Company

I saw this film as part of the Robert Altman retrospective being staged at the Greenwich picturehouse. The only problem is that the more of his films I see the less impressed I am by him as a director - Gosford Park was shown on TV last evening and it reminded me how messy the film is. I digress - The Company is about a Chicago ballet company for a few months going through the production of a new ballet. It looks at some members of the company - some who are rising stars, others are in decline or being eclipsed.
Malcolm McDowell is the artistic director - and produces a tour de force of a depiction of egomania. The film certainly portrays the fragility of the career of a dancer - an injury can end their working life in a moment - and how relationships outside the world of dance are very difficult to maintain. In the lead up to a production the intensity and concentration on the production of perfection excludes consideration of anyone outside the focus of and aim of this one performance.
This is all well done - but like most Robert Altman's films, it lacks coherence, it is muddled and the characters are not developed enough to engage - they are cardboard or stereotypical.
My rating? 6/10