Not so much a documentary, more a sleek two-hour commercial for itself, Reset is a glossily produced non-look behind the scenes at the Paris Opera Ballet. (The original title is Rèleve: histoire d’un création – “rèleve” meaning the dancer rising on tiptoe). In 2014 a new director took over the company: Benjamin Millepied, who had choreographed the movie Black Swan and married its star, Natalie Portman. He is shown putting together a new show entitled Clear, Loud, Bright, Forward, and he is on a mission to modernise. Millepied gets the company a digital platform, encouraging teaching and communication. He hires a mixed-race principal dancer for the first time in the company’s history and puts the emphasis on instinct and passion, rather than formal instruction. Of dance, he says: “You don’t learn to love it by getting yelled at as a kid.” That sounds like wisdom to me. The problem is that there is no drama, no tension, nothing really problematic. It looks suspiciously like plain sailing. Yet, as the final credits roll over their triumphant first-night curtain call, we hear that Millepied resigned just one year after this. No reason given. So there is a story to tell. But this PR film is not telling it.
