“The Dancer Upstairs” is actor John Malkovich’s directorial debut. Released in 2002, the film is based upon the novel by Nicholas Shakespeare (who also did the screenplay), and stars Javier Bardem (as Agustin Rejas), Juan Diego Botto (as Sucre) and Laure Morante (as Yolanda).
The film takes place in South America, where a police detective (Rejas) is determined to hunt down a guerilla revolutionary.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!
It’s understandable that many potential viewers may’ve been turned off by yet another political drama, but I’m curious why many who have seen the film gave it lukewarm reviews, as this was anything but generic.
Bardem was fantastic in his performance as the ambiguous detective Rejas- a man with intense eyes who never chooses a side. Due to his background of being compatible with the revolutionaries, he’s assigned to the case, and many times in the film we notice similarities between the suspects and Rejas. Right when Rejas is on the verge of presidency, where for most people it would all be uphill, this movement comes along and he is forced to rethink his values and everything he achieved and ask himself what side he is on. Perhaps if he knew about this movement years ago and didn’t have a child, maybe he would have joined them. Interestingly, he requests Yolanda be released in five years- perhaps reflecting hope that if he could change in five years, perhaps Yolanda could too. The sacrifice of his presidency in the end also proves he had true feelings for Yolanda, despite her violent side.
I haven’t read the novel, but from the film one gathers how truly little we really know about someone. The dancer upstairs is of course Yolanda in the film, but moreover the title could be seen as the dancer upstairs in Rejas head; the dancer that permeates his thoughts. Uniquely the film doesn’t portray Rejas as being blinded by his love for Yolanda, but he merely got involved with her by coincidence. Even in their dialogue they both spell out clues to one another that they both are choosing to conceal a piece of their identity, but neither one asks questions and so none is the wiser. I couldn’t help but parallel their relationship to “Romeo & Juliet”: “My only love sprung from my only hate!” Rejas seems like he can be himself around Yolanda, more so than his materialistic wife. But of course we learn eventually who Yolanda really is. (The dancer upstairs could also be his daughter).
Perhaps the best scene in the entire film was when Rejas watched his daughter dance to Nina Simone’s cover of “Who Knows Where the Time Goes.” His daughter danced in red, representing revolution- clearly as he watched his delicate daughter, Rejas thought that she too could fall in with the revolutionaries as her innocence was lost. It was an absolutely beautiful scene.
Above all, this movie is full of coincidences. If Rejas’ wife didn’t babble at the end of the film about her speech, the credits to Rejas’ movie wouldn’t have rolled past the main film and he wouldn’t have spotted Ezekiel. If his wife wasn’t beauty conscious perhaps his daughter wouldn’t be involved in a ‘girl’ activity like dance, and he would have never met Yolanda, hence never solving the case.
Overall, this film will make you question the concept of mystery. Moreover, when revolutionaries are filled with so much conviction, can we really call them brainwashed? Ideals are more powerful without a face. Even the most violent scenes are artistic in this film.
A.
