Benjamin Millepied just wants to have fun. In October 2014, the dancer best known stateside for choreographing “Black Swan” (and then marrying its star, Natalie Portman) was named dance director of the Paris Opera Ballet. The troupe is the world’s oldest national ballet company; as such, it’s unsurprising that the company is steeped in tradition — some might say rigidity — and known for being fiercely competitive.
Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teuria’s documentary “Reset” doesn’t hide the fact that, to those in the industry, the young Millepied’s appointment was an odd choice. Though French, he had spent his previous 20 years in the U.S., predominantly as a principal dancer for the New York City Ballet. And when Millepied returned to his homeland, he didn’t hide his belief that discipline shouldn’t equal misery.
Lamenting the tradition of dancers, particularly at the Paris Opera Ballet, being “so used to getting yelled at” and “living in perpetual doubt,” the new director aimed to gift his troupe the “blast” that he felt as he learned the art and rose through the ranks. “They should enjoy it without this military atmosphere,” he tells a reporter.
Though eyebrows were surely raised, Millepied’s higher-ups gave him room, and the small group of dancers he chose for his debut work cautiously adopted this radical concept of enjoying themselves. “Reset,” as a title card announces, is “the story about a world premiere.” The directors then tick off the days Millepied has until he must deliver the ballet that the whole dance world would be watching, starting with the first time he listens to his composer’s music and tentatively maps out movements by himself.
We’re not even 10 minutes into the film at this point, but it’s already fascinating. How often do you get to watch a creation grow from inception to completion? You feel the pressure on the director and his troupe through the daily countdown, which seems, like all deadlines, to move at a faster pace as the day of reckoning approaches. Dancers fall; musical arrangements are fiddled with. (At one point, it’s decided that the piano accompaniment should sound more “dangerous.”) Throughout, we hear voiceovers from a few troupe members regarding their thoughts about the art of dance, described variously as stressful, emotionally expressive, or a means of escape.
Naturally, though, Millepied’s narration is more prominent. Some of it is humdrum, such as his proclamations that ballet requires discipline (you don’t say!) or that it forces you to learn about yourself and others (yawn). His most important insight is about diversity, not an area for which ballet is exactly famous. He says many believe that a dancer of color is “distracting,” to which he responds, “I have to shatter this racist idea.” Which he did, or at least tried to do, by casting the Paris Opera Ballet’s first mixed-race dancer in a classical lead role. “If art can’t be an example for society, where are we heading?” he asks.
“Reset” becomes incrementally less interesting as the performance pulls together; although it’s a visual feast to watch dancers in slow-motion executing seemingly impossible moves, the directors can only go to that well so many times before it gets a bit dull.
Somewhat bizarrely, it’s only immediately before the credits roll that the film piques your curiosity again: A rather shocking announcement is made quite nonchalantly and without explanation regarding Millepied’s trajectory. The documentary may be a story about a world premiere, but it’s the untold story of this plot turn that would have really grabbed viewers’ attentions.