Film Review: ‘Crazy Horse’ Basks in the Artful Sensuality of Scintillating Dancers

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CHICAGO – A simple glance at the premise of “Crazy Horse” may cause skeptical viewers to dismiss the film as a two-hour peep show. What could possibly be gleaned from endless footage of near-nude Parisian burlesque performers apart from diverting titillation? Yet under the lens of legendary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, the footage becomes something else entirely.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Though Wiseman (of “Titicut Follies” fame) detests the term “cinéma vérité,” he is inarguably one of the grand masters of the fly-on-the-wall documentary. His signature style forbids any use of narration, staged sequences or contrived talking heads. The one reason human subjects are interviewed in a Wiseman film is because someone else decided to interview them. Favoring intuition and observation over rigorous research, the director peers through his lens with his eyes wide open.

Read Matt Fagerholm’s full review of “Crazy Horse” in our reviews section.

There are moments when Wiseman appears as interested in the combing of wigs and lighting arrangements as he is with the rehearsals themselves. Over a ten-week period, Wiseman and his longtime cinematographer John Davey chronicled the efforts of acclaimed French choreographer Philippe Decouflé to expand his company’s repertoire at Le Crazy Horse de Paris by staging a new show, “DÉSIRS.” The venue’s strenuous schedule requires the dancers to perform two shows a night for seven days a week, with the exception of Saturday (when three shows are staged). One of the first major dialogue scenes occurs during a meeting in which Decouflé argues his points with impassioned theatrical zeal. With deadlines consistently staring him in the face, the choreographer threatens cancellation if he isn’t given enough time to improve his show to the point that it justifies the venue’s reputation as “the best nude dancing show in the world.” The age-old conflict between art and commerce is starkly portrayed in this scene and carries throughout the rest of the picture, as Wiseman repeatedly cuts between the elegant illusions onstage and the tensions that occasionally erupt behind the scenes. Unlike a run-of-the-mill strip club, Crazy Horse aims to impress intellectuals and dance connoisseurs with remarkable routines that blend aspects of ballet and burlesque to transform nude bodies into provocative abstractions.

Continue reading for Matt Fagerholm’s full “Crazy Horse” review.

Philippe Decouflé joins a dancer onstage in Frederick Wiseman’s Crazy Horse.
Photo credit: Antoine Poupel