Who would have thought that Loie Fuller, a farm girl reared by an habitually
drunken man in the American West, would one day become one of the most iconic
dancers of the Belle Époque? When her father is slain by lowlife
the young woman gives up her farm life and travels to New York to be with
her mother, a devout churchgoer. It is in New York that Loie discovers
she has a talent for dance. For her first show, she wows her audience
with a dress that she designed herself. She is courted by Louis, an
impoverished young nobleman, but deserts him so that she can travel to Paris.
Here she catches the eye of Édouard Marchand, the artistic director
of the Folies Bergère. With Marchand's encouragement, Loie Fuller
becomes a dance sensation, and through a combination of hard work and slavish
devotion to her art, she is soon feted as one of the greatest dancers of her
generation. But then her path crosses that of Isadora Duncan, an aspiring
young performer whom she takes under her wing, not knowing that one day she
shall steal her fame...
In his letters to his friends and family, Franz Kafka gives us a rich self-portrait that is surprisingly upbeat, nor the angst-ridden soul we might expect.
With so many great films to choose from, it's nigh on impossible to compile a short-list of the best 15 French films of all time - but here's our feeble attempt to do just that.