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xoruffitup · 4 years ago

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Annette: The AD Devotee Review

So I saw Annette on its premiere night in Cannes and I’m still trying to process and make sense of those 2.5 hours of utter insanity. I have no idea where to begin and this is likely going to become an unholy length by the time I’m finished, so I apologize in advance. But BOY I’ve got a lot to parse through!!

Let’s start here: Adam’s made plenty of weird movies. The Dead Don’t Die? The Man Who Killed Don Quixote? There are definitely Terry Gilliam-esque elements of the unapologetically absurd and fantastical in Annette, but NOTHING comes close to this film. To put it bluntly, nothing I write in this post can prepare you for the eccentric phantasmagoria you’re about to sit through.

While the melodies conveying the story – at times lovely and haunting, at times whimsical, occasionally blunt and simple – add a unique sense of the surreal, the fact that it’s all presented in song somehow supplies the medium for this bizarre concoction of disparate elements and outlandish storytelling to all coalesce into a single genre-defying, disbelief-suspending whole. That’s certainly not to say there weren’t a few times when I quietly chortled to myself and mouthed “what the fuck” from behind my mask when things took an exceeding turn to the outrageous. This movie needs to be permitted a bit of leeway in terms of quality judgments, and traditional indicators certainly won’t apply. I would say part of its appeal (and ultimately its success) stems from its lack of interest in appealing to traditional arbiters of film structure and viewing experience. The movie lingers in studies of discomfiture (I’ll return to this theme); it presents all its absurdities with brazen pride rather than temperance; and its end is abrupt and utterly jarring. Yet somehow, at the end of it, I realized I’d been white-knuckling that rollercoaster ride the whole way through and loved every last twist and turn.

A note on the structure of this post before I dive in: I’ve written out a synopsis of the whole film (for those spoiler-hungry people) and stashed it down at the bottom of this post, so no one trying to avoid spoilers has to scroll through. If you want to read, go ahead and skip down to that before reading the discussion/analysis. If I have to reference a specific plot point, I’ll label it “Spoiler #___” and those who don’t mind being spoiled can check the correlating numbers in my synopsis to see which part I’m referencing. Otherwise, my discussion will be spoiler-free! I do detail certain individual scenes, but hid anything that would give away key developments and/or the ending.

To start, I’ll cut to what I’m sure many of you are here for: THE MUSICAL SEX SCENES. You want detailed descriptions? Well let’s fucking go because these scenes have been living in my head rent-free!!

The first (yes, there are two. Idk whether to thank Mr. Carax or suggest he get his sanity checked??) happens towards the end of “We Love Each Other So Much.” Henry carries Ann to the bed with her feet dangling several inches off the floor while she has her arms wrapped around his shoulders. (I maybe whimpered a tiny bit.) As they continue to sing, you first see Ann spread on her back on the bed, panting a little BUT STILL SINGING while Henry’s head is down between her thighs. The camera angle is from above Ann’s head, so you can clearly see down her body and exactly what’s going on. He lifts his head to croon a line, then puts his mouth right back to work.

And THEN they fuck – still fucking singing! They’re on their sides with Henry behind her, and yes there is visible thrusting. Yes, the thrusting definitely picks up speed and force as the song reaches its crescendo. Yes, it was indeed EXTREMELY sensual once you got over the initial shock of what you’re watching. Ann kept her breasts covered with her own hands while Henry went down on her, but now his hands are covering them and kneading while they’re fucking and just….. It’s a hard, blazing hot R rating. I also remember his giant hand coming up to turn her head so he can kiss her and ladkjfaskfjlskfj. Bring your smelling salts. I don’t recommend sitting between two older ladies while you’re watching – KINDA RUINED THE BLATANT, SMOKING HOT ADAM PORN FOR ME. Good god, choose your viewing buddy wisely!

The second scene comes sort of out of nowhere – I can’t actually recall which song it was during, but it pops up while Ann is pregnant. Henry is again eating her out and there’s not as much overt singing this time, but he has his giant hands splayed over her pregnant belly while he’s going to town and whew, WHEW TURN ON THE AIR CONDITIONING PLEASE. DID THE THEATER INCREASE IN TEMPERATURE BY 10 DEGREES, YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT IT DID.

Whew. I think you’ll be better primed to ~enjoy~ those scenes when you know they’re coming, otherwise it’s just so shocking that by the time you’ve processed “Look at Adam eating pussy with reckless abandon” it’s halfway over already. God speed, my fellow rats, it’s truly something to witness!!

Okay. Right. Ahem. Moving right on along….

I’ll kick off this discussion with the formal structure of the film. It’s honestly impossible to classify. I have the questionable fortune of having been taken to many a strange avant-garde operas and art exhibitions by my parents when I was younger, and the strongest parallel I found to this movie was melodramatic opera stagings full of flamboyant flourishes, austere set pieces, and prolonged numbers where the characters wallow at length in their respective miseries. This movie has all the elevated drama, spectacle, and self-aggrandizement belonging to any self-professed rock opera. Think psychedelic rock opera films a la The Who’s Tommy, Hair, Phantom of the Paradise, and hell, even Rocky Horror. Yes, this film really is THAT weird.

