Swan Song

Play trailer

1:57

Swan Song

Released Jul 26, 2024

1h 40m

Documentary

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

86%

Tomatometer

21 Reviews

80%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

An immersive, behind-the-scenes look at one of the world's leading ballet companies as it mounts a new production of Swan Lake. Ballet icon Karen Kain, on the eve of her retirement, directs the National Ballet of Canada. The film weaves together intimate scenes of the creative process and the dancers' personal lives.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Buy Now

Kevin Maher

The Times (UK)

Ballet enthusiasts will, presumably, find plenty of eye candy in this whoppingly unremarkable backstage documentary about eight busy weeks of preparation before the National Ballet of Canada’s production of Swan Lake in 2022.

Rated: 2/5

Aug 16, 2024

Full Review

Leslie Felperin

Guardian

McMullan has a light touch with these deeper themes, and edits together the dance sequences seamlessly, tweaking the music in places to give the film an extra modernity.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 12, 2024

Full Review

Lisa Kennedy

Variety

Director Chelsea McMullan, along with co-writer and producer Sean O’Neill, have crafted a work that echoes the artform’s grace and rigor, physical demands and details.

Aug 12, 2024

Full Review

Hayley Croke

Loud and Clear Reviews

What McMullan is able to do through their filming style is nothing short of revolutionary. We as the audience become a part of the Swan Lake corps. With every breath, every grunt and every bead of sweat captured.

Rated: 4.5/5

Oct 25, 2024

Full Review

Eileen G'Sell

Hyperallergic

The dancers we grow to know (and love) in Swan Song are sweating, swearing, soaring women, at odds with conceptions of purity and frailness.

Oct 17, 2024

Full Review

Victoria Luxford

City AM

Swan Song does a terrific job of showing the grittier side of ballet, something still dismissed by many as too gentile and cosseted. It may not inspire anyone to pirouette, but you leave the film with a new respect for what the dancers go through.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 21, 2024

Full Review

Read all reviews

Tanya M

Watched the original mini-series on CBC Gem. Very moving and honest documentary about the price paid by young artists, in this case ballet, in societies whose governments do not value and sufficiently support them. Get a job in Europe, girls! Lots of scenes of Canada's sweetheart, Karen Kain, keeping the whole thing going, and the magnificent new performing arts hall in Toronto.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/31/24

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Chelsea McMullan

Director

Karen Kain

Self

Sean O'Neill

Screenwriter

Chelsea McMullan

Screenwriter

Sean O'Neill

Producer

Christina Carvalho

Producer

I Know Catherine, the Log Lady

100%

%

I Know Catherine, the Log Lady

Watchlist

TRAILER

for I Know Catherine, the Log Lady

Butterfly in the Sky

100%

90%

Butterfly in the Sky

Watchlist

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

95%

96%

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

Fashion Reimagined

93%

%

Fashion Reimagined

Watchlist

Everybody Dance

100%

100%

Everybody Dance

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Everybody Dance

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Swan Song: Trailer 1

1:57

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

An immersive, behind-the-scenes look at one of the world's leading ballet companies as it mounts a new production of Swan Lake. Ballet icon Karen Kain, on the eve of her retirement, directs the National Ballet of Canada. The film weaves together intimate scenes of the creative process and the dancers' personal lives.

Director: Chelsea McMullan
Producer: Sean O'Neill, Christina Carvalho
Screenwriter: Sean O'Neill, Chelsea McMullan
Distributor: Greenwich Entertainment
Production Co: Quiet Ghost, Dogwoof, Mercury Films Inc., Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Visitor Media
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 26, 2024, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 26, 2024
Runtime: 1h 40m

Most Popular at Home Now