Ballerina 2016

In the 1880s, eleven-year-old Félicie Milliner, an orphan with a fierce dream of becoming a ballerina, runs away from a rural Brittany orphanage with her best friend, Victor, a bright young inventor who secretly harbors a crush on her. They travel to Paris, chasing the glittering promise of the Paris Opera, but the journey pulls them apart: Victor finds a desk job in Gustave Eiffel’s workshop, while Félicie presses onward toward the city’s legendary stage. The city hums with possibility, yet life in Paris is harder than she imagined, and she soon finds herself navigating a world that tests her resolve at every turn.

In Paris, Félicie’s bold entry into the Opera district ends with the guard catching her trespass, and she is saved by a mysterious cleaner with a limp, Odette, who offers shelter and guidance as Félicie tries to get a foothold. Odette works at the Opera and also for Régine Le Haut, a powerful and demanding restaurant owner who wields significant influence behind the scenes. The pair’s precarious arrangement begins to shape Félicie’s understanding of mentorship, debt, and the weight of ambition in a city that can both cradle dreams and crush them.

While cleaning around the Opera, Félicie spots Régine Le Haut’s daughter, Camille Le Haut, practicing ballet. Camille is quick to mock Félicie and even throws Félicie’s treasured music box out of a window, shattering it. When Félicie learns that Camille has been admitted to the celebrated Paris Opera Ballet school thanks to Camille Le Haut’s mother’s connections, she secretly intercepts Camille’s acceptance letter and resolves to take Camille’s place to pursue her own dream. Odette, who has lived the life of a prima ballerina, becomes a wary but hopeful mentor, teaching Félicie the discipline and artistry required to rise to the highest standards of ballet.

The school’s exacting choreographer, Mérante, pushes the class to their limits as he searches for a dancer to embody the role of Clara in The Nutcracker. Félicie’s raw talent begins to shine, and Mérante notices her spark after he glimpses her dancing outside class. Her clandestine ascent is fragile, however, because the lie about Camille’s identity could unravel at any moment. Yet Félicie’s passion burns brighter with each practice, and her resolve grows as she balances the grueling training with the longing to prove herself on the grand stage.

The drama intensifies when Félicie and Victor navigate a delicate balance between friendship, jealousy, and ambition. A night out brings both joy and strain: Félicie’s choice to spend time with Rudi, a charming classmate, tests her relationship with Odette and stirs jealousy in Victor. The pressure mounts as the final audition approaches, and Félicie’s lateness becomes a risk that could cost her the opportunity she yearned for since childhood. When the day of the audition arrives, Camille’s earlier misdeeds—revealed in the wake of Félicie’s deception—have already altered the dynamic at the school, and fate seems poised to crown Camille rather than Félicie.

After a moment of quiet despair at the orphanage, Félicie rekindles her fire and returns to Paris to repair the rift with Odette and Victor. A dramatic moment of reconciliation follows as she and Camille confront each other on the stage, their dance battle witnessed by everyone. Félicie speaks from the heart about why she dances—dancing is not just a skill but an inheritance of passion she refuses to let slip away—and Camille, in a pivotal turn, acknowledges that Félicie should have the chance to dance the role of Clara.

The story crescendos near Eiffel’s workshop, where the Statue of Liberty’s silhouette rises in the distance and the Opera beckons with its glittering lights. Félicie invites Victor to the performance as Régine Le Haut arrives with a fury that could jeopardize everything. In a tense showdown, Victor and Camille help trap Régine in the scaffolding, keeping Félicie safe. Back at the Opera just in time, Félicie dons Odette’s special pointe shoes and steps out onto the stage to perform the Nutcracker alongside the principal dancer, sealing a long-held dream with a moment of pure triumph.

This tale blends twelve-year-old determination with the grit of a city that never stops dreaming, showing how resilience, a little luck, and the right mentors can turn a shy girl with a music box into a beacon of light on the grand stage.