But Annette is also in large part a vibrant, absurdist performance piece. The film is intriguingly book-ended by two scenes where the lines blur between actor and character; and your own role blurs between passive viewer and interactive audience. The first scene has the cast walking through the streets of LA (I think?), singing “So May We Start?” directly to the camera in a self-aware prologue, smashing the fourth wall from the beginning and setting up the audience to play a direct role in the viewing experience. Though the cast then disburse and take up their respective roles, the sense of being directly performed to is reinforced throughout the film. This continues most concretely through Henry’s multiple stand-up comedy performances.

Though he performs to an audience in the film rather than directly to live viewers, these scenes are so lengthy, vulgar, and excessive that his solo performance act becomes an integral part of defining his character and conveying his arc as the film progresses. These scenes start to make the film itself feel like a one-man show. The whole shtick of Henry McHenry’s “Ape of God” show is its perverse irreverence and swaggering machismo. Over the span of what must be a five minute plus scene, Henry hacks up phlegm, pretends to choke himself with his microphone cord, prances across the stage with his bathrobe flapping about, simulates being shot, sprinkles many a misanthropic, charmless monologues in between, and ends by throwing off his robe and mooning the audience before he leaves the stage. (Yes, you see Adam’s ass within the film’s first twenty minutes, and we’re just warming up from there.) His one-man performances demonstrate his egocentrism, penchant for lowbrow and often offensive humor, and the fact that this character has thus far profited from indulging in and acting out his base vulgarities.

While never demonstrating any abundance of good taste, his shows teeter firmly towards the grotesque and unsanctionable as his marriage and mental health deteriorate. This is what I’m referring to when I described the film as a study in discomfiture. As he deteriorates, the later iterations of his stand-up show become utterly unsettling and at times revolting. The film could show mercy and stop at one to two minutes of his more deranged antics, but instead subjects you to a protracted display of just how insane this man might possibly be. In Adam’s hands, these excessive, indulgent performance scenes take on disturbing but intriguing ambiguity, as you again wonder where the performance ends and the real man begins. When Henry confesses to a crime during his show and launces into an elaborate, passionate reenactment on stage, you shift uncomfortably in your seat wondering how much of it might just be true. Wondering just how much of an animal this man truly is.

Watching this film as an Adam fan, these scenes are unparalleled displays of his range and prowess. He’s in turns amusing and revolting; intolerable and pathetic; but always, always riveting. I couldn’t help thinking to myself that for the casual, non Adam-obsessed viewer, the effect of these scenes might stop at crass and unappealing. But in terms of the sheer range and power of acting on display? These scenes are a damn marvel. Through these scenes alone, his performance largely imbues the film with its wild, primal, and vaguely menacing atmosphere.

His stand-up scenes were, to me, some of the most intense of the film – sometimes downright difficult to endure. But they’re only a microcosm of the R A N G E he exhibits throughout the film’s entirety. Let’s talk about how he’s animalistic, menacing, and genuinely unsettling to watch (Leos Carax described him as “feline” at some point, and I 100% see it); and then with a mere subtle twitch of his expression, sheen of his eyes, or slump of his shoulders, he’s suddenly a lost, broken thing.

Henry McHenry is truly to be reviled. Twitter might as well spare their breath and announce he’s already cancelled. He towers above the rest of the cast with intimidating, predatory physicality; he is prone to indulgence in his vices; and he constantly seems at risk of releasing some wild, uncontrollable madness lingering just beneath his surface. But as we all well know, Adam has an unerring talent for lending pathos to even the most objectively condemnable characters.

In a repeated refrain during his first comedy show, the audience keeps asking him, “Why did you become a comedian?” He dodges the question or gives sarcastic answers, until finally circling back to the true answer later in the film. It was something to the effect of: “To disarm people. It’s the only way I can tell the truth without it killing me.” Even for all their sick spectacle, there are also moments in his stand-up shows of disarming vulnerability and (seeming) honesty. In a similar moment of personal exposition, he confesses his temptation and “sympathy for the abyss.” (This phrase is hands down my favorite of the film.) He repeatedly refers to his struggle against “the abyss” and, at the same time, his perceived helplessness against it. “There’s so little I can do, there’s so little I can do,” he sings repeatedly throughout the film - usually just after doing something horrific.

Had he been played by anyone else, the first full look of him warming up before his show - hopping in place and punching the air like some wannabe boxer, interspersing puffs of his cigarette with chowing down on a banana – would have been enough for me to swear him off. His archetype is something of a cliché at this point – a brusque, boorish man who can’t stomach or preserve the love of others due to his own self-loathing. There were multiple points when it was only Adam’s face beneath the character that kept my heart cracked open to him. But sure enough, he wedged his fingers into that tiny crack and pried it wide open. The film’s final few scenes show him at his chin-wobbling best as he crumbles apart in small, mournful subtleties.

