The Dancer (La Danseuse) is a French musical drama directed and co-written by Stéphanie Di Giusto, making her feature directorial debut. It screened in the Un Certain Regard programme at Cannes last year and stars Soko, Gaspard Ulliel, Mélanie Thierry, Lily-Rose Depp, and François Damiens.

A young woman from the American Midwest, Loïe Fuller became the toast of the Folies Bergère at the turn of the 20th century and an icon of the Belle Epoque. Inventor of the breathtaking Serpentine Dance, she was a pioneer of modern dance and lighting techniques. It was her complicated relationship to her protégé – Isadora Duncan – that precipitated the downfall of this early 20th century icon.

“I was curious about the woman behind the long swathes of fabric, and her story blew me away,” explains Di Giusto. “I loved the fact that she became famous by concealing herself, her trailblazing nature. With her Serpentine Dance, Fuller literally revolutionized the stage arts at the end of the 19th century. Yet no one, or almost no one, remembers her. She didn’t possess any of the ideals of beauty that were fashionable in her day. She was physically unattractive. She had the strong, sturdy build of a farm girl and felt like a prisoner in a body she’d rather forget. Yet instinctively, she invented a move that would carry her across the world.”

The Dancer is rated 14A.