Étoile streaming now on Amazon Prime Video. The latest brainchild of Amy Sherman-Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Gilmore Girls) combines the skillful arts of ballet with the unsure footing of cross-cultural egos.
With two ballet companies – one in New York and one in Paris- deciding to swap out dancers and directors, Étoile pirouettes through dramatic sorrows, disciplinary dereliction, and the fine art of not losing your mind (or your pointe shoes) in translation.
What’s Good?
Ohhh, were the visuals! Ballet is shot like poetry in motion – And when those dancers move? Oh, flamingos in slow, smooth, and so damn elegant fire – the stage is dim, the dancers are dressed and the crowd ?… It’s already impressed. Cheyenne (wonderfully played by Lou de Laâge) isn’t the cutesy smile-and-wave type; she owns the stage with a no-nonsense energy that just compels you to straighten your back as you watch her.
Anyway, deserving of this appraisal, the music rocks! It just flows with the story – the “switch” between one country, culture, and perspective? Smooth as satin tights. Sherman-Palladino’s trademark sarcasm courses strongly-Jack (Luke Kirby) serves beautifully as a comic unwinding in dry absurdity at just the right timing, as Cadet Cheyenne laces her deadpan stares with humor that somehow cracks you up.
What’s Bad?
Where’s the French? Yikes…The English! Half this show is set in Paris: Shouldn’t all the French speakers be speaking French with subtitles? Instead, weirdly “Frenchified” dialogue in English, like syrup flavored with a baguette. It somehow becomes forced- it’s like they were just trying to remind us every step of the way that “oui oui, this is foreign and artsy.”
Well, chemistry? No thanks. Not particularly sizzling or steaming! Think of a married couple celebrating their 12th anniversary – very functional. Sizzle is reduced to a gentle simmer. The producers have again worked wonders by pulling the bait-and-switch on the storyline, which you would have thought was going to delve into the life and times of dancers, only to follow with endless drudgery-watching admin meetings, conflict between artistic directors, and funding problems. Ballet is there, but many times as the set dressing, not the focus.
Étoile, Worth A Watch?
Honestly? Maybe, if ballet, artistic direction, or just anything that isn’t a gritty murder mystery sounds great. The passion for the art, the pain behind the pliés, and this whole “art over ego” narrative is pretty moving. You will fall in love with the world, if not the players. But if you’re subtitle-phobic or allergic to fast-talking characters with abnormally large vocabularies, then probably no. The storyline itself is a bit too been-there-done-that.
Final Thoughts: Click or Skip?
Maybeee Click – But only if you’re okay with vibe > plot and performance > punchline. It’s a mood, not a masterpiece. You won’t regret watching… but you might not remember much a month later. In the end, Étoile is like a fancy cappuccino: creamy, elegant, slightly bitter… but sadly, a little bland – With no espresso, just froth.
RATINGS – 6 / 10 ⭐
Written By MANSI SINGH