(General, semi-spoiler ahead as to the tone of the film’s ending – skip this paragraph if you’d rather avoid.) For a film that professes not to take itself very seriously (how else am I supposed to interpret the freaky puppet baby?), it delivers a harsh, unforgiving ending to its main character. And sure enough, despite how much I might have wanted to distance myself and believe it was only what he deserved, I found myself right there with him, sharing his pain. It is solely testament to Adam’s tireless dedication to breathing both gritty realism and stubborn beauty into his characters that Henry sank a hook into some piece of my sympathy.

Not only does Adam have to be the only actor capable of imbuing Henry with humanity despite his manifold wrongs, he also has to be the only actor capable of the wide-ranging transformations demanded of the role. He starts the movie with long hair and his full refrigerator brick house physique. His physicality and size are actively leveraged to engender a sense of disquiet and unpredictability through his presence. He appears in turns tormented and tormentor. There were moments when I found myself thinking of Conan the Barbarian, simply because his physical presence radiates such wild, primal energy (especially next to tiny, dainty Marion and especially with that long hair). Cannot emphasize enough: The raw sex appeal is off the goddamn charts and had me – a veteran fangirl of 3+ years - shook to my damn core.

The film’s progression then ages him – his hair cut shorter and his face and physique gradually becoming more gaunt. By the film’s end, he has facial prosthetics to make him seem even more stark and borderline sickly – a mirror of his growing internal torment. From a muscular, swaggering powerhouse, he pales and shrinks to a shell of a man, unraveling as his face becomes nearly deformed by time and guilt. He is in turns beautiful and grotesque; sensual and repulsive. I know of no other actor whose face (and its accompanying capacity for expressiveness) could lend itself to such stunning versatility.

Quick note here that he was given a reddish-brown birthmark on the right side of his face for this film?? It becomes more prominent once his hair is shorter in the film’s second half. I’m guessing it was Leos’ idea to make his face even more distinctive and riveting? If so, joke’s on you, Mr. Carax, because we’re always riveted. ☺

I mentioned way up at the beginning that the film is bookended by two scenes where the lines blur between actor and character, and between reality and performance. This comes full circle at the film’s end, with Henry’s final spoken words (this doesn’t give any plot away but skip to the next paragraph if you would rather avoid!) being “Stop watching me.” That’s it. The show is over. He has told his last joke, played out his final act, and now he’s done living his life as a source of cheap, unprincipled laughs and thrills for spectators. The curtain closes with a resounding silence.

Now, I definitely won’t have a section where I talk (of course) about the Ben Solo parallels. He’s haunted by an “abyss” aka darkness inside of him? Bad things happened when he finally gave in and stared into that darkness he knew lived within him? As a result of those tragedies, (SPOILER – Skip to next paragraph to avoid) he then finds himself alone and with no one to love or be loved by? NO I’M DEFINITELY NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT AT ALL, I’M JUST FINE HERE UNDER MY MOUNTAINS OF TISSUES.

Let’s talk about the music! The film definitely clocks in closer to a rock opera than musical, because almost the entire thing is conveyed through ongoing song, rather than self-contained musical numbers appearing here and there. This actually helps the film’s continuity and pacing, by keeping the characters perpetually in this suspended state of absurdity, always propelled along by some beat or melody. Whenever the film seems on the precipice of tipping all the way into the bleak and dark, the next whimsical tune kicks in to reel us all blessedly back. For example, after (SPOILER #1) happens, there’s a hard cut to the bright police station where several officers gather around Henry, bopping about and chattering on the beat “Questions! We have a few questions!”

Adam integrates his singing into his performance in such a way that it seems organic. I realized after the film that I never consciously considered the quality of his singing along the way. For all that I talked about the film maintaining the atmosphere of a fourth wall-defying performance piece, Adam’s singing is so fully immersed in the embodiment of his character that you almost forget he’s singing. Rather, this is simply how Henry McHenry exists. His stand-up scenes are the only ones in the film that do frequently transition back and forth between speaking and singing, but it’s seamlessly par for the course in Henry’s bizarre, dour show. He breaks into his standard “Now laugh!” number with uninterrupted sarcasm and contempt. There were certainly a few soft, poignant moments when his voice warbled in a tender vibrato you couldn’t help noticing – but otherwise, the singing was simply an extension of that full-body persona he manages to convey with such apparent ease and naturalism.

