Bolshoi Ballet: Giselle

(2011)

Year: 2011

Runtime: 109 мин

Country: Russia

Director: Vincent Bataillon

Cast: Svetlana Lunkina, Dmitry Gudanov, Vitaly Biktimirov, Maria Allash, Elena Bukanova, Екатерина Барыкина, Victoria Osipova, Olga Kishnyova, Alexei Loparevich, Vladislav Lantratov

Plot

Learning that Albrecht, her beloved, is in fact a nobleman engaged to be married to a princess, the naive peasant girl Giselle dies. The Queen of the Wilis—the spirits of deceased young virgins—decides that Albrecht should follow Giselle to the grave, and condemns him to dance until he dies of exhaustion. But Giselle’s spirit dances with him and saves him. With music by Adolphe Adam and a libretto by Théophile Gautier and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, the ballet touches on the great romantic themes: local colour, a pastoral love affair doomed to end in tragedy, a plunge into fantasy and redemption through the power of love.