A Beautiful Tragedy

A documentary about 15-year-old Oksana who follows her mother's dream to see her become a prima ballerina.

'A Beautiful Tragedy' is about the jealousy and pressure for beauty and perfection we find in one of the world's most prestigious ballet schools. But perfection comes at a price. From the age of eight until they are grown-ups the girls attending the school get to see their parents only twice a year, and most of them are anorectic from the pressure to satisfy the strict physical demands. For most of the girls who attend the school, ballet represents their only chance for a prosperous future. Every year 500 girls come to audition. They have beautiful dreams and work tremendously hard to achieve their goal. After nine years of training, 30 students will graduate, but only one or two of them will succeed in becoming a prima ballerina. Oksanna is on the verge of giving up. Her mood changes from hope to despair, and she cries every night. But every morning she pulls herself together, desperate to fulfill her mother's dream. Will she make it? Ballet is beauty. But it also carries an implicit expression of the brutality and the demand for subordination in Russian society.