Le Bal (1983)

Directed by

Ettore Scola

Genre

drama film, musical film, historical film

Country

Argentina, Algeria, France, Italy

Runtime

1h 50m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 77 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

The film shows fifty years of French history through the people at a Paris dance hall. Without any spoken words, it follows the changing music and moods from the 1930s to the 1980s.

observationallivelynostalgicrhythmicsweepingwordlesseuphoricbittersweet

What happens

Le bal (Italian: Ballando ballando, French pronunciation: [lə bal], meaning "The ball") is a 1983 Italian-Franco-Algerian musical film without dialogue directed by Ettore Scola that represents a fifty-year story of French society by way of a ballroom in France. The film is set in Paris, covering the years from 1936 to 1983. The film begins with a victory of the left-wing Popular Front in the 1936 French legislative election. It proceeds to depict the Battle of France, the end of the German-occupied France, the end of World War II in Europe and attacks on collaborators, the rise in popularity of swing music and rock and roll, the Algerian War, the Protests of 1968, and the end of a night of dancing in the 1980s. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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