The Company (2003)

Ensemble drama centered around a group of ballet dancers, with a focus on one young dancer who's poised to become a principal performer.

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

Neve Campbell (story), Barbara Turner (story)

Stars:

Neve Campbell, James Franco, Malcolm McDowell

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Neve Campbell	...	Loretta 'Ry' Ryan
Malcolm McDowell	...	Alberto Antonelli
James Franco	...	Josh
Barbara E. Robertson	...	Harriet (as Barbara Robertson)
William Dick	...	Edouard
Susie Cusack	...	Susie
Marilyn Dodds Frank	...	Mrs. Ryan
John Lordan	...	Mr. Ryan
Mariann Mayberry	...	Stepmother
Roderick Peeples	...	Stepfather
Yasen Peyankov	...	Justin's Mentor
Davis C. Robertson	...	Alec - Joffrey Dancer (as Davis Robertson)
Deborah Dawn	...	Deborah - Joffrey Dancer
John Gluckman	...	John - Joffrey Dancer
David Gombert	...	Justin - Joffrey Dancer

Storyline

An inside look at the world of ballet. With the complete cooperation of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Altman follows the stories of the dancers, whose professional and personal lives grow impossibly close, as they cope with the demands of a life in the ballet. Campbell plays a gifted but conflicted company member on the verge of becoming a principal dancer at a fictional Chicago troupe, with McDowell the company's co-founder and artistic director, considered one of America's most exciting choreographers. Franco plays Campbell's boyfriend and one of the few characters not involved in the world of dance.

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Plot Keywords:

snapped achilles trendon | female nudity | nudity | chicago illinois | ballet | 

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Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 on appeal for brief strong language, some nudity and sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Metropolitan Films [France] Sony Classic

Country:

Germany USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 May 2004 (Germany)

Also Known As:

A Companhia

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$93,776, 28 December 2003, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,281,585, 9 May 2004

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sony Pictures Classics, Capitol Films, CP Medien AG

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS (8 channels)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ballets Shown :

• Light Rain: Choreography by Gerald Arpino
• Tensile Involvement: Choreography by Alwin Nikolais
• Suite Saint-Saëns: Choreography by Gerald Arpino
• My Funny Valentine: Choreography by Lar Lubovitch
• Creative Force: Choreography by Laura Dean
• Trinity: Choreography by Gerald Arpino
• Strange Prisoners: Choreography by Davis C. Robertson
• La Vivandi È Re Pas De Six: Choreography by Arthur Saint-Leon;transcribed by Ann Hutchinson Guest
• White Widow: Choreography by Moses Pendleton and Cynthia Quinn
• Momix The Blue Snake: Choreography by Robert Desrosiers

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Goofs

At about 1h 45m into the film, during the curtain call, those dancers were standing at different positions from different angles. Watch for the two men who were wearing blue and red bodysuits, they were standing at different places.

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Quotes

Alberto Antonelli: ALL THAT... went into this ballet!

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Crazy Credits

The title is not shown until the end of the opening credits.

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Connections

Referenced in Ti piace Hitchcock? (2005)

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Soundtracks

Hop, Skip & Dance
Written by Jack Trombey
Performed by Jack Trombey
Courtesy of DeWolfe Music

User Reviews

9/10

Some of the dances are tiny religious experiences. The film doesn't look nearly as good as some of Altman's others, but there are flashes of awesome beauty: a topless male dancer alone in a room with golden beams of light, and Neve Campbell in her bath. The movie looks at the queeny pretensions of the boys (and their fathers), the dancers' sex lives (who are more '60s than their instructor knows), and the company leader, played by Malcolm McDowell, whose occasional flakiness is caught by one black dancer. I couldn't help but think of McDowell as an Altman self-criticism: an elderly director working with small budgets, prone to artiness, who champions art as being organic, who rounds up a large crew of performers and calls them "babies." The day-in-the-life shapelessness of the movie didn't at all bother me, though one character, who asks to stay in a dancer's apartment, is dropped pretty quickly. And James Franco is in it. 9/10