On the music itself: I’ll admit that the brief clip of “We Love Each Other So Much” we got a few weeks ago made me a tad nervous. It seemed so cheesy and ridiculous? But okay, you really can’t take anything from this movie out of context. Otherwise it is, indeed, utterly ridiculous. Not that none of it is ever ridiculous in context either, but I’m giving you assurances right now that it WORKS. Once you’re in the flow of constant singing and weirdness abound, the songs sweep you right along. Some of the songs lack a distinctive hook or melody and are moreso rhythmic vehicles for storytelling, but it’s now a day later and I still have three of the songs circulating pleasantly in my head. “We Love Each Other So Much” was actually the stand out for me and is now my favorite of the soundtrack. It’s reprised a few times later in the film, growing increasingly melancholy each time it is echoed, and it hits your heart a bit harder each time. The final song sung during (SPOILER #2), though without a distinctive melody to lodge in my head, undoubtedly left me far more moved than a spoken version of this scene would have. Adam’s singing is so painfully desperate and earnest here, and he takes the medium fully under his command.

Finally, it does have to be said that parts of this film veer fully towards the ridiculous and laughable. The initial baby version of the Annette puppet-doll was nothing short of horrifying to me. Annette gets more center-stage screen time in the film’s second half, which gives itself over to a few special effects sequences which look to be flying out at you straight from 2000 Windows Movie Maker. The scariest part is that it all seems intentional. The quality special effects appear when necessary (along with some unusual and captivating time lapse shots), which means the film’s most outrageous moments are fully in line with its guiding spirit. Its extravagant self-indulgence nearly borders on camp.

...And with that, I’ve covered the majority of the frantic notes I took for further reflection immediately after viewing. It’s now been a few days, and I’m looking forward to rewatching this movie when I can hopefully take it in a bit more fully. This time, I won’t just be struggling to keep up with the madness on screen. My concluding thoughts at this point: Is it my favorite Adam movie? Certainly not. Is it the most unforgettable? Aside from my holy text, The Last Jedi, likely yes. It really is the sort of thing you have to see twice to even believe it. And all in all, I say again that Adam truly carried this movie, and he fully inhabits even its highest, most ludicrous aspirations. He’s downright abhorrent in this film, and that’s exactly what makes him such a fucking legend.

I plan to make a separate post in the coming days about my experience at Cannes and the Annette red carpet, since a few people have asked! I can’t even express how damn good it feels to be globetrotting for Adam-related experiences again. <3

Thanks so much for reading! Feel free to ask me any further questions at all here or on Twitter! :)

*SYNOPSIS INCLUDED BELOW. DO NOT READ FURTHER IF AVOIDING SPOILERS!*

Synopsis: Comedian Henry McHenry and opera singer Ann Defrasnoux are both at the pinnacle of their respective success when they fall in love and marry. The marriage is happy and passionate for a time, leading to the birth of their (puppet) daughter, Annette. But tabloids and much of the world believe the crude, brutish Henry is a poor match for refined, idolized Ann. Ann and Henry themselves both begin to feel that something is amiss – Henry gradually losing his touch for his comedy craft, claiming that being in love is making him ill. He repeatedly and sardonically references how Ann’s opera career involves her “singing and dying” every night, to the point that he sees visions of her “dead” body on the stage. Meanwhile, Ann has a nightmare of multiple women accusing Henry of abusive and violent behavior towards them, and she begins growing wary in his presence. (He never acts abusively towards her, unless you count that scene when he tickles her feet and licks her toes while she’s telling him to stop??? Yeah I know, WILD.)

The growing sense of unease, that they’re both teetering on the brink of disaster, culminates in the most deranged of Henry’s stand-up comedy performances, when he gives a vivid reenactment of killing his wife by “tickling her to death.” The performance is so maudlin and unsettling that you wonder whether he’s not making it up at all, and the audience strongly rebukes him. (This is the “What is your problem?!” scene with tiddies out. The full version includes Adam storming across the stage, furiously singing/yelling, “What the FUCK is your problem?!”) But when Henry arrives home that night, drunk and raucous, Ann and Annette are both unharmed.

The couple take a trip on their boat, bringing Annette with them. The boat gets caught in a storm, and Henry drunkenly insists that he and Ann waltz in the storm. She protests that it’s too dangerous and begs him to see sense. (SPOILER #1) The boat lurches when Henry spins her, and Ann falls overboard to her death. Henry rescues Annette from the sinking boat and rows them both to shore. He promptly falls unconscious, and a ghost of Ann appears, proclaiming her intention to haunt Henry through Annette. Annette (still a toddler at this point and yes, still a wooden puppet) then develops a miraculous gift for singing, and Henry decides to take her on tour with performances around the world. He enlists the help of his “conductor friend,” who had been Ann’s accompanist and secretly had an affair with her before she met Henry.

Henry slides further into drunken debauchery as the tour progresses, while the Conductor looks after Annette and the two grow close. Once the tour concludes, the Conductor suggests to Henry that Annette might be his own daughter – revealing his prior affair with Ann. Terrified by the idea of anyone finding out and the possibility of losing his daughter, Henry drowns the Conductor in the pool behind his and Ann’s house. Annette sees the whole thing happen from her bedroom window.

