Review: Birds of Paradise Pirouettes Through a Series of Muddled Plotlines

Birds of Paradise lacks the nuance and finesse needed for its story to really take flight.

Birds of Paradise
Photo: Amazon Studios

Sarah Adina Smith’s Birds of Paradise traces the tumultuous friendship and rivalry between two ballerinas at an elite ballet school in Paris, steely pro Marine (Kristine Froseth) and wide-eyed ingénue Kate (Diana Silvers). The former hails from a wealthy family that expects her to be the best of the best, as well as flaunts its influence over the school’s staff, while the latter is from a supportive working-class family. Right out of the gate, it’s almost as if we’re being primed to root for Kate over Marine as they compete for the contract with the Paris Opera Ballet that’s offered to one student per year at the academy.

The filmmakers take a rather conventional opposites-at-odds scenario in some surprising directions, revealing that Marine’s twin brother, Ollie, recently committed suicide, and setting up a perverse relationship between her and Kate that sees the latter filling in the role of surrogate sibling. Unfortunately, the film is bogged down by an array of competing subplots, including several poorly developed romantic flings, and an insistence on doling out highly dramatic twists that leaves a string of frustratingly opaque character motivations in its wake.

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Structured with chapter breaks that indicate that we’re moving ever closer to the final stage of the competition, Birds of Paradise has a built-in element of suspense as to who will win and how. But the film is so evasive in revealing the inner struggles and psychological makeup of both Kate and Marine that it provides the audience with little reason to care who wins or loses.

While Marine first appears as the spoiled rich girl who has complete dominance over her peers, she soon morphs into a more placid figure with little of the competitive spirit one would expect from such an exceptional dancer. She’s initially domineering toward Kate, only to become her competitor’s amiably cooperative enabler, while her brief affair with a waiter (Nassim Lyes) goes from hot to cold on a dime. She’s meant to read as complex, but Smith provides so little connective tissue between scenes that Marine scans only as unknowable.

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Kate doesn’t fare much better, as her turn from feeble and soft-spoken newbie to forceful and merciless competitor is equally unconvincing. But the film is also frustratingly intent on keeping its audience guessing about the true nature of this friendship. When Kate agrees to take the same pledge to Marine that the latter had with her deceased brother—to only accept a joint win of the competition—one is left wondering whether Marine is sincere and if Kate’s initial enthusiasm to join forces will wane as the competition grows more fierce.

Scenes such as those ensure a constantly shifting dynamic between the two ballerinas but causes the characters to feel less like fully fleshed out individuals than pawns in a game with the sole aim of keeping the audience on their toes. So while a handful of beautifully choreographed dances attest to the skill and precision of those involved, Birds of Paradise lacks the nuance and finesse needed for its story to really take flight.

Score: 
 Cast: Diana Silvers, Kristine Froseth, Jacqueline Bisset, Vincent D’Onofrio, Caronline Goodall, Hélène Cardona, Nassim Lyes, Roger Barclay, Solomon Golding, Eva Lomby  Director: Sarah Adina Smith  Screenwriter: Sarah Adina Smith, A.K. Small  Distributor: Amazon Studios  Running Time: 112 min  Rating: R  Year: 2021

Derek Smith

Derek Smith's writing has appeared in Tiny Mix Tapes, Apollo Guide, and Cinematic Reflections.

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