Crazy Horse - DVD

Film: The CRAZY HORSE has been a true institution of Parisian nightlife for over sixty years. The vaudeville venue is much more than a simple strip club, its revealing dance shows are aimed more at a discerning audience who come from all over the world to pay the CRAZY HORSE a visit. There are now offshoots of the cabaret in various countries, but the Paris venue remains unrivalled in terms of popularity to this day. Founded in 1951 by Alain Bernardin, the CRAZY HORSE was run by his children for a few years after his death, who then sold the famous house to a group of investors who run the business today. Now, filmmaker Frederick Wiseman's latest documentary takes a behind-the-scenes look at the legendary establishment, showing just how difficult it is to reconcile financial interests and artistic aspirations.

Crazy Horse is a purely observational documentary. In most moments of the film, Wiseman stays completely in the background, letting the viewer get up close and personal with the day-to-day life at CRAZY HORSE through the lens of his camera. The focus is on the celebrated choreographer Philippe Decouflé, who was already responsible for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Winter Olympics. He is expected to live up to the reputation of the CRAZY HORSE with a classy, sophisticated and erotic show. For Decouflé it is clear: in order to be able to offer the spectator the highest level, the house has to close down for some time in order to rehearse the show perfectly and to upgrade the technical requirements. But in doing so, he encounters resistance from the shareholders. The film documents the search for a solution between art and commerce, shows how the costumes are sewn, the wigs are cared for, the individual numbers are rehearsed or new dancers are cast. Difficulties among the dancers are addressed, such as when they have problems touching each other on stage. Wiseman contrasts the sometimes somewhat chaotic and problematic goings-on backstage with some longer excerpts from the stage program. Beauty, aesthetics and noble eroticism take center stage here, giving no hint of how much sweat and tears, how much physical and mental effort goes into making sure everything runs smoothly, and how unhappy the choreographer is with even the smallest mistakes in the program.

Crazy Horse struggles with a few longueurs here and there, as Wiseman simply observes some moments in too much detail. But overall, the documentary offers a really exciting and very interesting look at and backstage at the legendary vaudeville, making it clear on the one hand why this place has held such a fascination for its visitors as a glittering, erotic illusion for decades now, and on the other hand how hard it is to maintain that illusion. And all this makes this sometimes very sober, sometimes erotic documentary then: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Since for the test only a data-reduced press sample was available, no rating can be given here about the final image and sound quality.

Extras: Only the trailer for the film is included as a bonus.

Conclusion: Crazy Horse is an interesting behind-the-scenes look at what is arguably one of the most famous institutions in Paris nightlife. The documentary observes the dancers, their choreographer and other CRAZY HORSE staff as they go about their day-to-day work, which is far less glamorous and much more strenuous than the elegantly erotic performances would suggest. A slightly too long, but still very exciting documentary that gives the viewer an unvarnished look behind the curtain. Recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp