The eight-episode mini-series Flesh and Bones is a dramatic story about the backstage life of a ballet, materialized by a creative team of directors and scriptwriters commissioned by the Starz television channel.
Elite art
According to the prevailing opinion, ballet is an exclusively elitist art, not suitable for feature films. Therefore, in the entire history of the film industry, films about ballet can be counted on the fingers. The thriller of Darren Aronofsky on the production of Swan Lake - The Black Swan with Natalie Portman is deservedly considered the most popular project covering this topic. The master of the art house managed to revive interest in one of the highest forms of art. The television film “Flesh and Bones” (front-end actors: S. Hay, B. Daniels, E. Tyra, I. Dvorovenko, D. Herriman), inferior to the brainchild of Aronofsky, is an original project worthy of attention, as evidenced by its high IMDb rating : 8.10.
Plot
The mini-series “Flesh and Bones” (actors and roles for them were selected in agreement with the producers) tells the story of a young promising heroine Claire, whose past is darkened by a dark secret. The girl, having a chance to make a career in the New York ballet troupe, arrives in a metropolis from a remote provincial town. Her bright prospects, hopes and dreams are faced with the harsh reality - a tough, gloomy drama, turning inside-out the behind-the-scenes outwardly glamorous, vicious world of modern ballet.
Main advantage
The series "Flesh and Bones", whose actors are professional dancers, from the technical point of view fully meets modern criteria. According to leading film critics, the main advantage of the television movie is professionally staged and performed choreography. At the beginning of the production of the picture, the creators faced a serious dilemma: either to take professional actors and teach them to dance in a short time, making up for the lack of necessary skills with understudies and editing, or to conduct a casting among dancers to choose the most capable of reincarnation. The producers, having conferred, opted for the second option. Therefore, in the film, the acting is at least not the highest level, but the choreography is gorgeous. Currently, “Flesh and Bones”, the actors and roles of which are known and loved by fans of the project, has acquired an impressive army of fans among a wide audience. The creators' choice turned out to be a 100% hit.
Characters and Actors
“Flesh and Bones” - a mini-series that gave the world a lot of bright and memorable characters.
The image of the main character Claire, dreaming of a soloist dancing on stage, working hard and ignoring fatigue and injuries, was embodied by actress, real ballerina Sarah Haye. The girl began to practice ballet at the age of three, at less than eight she was enrolled in a special ballet school. According to her, ballet is an ideal occupation for real perfectionists.
In Brian, Claire’s brother, who recently returned from service, reincarnated Josh Helman. The actor made his film debut, starring in an episodic role in the series "Home and Travel" produced in Australia. The audience is known for participating in several episodes of the epic "X-Men." Hellman’s character in the series “Flesh and Bones” was called by his acting colleagues as a maniac, and his actor was so colorful.
Choreographer Paul performed by Ben Daniels is simply gorgeous. An eccentric virtuoso, a lone workaholic, obsessively pursues the goal of making his troupe the best in the United States. Using the stick and carrot method, he makes his dancers work, he is extremely demanding, sometimes even cruel. Actor Ben Daniels, not hiding his gay, managed to achieve recognition. Known for his participation in the paintings: Beauty, Madeleine, Doom, Jack the Vanquisher of the Giants. His filmography also contains a lot of series, television films, including “Flesh and Bones”. The actors - Ben's on-screen companions - noted his vigorous performance and talent.
No less important
The first-class heroes should also include the roommate of the main character, the dancer Miya. Mia is a mediocre ballerina, not enough stars from heaven, working, like everyone else in the group, literally for wear, but not achieving significant success due to the many complexes. Emily Tyra was ideally accustomed to this role, the filmography of which contains only two projects - “Underground Empire” and “Flesh and Bones”.
The actors of the multi-part television movie created a lot of interesting, characteristic images, among which Kira, the prima of the troupe, who has been soloing for about 10 years, occupies not the last place. A woman who sees a rival in a young ballerina was played by Irina Dvorovenko, a native of Ukraine, a real prima ballerina of the American Ballet Theater. Irina is familiar from the roles of Vera Baronova from the concert version of the musical “On Pointes”, the prima ballerina of Odessa Kozlova from the TV series “Eternity”.
Strong move
The final three episodes of the project were filmed by Tashkent master Alik Sakharov, who is able to twist the plot so much that his teeth grind due to the tension on the beholder. It was he who directed the “fight” of the young ballerina with prima, ending with enchanting action on the ballet stage and revealing the secrets of Claire’s past. Thanks to his talent, the mystery present in the plot and seemingly ridiculous in the finale sounded a powerful chord.