Henry plans one last show for Annette, to be held in a massive stadium at the equivalent of the Super Bowl. But when Annette takes the stage, she refuses to sing. Instead, she speaks and accuses Henry of murder. (“Daddy kills people,” are the actual words – not that that was creepy to hear as this puppet’s first spoken words or anything.)

Henry stands trial, during which he sees an apparition of Ann from when they first met. They sing their regret that they can’t return to the happiness they once shared, until the apparition is replaced by Ann’s vengeful spirit, who promises to haunt Henry in prison. After his sentencing (it’s not clear what the sentence was, but Henry definitely isn’t going free), Annette is brought to see him once in prison. Speaking fully for the first time, she declares she can’t forgive her parents for using her: Henry for exploiting her voice for profit and Ann for presumably using her to take vengeance on Henry. (Yes, this is why she was an inanimate doll moving on strings up to this point – there was some meaning in that strange, strange artistic choice. She was the puppet of her parents’ respective egotisms.) The puppet of Annette is abruptly replaced by a real girl in this scene, finally enabling two-sided interaction and a long-missed genuine connection between her and Henry, which made this quite the emotional catharsis. (SPOILER #2) It concludes with Annette still unwilling to forgive or forget what her parents have done, and swearing never to sing again. She says Henry now has “no one to love.” He appeals, “Can’t I love you, Annette?” She replies, “No, not really.” Henry embraces her one last time before a guard takes her away and Henry is left alone.

…..Yes, that is the end. It left me with major emotional whiplash, after the whole film up to this point kept pulling itself back from the total bleak and dark by starting up a new toe-tapping, mildly silly tune every few minutes. But this last scene instead ends on a brutal note of harsh, unforgiving silence.

BUT! Make sure you stick around through the credits, when you see the cast walking through a forest together. (This is counterpart to the film’s opening, when you see the cast walking through LA singing “So May We Start?” directly to the audience) Definitely pay attention to catch Adam chasing/playing with the little girl actress who plays Annette! That imparts a much nicer feeling to leave the theater with. :’)

#Adam Driver #Annette #Cannes 2021 #driverdaily #Annette spoilers

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gramilano · 4 years ago

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I’ve interviewed The Royal Ballet’s principal ballerina Yasmine Naghdi several times over the past five years. The first time, she was a soloist and preparing to debut as Juliet with Matthew Ball as Romeo. The last time was 18-months ago, a few months after her debut in Swan Lake, a role she was scheduled to reprise this spring, but then The Royal Opera House closed its doors.

She is currently on holiday in my adopted homeland, Italy. However, while I’m in the north by the Ligurian Sea, Yasmine and her Italian boyfriend are in Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot. I spoke to her via Skype in early May and asked her whether she was with him in lockdown.

We’re in quarantine in our flat. I think when we last spoke, it must have been early on in our relationship. We’re now coming up to two years together.

How’s your Italian?

I’m actually learning Italian. I love languages, and as his parents don’t speak much English, it’s a good incentive for me to be able to speak their language and communicate with them.

I need to speak as it is the best way to learn, so I’m jealous of people like you who are there often. I spent a little bit of time in Sicily with his family over the new year and just hearing them speak was the best way for me to absorb it and try and speak back. I felt that I’d made really good progress over those three days, but then you take a step back when you come home again. I have one or two lessons a week via Skype at the moment, now that I have a bit more time on my hands.

It’s good to have another language in my pocket. I speak a good amount of French and a little bit of Flemish. My mother’s Belgian so I grew up hearing [the family] speak, and although I never learned to read or write Flemish, I spent holidays there and I learnt it quite well, hearing it all the time. I’ve been around languages all my life, so I just love to have another one.

It’s a good outlet for me as well, as the ballet work uses a different part of the brain. So finishing the day and studying written and spoken Italian is very stimulating, and I enjoy it.

So tell me about life in lockdown.

Well, it’s definitely been an adjustment. As a dancer, you’re constantly working to a schedule. You always have a goal in mind, the performance you’re working towards, a deadline. When I was a student, it was the same thing: schedules, deadlines and goals. For that all to come to a complete halt is a real shock, and there’s nothing you can do about it. We can’t work from home as we need the rehearsal studio. We need each other to dance with. We need the stage and the audience to be there for us. So for dancers, it’s impossible, and I think the acceptance of that is the first step.

How have you been coping without a schedule?

I just needed to find a way to have my own daily schedule. I love having structure. I make lists every day – maybe I’m a bit OCD. Whether cleaning my flat, doing a ballet class, cooking a new meal, researching something, or having an Italian lesson, I’ve structured my day to give me a little schedule. That helped me a lot in the early days of lockdown. What’s been really great is Kevin [O’Hare], our director, together with The Royal Ballet health care team, has arranged for us to have ballet classes, Pilates, yoga and strength training through Zoom.

