Parallels between The Company and Star Trek Generations

Robert Abrams
January 4, 2004

The Company is a scripted version of a reality TV type show about the life of professional ballet dancers. If you like dance and you like movies that are heavy on character sketch and gestalt while low on plot, you very well may like this movie. If you need a plot in your movie, you probably should skip this one.

The movie gives an inside look at the life of ballet dancers, both the artistic satisfaction and the clash of egos that is perhaps inevitable in getting to the artistic achievement. The performance sequences are sumptuous. They are expertly performed by the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and Neve Campbell.

Malcolm McDowell gives a masterful performance as Alberto Antonelli, the director of the ballet company. His character in this movie is a benevolent version of Soran, the amoral scientist he played in Star Trek Generations. It could even be argued that his characters' goals parallel one another: in Star Trek Generations he tries to get to the Nexus by himself while in The Company he tries to transport the entire audience of the Joffrey Ballet to a similar state of overpowering joy. In the Nexus, linear time has no meaning. In The Company, linear time is subjugated to the conjoined states of rehearsal, performance and group apartment living. Seen from the outside, the Nexus looks like a very large rolling strand of lightning. The Joffrey Ballet achieves a fine performance during a thunder and lightning storm. At the end of Star Trek Generations, the Enterprise crashes, but the crew lives to boldly go where no one has gone before another day. At the end of the Company, Neve Campbell is injured but the cast lives to receive the audience's applause.

I saw this movie before its official release at a sneak preview presented in part by the New York City Ballet's Society in C. If you are into ballet and want a way to support the arts and meet like minded people, the Society in C is a great way to meet both goals without breaking the bank.

The Company - The Joffrey Ballet
Photo courtesy of Matt Dinerstein

---

The Company - Malcolm McDowell as Alberto Antonelli, Barbara Robertson as Harriet, Neve Campbell as Ry
Photo courtesy of Matt Dinerstein

---

The Company - Neve Campbell as Ry, Malcolm McDowell as Alberto Antonelli
Photo courtesy of Matt Dinerstein

---

---

More information about The Company

Sony Pictures Classics
www.sonyclassics.com/thecompany/

Currently at the Movie Theaters
See Listings

Director: Robert Altman; Writers: Barbara Turner and Neve Campbell; Director of Photography: Andrew Dunn;
Editor: Geraldine Peroni; Music: Van Dyke Parks;
Art Director: Gary Baugh;
Producers: Joshua Astrachan, David Levy, Killer Films,
and Capitol Films.

Starring: Neve Campbell as Ry; Malcolm McDowell
as Alberto Antonelli; James Franco as Josh;
and http://www.joffrey.com/company.shtmlJoffrey Ballet Company Dancers.