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This was our first ballet in a cinema, and the experience turned out to be simply stunning. It was very hard not to applaud (the projectionist?). Rich colors, intricate costumes, amazing detail, very good sound, which gave the full feeling of sitting in front of the orchestra pit. Yes, what’s happening on stage is a flat picture, but unlike the static front row at the Paris de Bastille theater, where your eyes are at the level of the performers’ heels, here the best angle is chosen for each scene, thanks to the moving camera. Altogether, a very interesting experience.

The production itself was luxurious. Odette/Odile was performed by Korean Se Yun Park — seemingly the first Asian etoile at the Paris Opera. Paul Marc played the role of Prince Siegfried.

This was a daytime session on the last day, plus ballet in cinema is still not more popular than Marvel comics. There were about ten other people in the auditorium besides us.

Spoiler: Both the prince and the swan end up dying majestically. Poor bird 😢 Right after that, we headed to a restaurant to eat duck.

Incidentally, it turns out that directors choose the ending according to their own taste in different productions. In the 2012 production by the State Ballet of Siberia, Siegfried and Rothbart drown in the lake; in the 2015 production by the English National Ballet, Siegfried’s love breaks the curse and the other swans defeat Rothbart; and in the 2018 production by the Royal Ballet, Siegfried rescues Odette from the lake, but she is already dead.