We’ve got an amazing weekly schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, floor barre and ballet class. And we’re all kind of logging on and seeing each other in our various homes with people holding onto the kitchen counter, people holding the sofa. It’s really fun. As you know, there are dancers from all around the world, in all the different time zones, so you’ve got someone who logs on at 5 am in Miami or in Brazil or Japan. It’s really fun to see everyone come together and it feels family orientated with all of us joining in for our daily ballet class. And then on Tuesday and Thursdays, we’re provided with a yoga session, and strength training, like cardio and weights. People use tins cans as substitute weights! And then we also have Pilates, so we’re being provided with a really great way to maintain some fitness at home. Hopefully, it won’t be a complete shock to the body when we eventually go back to the opera house.

How does Pilates and so on work on Zoom?

Well, for example, the Pilates teacher will set an exercise doing the first step with us, and then she’ll come and look at the screen to see all of us and then give us some corrections. It’s really nice that it’s quite intimate and that just with The Royal Ballet members. But I know that Kevin has made these classes also available to external companies, which is so wonderful. So they’ve organised it so that everyone can have an allocated time.

Corybantic Games. Lauren Cuthbertson & Yasmine Naghdi. © ROH, 2018. Photographed by Andrej Uspenski

Lauren [Cuthbertson] told be about the delivery of Harlequin dance flooring and a barre?

That is a saving grace because pointe shoes on a wooden floor is a no-no. So for weeks and weeks, I wasn’t able to do any form of a pirouette because I was worried about slipping. But then Kevin spoke with Aud Jebsen who very generously helped get Harlequin deliveries to everyone’s home, even in Brazil and the States. Everyone now has these Harlequin floors, which is very, very helpful for pointe shoes especially because it gives just the right amount of grip and friction without it being sticky, if you see what I mean. We were quite spoiled by that delivery.

I imagine that a grand jeté isn’t possible, but how much can you do?

Well I can jump on my exercise mat, which is quite thick, and first of all, it is kind to my neighbours – I haven’t had any complaints about loud jumping! It absorbs the sound, and I can do first position échappés and some sissonne side, for example. And secondly, it’s kind for my bones as well, because if you jump on a hard floor, there’s a risk of getting a dropped metatarsal or a strain in the shin. So I didn’t want to risk any of that. I also try to do a little bit of plyometric training every so often just to ensure that those muscles are still there and active. But like you said, grand jetés aren’t quite possible, but what I do do is kind of mark jetés, just for the muscle memory.

As you can’t travel far on your mat, what do you do for cardio and your stamina?

I always thought that running was not good for dancers: it’s bad for knees, it’s bad for ankles, and it’s in parallel, and we’re not really used to having that impact in parallel position. But when we went into lockdown, we got an email from our healthcare team saying that they wanted us to be open-minded about running. They said that they wanted us to give our muscles and bones the feeling of impact. That way, it’s not a complete shock to the system when we do return to work because, of course, that’s our biggest fear. None of the dancers has ever had a break this long unless they’ve been injured, so everyone’s fearful about coming back to work and then getting injured.

So I started running a little bit and, of course, I panicked at first because I thought, oh my god, I’m going to be exhausted. I’m used to working anaerobically, which is very stop-start with intense bursts and then rest. With running, it’s just consistent cardio. But once I started doing it, and I started quite slowly, I really surprised myself at how long I could run for. One day I was running with my boyfriend, and he encouraged me to run for nearly an hour [she laughs], and I hated him a little bit after that! I would never have thought I would be able to run an hour in my life, but I did it. So there’s a first, and I’ve also invested in a skipping rope because I’ve heard that it’s a really good way to get your heart rate up as well. I’ve been enjoying different ways to stay fit and exercise during this time.

Have you ever had injuries that have kept you off stage for a lengthy period?

I have been incredibly lucky with injuries. I had one injury, which was shin splints, when I was 16 years old, and I put that down to training at the same time as growing with the body having to keep up with the demands. I never stopped dancing, but I had to stop jumping for about three weeks because of the strain it was putting on my shins. As you’re young, you bounce back quite quickly. That was the only dance-related injury where I had to sort of take a step back. There have been other niggles here and there, which maybe took a day or two, but nothing severe.

However, last summer we were on holiday and I was walking on a rocky beach. I lost my balance when a boulder kind of shook loose and I landed really badly. It was at a bit of a height and I dropped down on my left ankle and, I kid you not, it swelled up to the size of a grapefruit. Of course, being on holiday, I’m panicking, and I thought immediately that I’d broken it. We drove to the local hospital, and I managed to get an x-ray which ruled out a break, but there was a severe sprain.

I had something like five weeks until I was meant to do Swan Lake at the Kremlin Palace. It was something I was really excited about and looking forward to, but of course, you’ve got all the fouettés on that left foot. I’d never had such a severe sprain before, so I had no idea of how long it would take to get that strength back. That was the first injury I’ve ever had that took me completely off dancing for, I’d say, about six to eight weeks. But, in the grand scheme of things, I consider myself still incredibly lucky because that’s not long compared to what a lot of other dancers have had to go through. People that have had a snapped ACL need a year to recover and stress fractures can take a lot longer. So I still consider myself really, really lucky. It’s just silly that it was unrelated to dance.

