Worth: $17.00
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Cast:
Anastasiia Budiashkina, Sabrina Rubtsova, Caterina Barloggio, Thea Brogli, Tanya Mikhina, Jérôme Martin
Intro:
... bold and thoughtful ...
Gymnastics is one of the oldest athletic pursuits, going right back to Ancient Greece. It shows the beauty of a perfect body in motion in a way that has timeless allure. But also, to get that good requires endless punishing training and, in the modern era, an equally dedicated coaching team. All these elements help to scaffold this bold and thoughtful film by Switzerland-based filmmaker Elie Grappe, who also cowrote the film, which comes at a very particular time given that the lead character is a young Ukrainian gymnast. The sadly-current background of the war that has followed Russia’s invasion adds a sombre note.
At the opening of the film, the intense fifteen-year-old Olga (Anastasiia Budiashkina) is already pushing herself to the limits on every apparatus. She is not easily satisfied, knowing that the path to the very top will be hard, especially if she remains in her home country. When she gets the chance to go and train in Switzerland, she glimpses a route to the world stage.
On arrival at the Swiss academy, Olga is both overwhelmed and inspired. Her fellow teenage gymnasts have a range of reactions; some are welcoming, but others resent this more talented prospect coming into their midst. Meanwhile, Olga gets homesick and resorts to her phone to keep in touch. By now, Ukraine is at war and it is her turn to worry about her mother and friends as the bombs go off in the background. The film never descends into a campaign piece, but it is hard not to feel for Olga and her desperate dilemma.
Sports dramas can be cliched. They are prone to being formulaic and we expect to see the usual sequence where the competitor initially struggles, which is then followed by a training routine montage and a triumphant third act. Grappe’s film does not entirely escape these elements, but it is definitely not fully vitiated by them.
The film is blessed with a terrific central performance by Budiashkina as Olga. She is obviously a gymnast who can act rather than the other way round. The routines feel as thumpingly real as they must be in life. Further, the relationship with her family and the aforementioned tensions back home give it a depth and topical sadness that is haunting. This is an unusual film for its type and well worth a look.
