Coppelia (2021 film)

Coppelia is a 2021 ballet film without dialogue that combines live action dance with animation. It stars Michaela DePrince in the leading role. The plot is based on a story by German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann. The music is by Maurizio Malagnini with choreography by Ted Bransen, director of the Dutch National Ballet.

Plot
The plot deals with issues such as the pressures of social media, the lure of superficial beauty and the importance of being yourself.

The story is set in the modern era in a quaint European town with a large, central town square. Swan is a young woman who lives in town with her mother and operates a juice stand in the square. Franz is her boyfriend who operates a nearby bicycle shop. One day, Doctor Coppelius, a cosmetic surgeon and malicious scientist, arrives in town to set up business by erecting a large multi-storey, modern-looking laboratory in the town square. The laboratory is staffed by robotic female dolls, one of which is Coppelia. Advertising via posters and television, Coppelius entices many of the townspeople into the laboratory in order to give customers a new look. In the process, he steals their character traits in order to store them in containers. The victims then enter a trance-like state and have an obsession to admire their new looks in a mirror. However, their actual appearance has not changed; only their reflection looks better. The robot Coppelia drugs Franz with a spray. After Swan sees Frans being led into the laboratory, she organizes a rescue with her friends. Coppelius has his robot attendants strap Frans into a chair with a helmet placed over his head. The helmet draws out the love in Frans' heart and transfers the emotion to Coppelia who wears a similar helmet. During the process, the robot Coppelia momentarily assumes a more human appearance. However, Swan had already invaded the laboratory and interrupts the process, frees Frans and triggers the collapse of the laboratory. During the collapse, the contents of the stored containers are released into the atmosphere which reverses the trance-like state many townspeople were trapped in. Coppelius flees town, and the town returns to normal with affected townspeople happy to return to how they were.

Cast

 * Michaela DePrince as Swan
 * Daniel Camargo as Franz
 * Vito Mazzeo as Doctor Coppelius
 * Glynis Terborg as Swan's mother
 * Erica Horwood as Coppelia
 * Igone de Jongh as ballet teacher
 * Irek Mukhamedov as baker
 * Darcey Bussell as mayor
 * Jan Kooijman as hairdresser
 * Frans Schraven as art shop owner
 * Rachel Beaujean as art shop owner's friend
 * Nancy Burer as Swan's Friend
 * Sasha Mukhamedov as Swan's Friend

Production
The film is based on a 2008 production by the Dutch National Ballet, where dancers DePrince, Camargo, de Jongh and Beaujean all formerly performed. The choreography was created by Ted Bransen, a director of the Dutch National Ballet. Music was written by Maurizio Malagnini, and performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra with Geoff Alexander as conductor.

Most of the animation work was performed by MotionWorks in Halle (Saale). Live-action dancers were filmed in Amsterdam against green, blue or yellow screen backgrounds which MotionWorks replaced with painted backgrounds or CGI-sets. Animated characters were added to scenes opposite live performers, who had to imagine the animated character or who interacted with a person dressed in a blue suit.

Filming started in July 2019. At the time of filming, DePrince was recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon, and she was using her film performance as a step to recovery. DePrince has vitiligo, a condition that causes patches of skin to lose its pigment. In the film, her vitiligo is noticeable around her neck. In a review for Movie Music UK, Jonathan Broxton wrote that DePrince's vitiligo "fits in with Coppelia’s underlying story about dangerously unrealistic and unattainable standards of beauty in modern society."

Reception
The movie premiered at Annecy Festival 2021. It won the Golden Punt for Best Fiction Feature at the 40th Cambridge Film Festival.

Leslie Felperin of The Guardian gave the film 3 out of 5 stars describing it as a "cleverly conceived modern update of Delibes’ classic ballet."