So many people have said that to me that these things happen when you’re off your guard. I said to my parents over and over that I couldn’t believe the amount of difficult ballets I’ve done, the risks that I’ve taken, the near injury moments that have happened to me on stage and yet I walk away unscathed. And then on holiday I fall badly on my ankle and this happens. It’s unbelievable.

I missed dancing the mistress in Manon, two performances, and I had to cancel the performances at the Kremlin. It took me until January, so a good six months, to dance without pain. My first performance back from that injury was a live cinema relay when I danced the second movement pas de deux of Concerto, so no pressure! And then my second performance back was the opening night of Sleeping Beauty. So again…

The power of the mind and the amazing power of the body to heal… it teaches you a lot to have an injury like that.

What should you have been dancing in this in this period? Are you missing out on any debuts?

I had a couple of Wayne McGregor works because what was remaining of the rest of our season was the Live Fire Exercise, Prodigal Son and Corybantic Games bill and I was meant to debut in Live Fire Exercise, so I’ve missed out on that. Also, there were my three Swan Lake performances that I was due to dance with Matthew Ball. That was quite sad because I love Swan Lake as I really connect with this ballet and I was revisiting it for the second time after having danced it for the first time two years ago in 2018.

On the scheduled day of my first performance this year, I got a phone call from Kevin, my director, it was so sweet. It was 7.30, which is usually our start time, and he said, “I was just thinking of you. I can’t believe that now the curtain would be going up on Swan Lake, and we would have all been settling down to watch the show. It’s just so surreal to think that it’s not happening.” Then, for the whole evening, I was looking at the clock going, “OK, it’s 8.30, and the curtain would have been down after the white act,” and, “Now I would have been doing fouettés,” and, “Now the curtain would have been coming down at the end,” and “Now I would have been on the tube home.” I was kind of following it with the timings for everything would have been happening… I couldn’t help it.

It’s thoughtful that he called you.

So lovely. Kevin said he looked in his diary and saw that it was our performance that night. It was nice to get a call from him and just have a general chat.

Also, I think I was going to be involved in the sequel to [Wayne McGregor’s] The Dante Project. No casting had really been mentioned, but it was in the pipeline. Some rehearsals were due to start during the first week of lockdown. Then we had a tour to Doncaster that we would have been doing in July. So not too much, but I felt bad about the Swan Lakes. I have a feeling it might return soon because we missed so many performances and it’s such a wonderful ballet and such an audience pleaser.

Why do you love Swan Lake? Some dancers don’t enjoy its challenges.

You know, you either love it or hate it, I think. I’ve always been someone that loves a challenge and pushing myself to try and achieve something that’s hard to reach. It then feels even better if it goes well, and you just think, “Oh, I’ve done it. I’ve achieved what I dreamed of.”

Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake are the two hardest classical ballets in the repertoire without a doubt. When you dance either of those ballets, and you feel that you’ve done them well, it’s the best feeling in the world to hear that audience applaud after all the hard work you put in.

In Swan Lake, I love the contrast of the roles; being two people in the same ballet. I love dancing very quietly, peacefully, and gracefully as the white swan.

With that wonderful music – especially played live in a theatre.

Of course, the music is so famous and, as you say, live music is just irreplaceable for the feeling that it gives you.

And then you morph into the black swan.

Putting on that costume starts the change, and then the headdress goes on, and the makeup becomes more dramatic, and then you see yourself in this stunning black glittering tutu and you have to be a completely different person. It’s really adrenalin-fuelled. You’ve got that balance in arabesque, and you’re building up to it and, although you’re tired, you have to contain yourself. Then you’ve got this very long solo with the menège at the end, and so you’re even more tired when you have to come on and do 32 fouettés well, so it’s a great challenge. I love that feeling when it goes well, and that’s why I really love this ballet.

Have you been watching some of the dance videos that companies have been offering online?

Yes, I have. It’s so wonderful. I was just thinking that during this time what’s really helping people is art. That’s why it’s so important for people to have that escapism through various means, be it through music or through movement. Having ballet streamed has offered people a little moment to forget about what’s going on in the world right now and allow themselves to be transported a little. I tuned in to all of the Royal Ballet screenings, the Mayerling from Stuttgart, and the various videos that are coming from Russian companies. I saw English National Ballet’s Dust, which was really beautiful, and Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns – that was really interesting.

Just dance?

I am not a ballet bunhead, so to speak. I’m not someone who watches ballet videos all day. I never really was. They inspired me obviously, and from time to time, yes, but I would never want to be completely immersed in it, day and night. I love having a normal life alongside my ballet life. It’s different for everyone, and some people need to be in it all the time, but for me, I love the balance, that work/life balance. And I think it makes me appreciate it more when I come back to it.

So in terms of non-ballet stuff, we’ve been watching a lot of Netflix – I heard that their shares have completely skyrocketed during this time. I really enjoy watching Killing Eve, which is on BBC iPlayer.

