Bolero: Dance of Life (1981)

Bolero: Dance of Life (1981)

The film is a musical epic and it is widely considered as the director's best work with Un Homme et une Femme. 1981-05-27 France 184 Min. PG-13
6.9 74 votes

Overview

The film follows four families, with different nationalities (French, German, Russian and American) but with the same passion for music, from the 1930s to the 1960s. The various story lines cross each other time and again in different places and times, with their own theme scores that evolve as time passes. The main event in the film is the Second World War, which throws the stories of the four musical families together and mixes their fates. Although all characters are fictional, many of them are loosely based on historical musical icons (Édith Piaf, Josephine Baker, Herbert von Karajan, Glenn Miller, Rudolf Nureyev, etc.) The Boléro dance sequence at the end brings all the threads together.

Cast

Robert Hossein is Simon Meyer / Robert Prat
Simon Meyer / Robert Prat
Nicole Garcia is Anne Meyer
Anne Meyer
Geraldine Chaplin is Suzan / Sara Glenn
Suzan / Sara Glenn
Daniel Olbrychski is Karl Kremer
Jorge Donn is Boris & Sergei Itovitch / Lead Dancer of Boléro
Boris & Sergei Itovitch / Lead Dancer of Boléro
Rita Poelvoorde is Tatiana & Tania Itovitch
Tatiana & Tania Itovitch
Macha Méril is Magda Kremer
Magda Kremer
Évelyne Bouix is Evelyne / Edith
Evelyne / Edith
Raymond Pellegrin is M. Raymond
Paul Préboist is Le grand-père d'Edith
Le grand-père d'Edith
Jean-Claude Brialy is Le directeur du Lido
Le directeur du Lido