Before the last curtain falls
Realizador Thomas Wallner
Países Germany
Duração 85 min
Sinopse
Before the Last Curtain Falls is a film that explores the lives of six aging and highly unique travesty artists through the prism of a great dance, theatre, cabaret and music show called “Gardenia”. It was evolved in collaboration with Alain Platel, one of Europe’s greatest contemporary choreographers. What was supposed to be a limited run in some selected theatres unexpectedly became a huge international success. The performers toured for more than two years in five continents and over 60 cities. Now that the show is coming to a close and the artists are coming home it is their time of introspection, of reevaluation of choices made, of lives lived and possible futures. The cast has been through it all. They’ve been at the bottom, have clawed themselves to the top only to fall again. They have been shunned and embraced, worked as performers and prostitutes, undergone sex changes, have experienced every shade of love, loss and humiliation and joy imaginable in their long and complicated lives. We are delving deeply into the lives of our protagonists, peeling away the many layers of protection, illusion and self-delusion to create a raw but ultimately warm human portrait of a group of people, who seemingly effortlessly navigate the twilight zone between being male and being female and are now entering the last chapter of their lives. For the cast, who thought that their best days lay behind them “Gardenia” became the highlight of their lives.
Before the Last Curtain Falls is a film that explores the lives of six aging and highly unique travesty artists through the prism of a great dance, theatre, cabaret and music show called “Gardenia”. It was evolved in collaboration with Alain Platel, one of Europe’s greatest contemporary choreographers. What was supposed to be a limited run in some selected theatres unexpectedly became a huge international success. The performers toured for more than two years in five continents and over 60 cities. Now that the show is coming to a close and the artists are coming home it is their time of introspection, of reevaluation of choices made, of lives lived and possible futures. The cast has been through it all. They’ve been at the bottom, have clawed themselves to the top only to fall again. They have been shunned and embraced, worked as performers and prostitutes, undergone sex changes, have experienced every shade of love, loss and humiliation and joy imaginable in their long and complicated lives. We are delving deeply into the lives of our protagonists, peeling away the many layers of protection, illusion and self-delusion to create a raw but ultimately warm human portrait of a group of people, who seemingly effortlessly navigate the twilight zone between being male and being female and are now entering the last chapter of their lives. For the cast, who thought that their best days lay behind them “Gardenia” became the highlight of their lives.