Grand Jeté
Director: Isabelle Stever
Writer: Anna Melikova
Based on: Anke Stelling’s novel Fürsorge
Cast: Sarah Nevada Grether, Emil von Schönfels, Susanne Bredehöft, Stefan Rudolf, Ellen Müller, Maya Kornev
Seen on: 7.8.2025

Content Note: incest

Plot:
Nadja (Sarah Nevada Grether) had a career as a ballet dancer, a career she sacrificed her son for – Mario (Emil von Schönfels) grew up with Nadja’s mother Hanne (Susanne Bredehöft) and Nadja barely ever got to see him. Now her body is failing her and she teaches ballet instead of dancing it herself. After a visit with Hanne and Mario, Nadja finds herself looking to get close with her son who spends most of his time in a fitness center or partying. But her feelings for him are far from maternal.

Grand Jeté is a strangely cerebral film given that it is so much about desire. This gap weakens an otherwise interesting and well-made film.

I was unsure about the set-up of the movie. (Consensual) incest is very much on my personal ick-list, especially when one of the people involved  and I was afraid that this would get romanticized a little here with Nadja and Mario barely knowing each other and he almost an adult. But the film manages to remain pretty neutral about everything, not judging its characters, but also not romanticizing it. Instead the relationship Nadja and Mario develop is much more about Nadja’s desire for a fit body, and Mario’s easy confidence with it. Nadja has lost both her fitness and her confidence, and taking Mario’s body for her own almost gives her the chance to live vicariously through him, to feel young again.

Ironically, this is not something the film manages to communicate on a physical level. This is an interpretation that I arrived at by thinking about the film, and not by experiencing it bodily or emotionally. And that is a damn shame. It would have been a great film had they managed to capture the sensation of Nadja’s experience.

Mario remained a bit of a cypher. He doesn’t seem desperate enough for me to think that he is simply craving his mother’s affection, no matter in which shape it comes. I just didn’t understand why he would participate in this sexual relationship in the first place. And he seemed a willing participant at first, until he seemed to have lost the taste for it. The movie could have done more with his character here.

But it is a beautifully acted film. The camera work is often very great, and I certainly don’t mind a film that allows especially its female characters to be messy. Despite my criticism, it is still worth watching.

Summarizing: flawed but interesting.