Jhere is a delicate mixture of sensuality and creativity in this documentary. Patric Chiha follows the rehearsal and performance of a dance piece called Crowd by Franco-Austrian artist and choreographer Gisèle Vienne, on the club scene of the 90s. The film follows the dance itself and sets scenes of one-on-one conversation in which the young dancers talk about each other and the characters they play – higher gossip, perhaps, about their lives and how this fictional creation shapes their sense of themselves- themselves and their sexuality.
Compared, say, the orgiastic dance film Climax by Gaspar Noé, If It Were Love is certainly calmer and less crazy, more brooding and less confrontational. Maybe it’s fundamentally about youth, something every dancer unwittingly exudes: pure energy and surrender and openness.
Attending this dance piece live would be best (a covid-era desire) but there is something interesting about seeing this eternal theme of youth explored and embodied. A dancer can talk about the fact that a kiss didn’t happen with another character on stage – or, alternatively, that it did – and the exchange feels personally charged and intimate, like a conversation having place after a party, with people confiding who they think they are in love with. And of course, to some extent, these conversations themselves are fictional performances, which the film incorporates into the official choreography.
If It Were Love is probably more of a festival event film than anything else, but it’s valuable and full of ideas.
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