The Film "Le Bal" (1983)

Italian director Ettore Scola's film "Le Bal" (1983), in which 50 years of French history - from the 1930s to the 1980s - are lived out in a single Parisian dance hall. Moreover, as the narrative, décor and events change, not a single phrase, not a single word is spoken. Everything is conveyed through the actors' movements, facial expressions, glances and dance.

I noticed this film during the White Night and the day before yesterday found it online to watch carefully from opening to closing credits. The film fascinated me and made me think - why do people need spoken language, if everything can be expressed through facial expression, gesture, a glance, sound, music and dance? The body does not lie even when the spoken words are pure pretence.

Alongside 50 years of the Parisian dance hall's history, the histories of several relationships are shown - feelings, emotions, infatuations and passions. Each character vividly reflects those sensations that overtake a woman or man entering a dance hall when the attention of someone of the opposite sex - a potential dance partner - is attracted. You might say - how old-fashioned to dance in couples. But whether you like it or not, dance cannot exist without the participation of both parties, even if the other is only an observer. A dance is performed with someone, or for someone. Dance is a relationship; it is a message; the contact between partners in dance is an interplay.

We cannot feel comfortable dancing with everyone, can we? Nor can we form deep relationships with everyone that would last for years. Many leave the dance hall having found no partner.