Sunday Short Theatre – Laissez-moi danser (Let Me Dance)
When it comes to birthday’s, the older you get that ‘special day’ just becomes another normal day. If your name is Mylène it’s certainly just another normal day. In this week’s Sunday Short Theatre choice Let Me Dance that day might just turn into something special or simply a nightmare.
Valérie Leroy‘s 17 minute short film, Let Me Dance (Laissez-moi danser) follows Mylène. She is a supervisor of a cleaning team onboard a ferry. Her and her team clean the cabins, teaching the newbies the job and dealing with tension. As the working day is coming to an end, things an unexpected turn when her set up a birthday party for her. At first Mylène is touched by her team’s gesture, it’s when she looks at the gift they bought her things go downhill…Signed to her in her ‘dead name’.
This complexed drama comes with many delicate layers inspired by a chat the director had with a janitor onboard a boat. That inspiration she took into a 48 hour challenge that created Let Me Dance which she was awe struck by the woman’s elegancy. Making Leroy compelled to make the film and explore these people outside the uniform.
Camille Le Gall plays our leading lady Mylène, delivering a nuanced performance. The name on the card is a man’s name as our birthday girl is a transgender woman. The question the film asks, was this done deliberately? We love that whodunnit tone that gives the film a whole immersive feel.
Mylène, fifty-five years old, is a cleaning woman on a ferry. This evening, her colleagues have organized a surprise birthday party for her. But Mylène’s former name is written on the birthday present envelope offered to her, a man’s name, from her former life. Who has wanted to betray her transidentity? In the noise of the party where these exploited women are beginning to demand their rights, Mylène must investigate.
Source: Short Film Of The Week
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