The Company (2003)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers (WGA):

Neve Campbell (story) &
Barbara Turner (story) ...

Release Date:

5 February 2004 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Ballet | Dance | Backstage | Locker Room | Bar

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

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

Also Known As:

The Company - Das Ensemble (Germany)

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

Canada:112 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:112 min | Argentina:112 min

Country:

Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS (8 channels)

Certification:

Iceland:L | France:U | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:PG | Brazil:12 | Germany:o.Al. | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (re-rating on appeal) | Argentina:Atp | USA:R (original rating) (certificate #39884) | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Sony Pictures Classics

Trivia:

Altman shot 10 ballets in full specially for the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: 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.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in O Lucky Malcolm! (2006)

Soundtrack:

My Funny Valentine

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