Isadora’s Children

Isadora’s Children is now available to view for free on Festival Scope as part of highlights from the 25th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, which was unfortunately cut short due to the unexpected theater closure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In partnership with Unifrance. Limited tickets are available in the U.S. only.

Dance legend Isadora Duncan responded to the tragic death of her children by choreographing a piece called Mother. In Isadora’s Children, Damien Manivel depicts a trio of characters engaging with Duncan’s work of art: an introspective choreographer (Agathe Bonitzer) feeling her way through the piece’s movements; a dance teacher and her student rehearsing the dance for a recital; and a member of the audience (played by renowned dancer and choreographer Elsa Wolliaston), who carries the memory of the performance through a solitary evening. Manivel, who won Best Director at the Locarno Film Festival, makes something hypnotic out of precisely timed gestures, and explores how to infuse a choreographed routine with a shared, intimate humanity.