I also watched a documentary about Manolo Blahnik, the shoe designer [MANOLO: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards], which is fantastic. He’s such a character, really upbeat – the kind of guy you just want to be best friends with. I started Ozark because everyone was talking about it, but it didn’t click with me for some reason.

It’s very dark.

VERY dark. I wanted to like it so badly because everyone was just raving and raving about it, but unfortunately, no. We’ve also watched a Spanish series called Elite, which is fun, full of very good looking people at a school, but when three students from an underprivileged background arrive on a scholarship, someone gets murdered. It’s kind of a murder mystery. It’s definitely glossy, but it’s been great for quarantine, and it’s got a really nice soundtrack.

I also love watching Chef’s Table on Netflix. I don’t know if you’ve seen any of those.

I’m a fan.

Oh, I’m so glad, me too. I’ve been watching a lot of those because it’s really artistic. I said to my boyfriend that these chefs are artists expressing themselves through their food.

I remember you telling me that you love cooking.

I’m doing a lot of cooking, and this has been the perfect time because I’m not exhausted, and I’m not limited with time. At the end of the workday, when I finish at 6.30 and come home, I just want to make a really quick pasta to get my carbs, with some chicken for example, and I don’t have time or energy to experiment. Now, during this time, I’ve been experimenting with different cuisines: some Chinese fusion food and a lot of Italian food. I’m trying to perfect my spaghetti alle vongole which is really good.

I’ll believe you.

No really! We’re making fresh pasta, and we’ve bought basil plants. Having an Italian around the house has taught me to buy high-quality ingredients all the time, which I really appreciate. So that’s been something I’ve enjoyed. Dinner is being planned right from the morning.

Vadim Muntagirov and Yasmine Naghdi in Le Corsaire, photo Andrej Uspenski

You sound very positive and happy, but I imagine you’ve had some down moments too?

We’re only human. Yes, of course there are down days, most definitely. We’re all going through ups and downs and sometimes I kind of just wake up feeling a bit low and uninspired. On those days, I’ve learned not to get angry at myself at feeling that way, and if I want a day to just sort of be in a slump, I have to let myself and I shouldn’t fight that feeling. I shouldn’t try and push past it because then I irritate myself even more. I’m getting a really good amount of sleep every night, so I can’t blame it on being tired, but I’ve learned to understand myself and those days.

I think that quarantine time has taught me to listen to my body in a psychological way rather than just how it is feeling, like “Oh, I’m tired because I went from 10.30 to 6.30 yesterday,” or, “I had a late performance last night.”

On those days I just try and get out of the house and get some fresh air, because it can be hard staying in all the time. I know that with you in Italy it is even more strict than it is here. We’ve been so lucky being allowed to go up to the park, allowed to do exercise outdoors. So I’ll try and push myself to go for a run, which, you know, get those endorphins going.

Are you keep in contact with friends and share these feelings with them?

Oh yes. It’s been great taking time to call people and chat to people a little bit more. There was a time that I was calling my colleagues on a daily basis and I thought, you know what, I’m actually talking to them more than I would normally at work because I would be in rehearsal here and they would be there. It’s been nice to connect with people.

LA BAYADERE The Royal Ballet ROH Covent Garden, Solor; Steven McRae, Gamzatti; Yasmine Naghdi, Nikiya; Akane Takada, The High Brahmin; Alastair Marriott,

What other positive things will you take away from this quarantine period?

I hope that coming out of this will give people a lot of positivity. I think it will definitely change the way people think about life in general, about what’s important. All the material things are not as important as people thought, and I’ve been appreciating the simple things in life. Being able to go to the supermarket and then make a good meal is a simple pleasure. I found myself returning to some old ways.

For example?

We bought some board games and have been playing those together. You know, we’ve been playing Scrabble quite a lot. I’ve been really enjoying it, and I would never have done that. I think it’s taking time to do things that we used to enjoy doing back in the day.

It’s definitely made me far more appreciative about things that we have but usually took for granted. Being able to give your best friend a hug, you know, or being able to see your family regularly. It’s kind of crazy, but I’ve not seen my sister since January. She went on a skiing trip before the lockdown and then decided to stay in Normandy with her French boyfriend.

It’s been such a stressful time for so many – especially the key workers who are working to save people’s lives or the people who are ill at the moment. I think it’s made me grateful to be in my position, keeping in mind all of those who are really going through a difficult time. It is a great time for reflection in general.

[Interview] The Royal Ballet’s Yasmine Naghdi: a time to reflect I’ve interviewed The Royal Ballet’s principal ballerina Yasmine Naghdi several times over the past five years. The first time, she was a soloist and preparing to debut as Juliet with Matthew Ball as Romeo.

#Lauren Cuthbertson #Matthew Ball #Royal Ballet #Vadim Muntagirov #Wayne McGregor #Yasmine Naghdi

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