Ballet on film can sometimes appear flat and disappointing when it is the result of recording merely for posterity or archival purposes. It loses its shiny, reflective surfaces and even suffer the dreadfully wooden atmosphere of the worst type of amateur theatre production. Somewhere in the space between camera and stage, its immediacy can be lost in translation. Combine multiple cameras with the vision of a great cinematographer and the results are  often electrifying, capturing the emotion in motion that we bear witness to as audience members.

In Robert Altman’s film The Company (2003), a faux documentary that follows the lives of members of The Joffrey Ballet, the dance performances show the capacity of the film medium to do ballet justice.

The opening sequence is Tensile Involvement, a decidedly modern dance work that was first staged in New York in 1953. The piece features dancers interacting with a fantastically elaborate network of coloured ribbons amidst a science-fiction atmosphere. Choreographer Alwin Nikolais also composed the sound and designed costumes and sets.

Elsewhere, White Widow by MOMIX choreographers is a graceful, unfettered aerial piece set to Julee Cruise’s haunting The World Spins. This is where the heart of the film lies and it is a piece of great beauty, all silk and softly blowing wind haloed by ethereal light. The dancer’s lyrical and technical virtuosity – using arabesques and twirls to ascend from a silhouetted pool of filigree leaves – is mesmerising.

There are numerous other memorable ballet scenes, too, interspersed between the anachronistic portrayal of daily life in the company.

Altman is well known for directing ensemble casts in films about subcultures, such as country music in Nashville and jazz music in Kansas City. Dramatically, The Company is not as successful particularly in its portrayal of backstage life. The story lacks tension and the gravitas required to create characters we can believe in. Many of the actors are Joffrey ballerinas but their strong screen presence is diminished by lukewarm writing. Malcolm McDowell avoids this fate as exuberant, temperamental artistic director Alberto Antonelli (after real life director Gerald Arpino) and Neve Campbell, herself a former Joffrey ballerina, is convincing as an aspiring prima ballerina.

The Company’s biggest triumph lies in its ability to translate live ballet into moments of great film art.