Abstract:
"Isadora's Children" (Les enfants d’Isadora) tells the stories of Agathe, Manon, and Elsa, three women of different ages. The three plots of the film reflect the particular connection that each of the characters has with the dance piece La Mère (ca.1923), a work about loss. Its author, the choreographer and pioneer of modern dance, Isadora Duncan, created it after her two young children died in a traffic accident in 1913.
Details:
Isadora’s Children is a story of four women protagonists: Agathe, Marika, Manon, and Elsa. All four of them are at different stages in their life. The film explores the connection each protagonist feels with the dance piece La Mère [Mother], a play about grief and loss. The piece is choreographed by Isadora Duncan, widely regarded as the founder of modern dance. She choreographed the piece after the death of her two young children in a traffic accident in the year 1913.
The protagonist of the film's first part, Agathe, is a 29-year-old dancer. She is immersed in a silent process of creative research. She reads Ma vie [My life], Duncan’s autobiography, and digs into the archives at the National Dance Centre de Pantin in Paris. Her painstaking research helps her understand the pain and grief of the choreographer on the loss of her children through which the work La Mère emerges. These resources help Agathe interpret the piece, overcoming the block she experienced before. The second part of the film narrates the story of Manon, a 25-year-old performer with Down syndrome. She goes to Carré Magique Theatre in the city of Lannion to prepare for her premier performance of La Mère under the tutelage of Marika. Marika shares the story of Duncan’s life and the pivotal traffic accident that resulted in the death of Duncan’s children with Manon during rehearsals. Both women share their impressions of the story presented in the piece and the moments that touched them. Under Marika’s tutelage, Manon’s performance improves. Before the premiere, both head out for a day trip to a beach outside the city, and Marika tells Manon of her daughter, whom she misses because she has been abroad for three years—the play premiers after a few days.
The last part of the film introduces Elsa, a 76-year-old woman. She is a part of the audience and deeply moved by Manon’s performance. After the performance, she has lunch in a modest restaurant. The camera then accompanies her on her long and arduous journey back home. When she arrives at her house, she changes into comfortable clothes and lights an incense stick at a small homemade altar dedicated to her son, who died when he was still a child. Elsa then imitates Duncan’s movements and silently performs La Mère in the living room of her house.
