The Company

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about The Company's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of The Company completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 5 May 2004.

Overall comments and recommendations

The Company has some beautiful ballet sequences that are more sexy and sensual than classical. The sets and the costumes accentuate the vibrant dance and the movie will be appreciated by lovers of this art form. For others it won’t hold much appeal as there is no actual story line.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie The Company contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

The Company is a fictionalised ‘reality movie’ about the Joffrey Ballet Company of Chicago. It documents the lives and loves of various members, in particular that of Ry, an upcoming principal dancer. It shows the dedicated, hard work of practice and rehearsal required, as well as the partying outside of work. Josh, a chef, is attracted to Ry at a restaurant where he works and the two become lovers. Ry goes on to star in a major production but she falls towards the end and has to be replaced at the last minute.

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is no violence in this movie.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

The only scary scene in this movie is during the final production: the stage set is of a giant man’s face with his hands moving in front of him. He grabs dancers in his hands and swallows a couple of dancers in his mouth.

Over the age of eight

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

There is nothing in this movie that would scare children over the age of eight.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie:

• Several dancers are staying in a house and during the night one of the girls comes out to look for a condom.
• At a party some of the couples perform a routine simulating sex.
• One of the male dancers talks about the 60s as a time when people were “smoking pot, having sex and dropping acid”.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity in this movie – the revealing costumes are integral to the story and are shown in a respectful way.

• Some of the costumes reveal buttocks
• Ry is shown behind a screen getting out of a bath
• Ry meets Josh in a pub; they go back to her place and he stays the night in her bed.
• The girls are shown in their underwear in the change room.

Use of substances

There is quite a lot of drinking and smoking in this movie at various locations: at home, in pubs, restaurants, discos, etc.

Also one of the male dancers talks about the 60s as a time when people were “smoking pot, having sex and dropping acid”.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language with the occasional use of the following words:

• crap
• bloody
• asshole.

The movie's message

There is no take-home message as it is more of a documentary.

Values parents may wish to discourage include:

• excessive drinking and smoking
• casual sex.