Dance First Film Review: Unusual Biopic

Directed by James Marsh, Dance First is a very unique biopic about Ireland’s most famous playwright, Samuel Beckett.

Dance First begins with the 1969 Nobel Prize for Literature where Beckett is announced as the winner before immediately taking us back in time to explore his friendship with James Joyce (Aidan Gillen, of The Dark Knight Rises). This part, however, is defined by another key relationship in Beckett’s life: the one between him and Joyce’s daughter Lucia (Gráinne Good). As the film goes on, it explores other key figures in Beckett’s life such as his friend Alfred Peron (Robert Aramayo, of Antebellum) during his time as a fighter for the French Resistance during the Second World War and the beginning of his relationship with Suzanne Dumesnil (Sandrine Bonnaire, of Happening), his future wife. Lastly, it takes us through his affair with the translator Barbara Bray (Maxine Peake, of Wendell & Wild) and ultimately to the end of Beckett’s life in 1989.

The acting is one of the most impressive elements of Dance First, with some stellar performances. I was particularly taken by Aidan Gillen, who embodies the somewhat mysterious and mythical nature of James Joyce, and by Gabriel Byrne as the main troubled protagonist. The latter, in particular, had the difficult job of bringing the audience into the story and showing us all the emotional aspects of Beckett’s inferiority, particularly through the internal monologues that keep coming back in various parts of the movie.

Narratively, Dance First makes some interesting choices that let this biopic stand out. As a genre, biopics seem to have a constant present in the cinemas and often tend to seem quite repetitive in their narrative, but Marsh manages to innovate the genre by portraying Beckett’s life in an entirely unique way. It is not just about the story not being told in chronological order, but also about how it is divided into three very distinct chapters. Each of the segments sets out to analyse Beckett’s relationship with some important figures that defined that particular aspect in his life, which makes for a very compelling and innovative structure.

However, its narrative is not always clear, as the film seems to prioritise its visual element and unconventional narrative style over the actual story. Some of it is too repetitive, which ultimately hurts the pace of the movie, making it seem longer than its actual run time. Initially, I really appreciated Beckett’s interior monologue that guides us through these very specific moment in his life, but the film ends up using it too much, making this fascinating feature quickly become both repetitive and too expositionary. As Dance First goes on, the internal monologue increasingly feels like a way of revealing Beckett’s internal thoughts without actually showing any of it to the audience.

Overall, Dance First is a very fascinating film, with some incredible performances and a compelling way of moving through its narrative. However, as the movie ended, I could not help but ask myself: how much did I actually learn about Beckett’s life and who he was outside of his literary works? Other than some pivotal moments in his life, the answer is not very much. While there is a lot to be appreciated in terms of its artistic endeavours, Marsh’ film is not entirely successful the very thing we would have expected from a biopic: going beyond the general perception of Beckett and his life and investigate a more nuanced version of the real man behind the literary myth.

Dance First will be released in US theaters on August 9, 2024 and on digital on August 16, 2024.

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