FILM REVIEW – ON TOUR (2010)

 

Released at the same time as the dreadful big Hollywood production, BURLESQUE, this low-key French film gives a more realistic, and in many ways, downbeat, melancholy look at the burlesque scene.

 

Matthiau Almaric, produced, directed and stars in this film as Joachim Zand, a down on his look French TV producer, who tries to take a troupe of American neo-burlesque dancers on a gruelling tour of France, promising them a major show in Paris, though ultimately unable to achieve his goal.

Though promoted as a comedy, and a musical, it is a bittersweet drama, with some very humorous moments. The burlesque sequences are deliberately kept fleeting, and they are sometimes shown from the wings, or behind the stage. This is not typical rag to riches Hollywood musical formula. It deals with the gruelling toll of a tour going wrong, the cheap hotels, the bitterness of long journeys, constantly moving, strained friendships, etc. Almaric was inspired by the writings of Collette at the start of the 20^th century concerning the behind the scenes world of Vaudeville performers. Almaric noticed that the new burlesque revival has largely recreated that environment, not just in its stage drama, but also in its darker edges too.

The performers are all genuine burlesque dancers, including Dirty Martini, Kitten On The Keys (a pianist), and Mimi La Meaux. Most were less experienced as actors, though Dirty Martini was in SHORTBUS, They give astonishing, natural performances in this film throughout.  The actual burlesque scenes were filmed in front of genuine live audiences, invited to watch for free, and invited to respond as they felt to the action presented. It gives the sets a genuine feel clearly lacking in the staged and contrived MTV video showcase numbers of BURLESQUE.

Behind the scenes, the real story unfolds in a non-linear way. In an interview, the girls promote their feminist independence and freedom to express art through their bodies, as their impresario feels alienated, reduced to taking extra bar-top snack food and filling his pockets with it for later.

 

As Parisian venues turn him down for shows, and old showbiz pals betray the loser in their midst, his efforts to secure the big show finale to the tour disintegrates. The dancers are shocked when he brings his children along on the tour, and the three boys are also unhappy. There out of touch father tries to tell them bedtime stories and they look at him in bemusement. The oldest son tries to run away – an incident only discovered when the police pick him up. Joachim ends up sending them home to their mother.

As Joachim gains some hope of a relationship with one of his dancers, the relationship between him and the girls mellows out. Moving into a final coastal hotel, spacious, but empty, and bland, with an empty swimming pool, the ladies thank him for his efforts. Joachim confesses to his broken dream. He had promised them a big Parisian show at the heart of France but they had never got away from its small coastal towns – its fringes.

 

Joachim can be an unpleasant character, aggressive to any showbiz colleague who doesn’t give in to his desperate efforts to gain a show. The dancers too can be a little selfish. One of them is rude to the children, dismissing them as brats.

 

There are moments of genuine comedy. A supermarket checkout girl who has seen their show on tour tries to do a spontaneous audition for a part in it, and starts to undress right there at the till in her excitement before Joachim rushes off in embarrassment.  More telling is his meeting with a girl earlier in the film in a garage shop, where his flirtations come to nothing. She has a boyfriend she is unhappy with. Joachim initially admits to having children (unknown to the audience until then), but then dismisses it as a joke, before finally accepting that he has to go of alone. He and the girl draw attention to the glass between them in her booth.  Such separations and barriers dominate the film.

 

If there is a flaw it is not seeing much insight into the lives of the dancers – it is very much about their perception of Joachim, and his dependence on them in his tour, using them to try to drive his own ambitions, but ultimately failing, but remaining a very real and human figure. A beautiful poignant movie that reflects on the human condition. It is not a glamorous musical – anyone watching for big show numbers or routines, or for lots of sexiness, will be disappointed – the film does have some nudity but ultimately it is the soul and psyche that it really strips bare.

ON TOUR on the International Movie Data Base http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1451762/

 

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