Renowned American dancer and choreographer Isadora Duncan not only became famous for her groundbreaking work, but also for the tragic deaths of her two children in 1913. She processed her grief in the choreography Mother about loss and emptiness.
Director and dancer Damien Manivel follows four women in their attempts to understand and bring this choreography to life: young, beautiful dancer Agathe Bonitzer, choreographer Marika Rizzi and her pupil Manon Carpentier who has Down syndrome, and retired choreographer Elsa Wolliaston, who played the lead in Manivel’s short film The Lady with the Dog.
The women are patiently, lovingly followed during their sometimes frustrating, moving search for the essence of dance, whereby they are confronted with the loss and grief in their own lives. Manivel’s film won the prize for best director at the Locarno film festival.