The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

London Film Festival 2020

If It Were Love (Si c’était de l’amour)

London Film Festival 2020: If It Were Love (Si c’était de l’amour) | Review
14 October 2020
Guy Lambert
Avatar
Guy Lambert
14 October 2020

Movie and show review

Guy Lambert

If It Were Love

★★★★★

Special event

Director Patric Chiha’s first documentary since the release of Brothers of the Night in 2016, If It Were Love exhibits the compelling work of choreographer Gisele Vienne and French dance company Crowd, exploring both the professional and personal lives of the cast as they rehearse for their latest production, set at a 90s rave. Each character has their own backstory within the stage show, and it is up to the dancers to manifest this personality with the guidance of colleagues and Vienne. However, it becomes clear that their craft is far more taxing and demanding than some may think, and the documentary pulls back the curtain to reveal a greater complexity within the artiste’s psyche.

Exploring how the relationships and range of emotions that performers experience in their roles can affect their feelings and mindsets in real life, this striking film is presented in a meta format as the ensemble explain how the line between fiction and reality becomes blurred due to the intensity of their work. It’s both an exciting display of talent and an engaging psychological investigation, opening the audience’s eyes to the internal process of a dance company when normally we can only witness the external precision of the final performance.

Delivering sexually-charged choreography that revolves around tireless repetition and slow motion as a deep techno soundscape rings out around the stage, the production itself is exemplary, without a doubt a feast to indulge in from the front row of the theatre. So the documentary raises an interesting question: why have the company and Chiha decided to present it this way?

It could be argued that the purpose is to convey the extent of the dancers’ dedication to their craft, depicting the wonderful familial relationships that blossom between all those collaborating on such an intricate exposition. More likely, however, it serves a different purpose: to display the small chinks that form in a performer’s armour as their restless work distorts their reality, resulting in a study of people that has never been so honest and true.

Trust plays a huge part in this piece and is a running theme throughout both the film and the company itself. There is no questioning the ability of every member of the troupe as the opening minutes of the documentary effortlessly illustrates, but what becomes ever more enticing is the contrast between the rave onstage and the raucous effect such strenuous work can have on their emotions. If It Were Love won the Best Documentary from the Teddy Award program for LGBTQ-themed film at Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, and with a commitment to the craft that matches that of Vienne’s Crowd, it is easy to see why.

★★★★★

Guy Lambert

If It Were Love (Si c’était de l’amour) does not have a UK release date yet.


Read more reviews and interviews from our London Film Festival 2020 coverage here
.

For further information about the festival visit the official BFI website here.

Watch the trailer for If It Were Love (Si c’était de l’amour) here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Film festivals

The Swordsman

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Handsome

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Black Bear

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Jumbo

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Da Capo

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

My Wonderful Wanda

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

The Toll

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

The Mauritanian

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

My Favourite War

★★★★★
Musanna Ahmed
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Guy Lambert

If It Were Love

★★★★★

Special event

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Creation Stories
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Judas and the Black Messiah
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild
    Theatre
  • Laura Mvula – Under a Pink Moon
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Swordsman
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Handsome
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Black Bear
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Jumbo
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Da Capo
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • My Favourite War
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Typical at Soho Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

London Film Festival 2020: Bad Tales (Favolacce) | Review
London Film Festival 2020: Shadow Country (Krajina Ve Stínu) | Review