Théophile Gautier

Giselle

The peasant girl Giselle discovers the true identity of her lover Albrecht – and that he is promised to another. Giselle kills herself. Her soul enters the ranks of the Wilis – shades of young women who died before their wedding day. All men that come across their path are compelled to dance themselves to death, and Albrecht falls into their trap. Giselle’s intercession saves Albrecht and releases her soul from the Wilis’ power.

Bolshoi Ballet: The Pharaoh's Daughter

Traveling through Egypt in the 19th century, a Englishman falls asleep inside a pyramid and travels back in time to the days of the pharaohs, where he immediately falls in love with the daughter of the ruler.

Giselle

The peasant girl Giselle discovers the true identity of her lover Albrecht – and that he is promised to another. This is one of The Royal Ballet’s most loved and admired productions, faithful to the spirit of the 1841 original yet always fresh at each revival. This performance features former Bolshoi star and now Royal Ballet Principal Natalia Osipova in a breath-taking interpretation of the title role.

Giselle

GISELLE is acclaimed director Toa Fraser's inter­pretation of the Royal New Zealand Ballet's production of Giselle. The classic story of love, erotism and death has been reinterpreted by Fraser to include both the on stage performance of the ballet, and an off-stage romance – interwoven with the ballet – that tells of two itinerant dancers, separated by time, distance and their abiding love for each other.

Bolshoi Ballet: Giselle

Learning that Albrecht, her beloved, is in fact a nobleman engaged to be married to a princess, the naive peasant girl Giselle dies. The Queen of the Wilis—the spirits of deceased young virgins—decides that Albrecht should follow Giselle to the grave, and condemns him to dance until he dies of exhaustion. But Giselle’s spirit dances with him and saves him. With music by Adolphe Adam and a libretto by Théophile Gautier and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, the ballet touches on the great romantic themes: local colour, a pastoral love affair doomed to end in tragedy, a plunge into fantasy and redemption through the power of love.

La Scala Ballet: Giselle

Acclaimed Ukranian dancer Svetlana Zakharova, who later became one of the youngest ballerinas in Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet, stars in the title role of the famed Romantic ballet "Giselle," recorded at the Teatro alla Scalla in Milan in April 2005. The production, with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, and music by Adolphe Adam, also features La Scala star Roberto Bolle as Albrecht.

If I Was Him

A down-on-his-luck architect and his handsome, successful colleague married to the woman they both love, drink a potion given to the former by a black sorcerer, and become each other.

The Voyage of Captain Fracassa

Serafina, Pulcinella and Isabella are three lusty, beautiful members of a traveling theatrical troupe touring the French countryside in the 17th century, leaving in their wake a crop of broken hearts. This picaresque romantic comedy is based on the 1863 novel Le Capitaine Fracasse by Theophile Gauthier. In the story, the company stops at a castle owned by the scruffy young Baron de Sigognac, who is deeply smitten with the charms of the middle-aged (and somewhat morose) beauty Serafina. He decides to travel with the company, and Serafina perversely tries to get him to woo the youngest of the company, the newly bereaved Isabella.

Giselle

Peasant girl Giselle dies of a broken heart after discovering her lover is betrothed to another. She is summoned from the grave by spirits who dance men to death. The spirits target her lover for death, but Giselle's great love frees him from their grasp.

Giselle

A film version of the ballet Giselle. Filmed in a studio, using innovative editing and cinematography to go along with the choreography, this film stands out from filmed stage-performances.

Mademoiselle de Maupin

Mademoiselle de Maupin escapes from her uncle's castle, invaded by Hungarian troops, under the guise of a clergyman named Theodore. An army recruiter forces Theodore to enlist in the King's army, and not even the religious robe is an insurance against it. Theodore is assigned to be aide-de-camp to Alcibiade, a man as virile in combat, as he seems troubled for the figure of his aid. D'Albert, an aristocrat, will expose Theodore's true sex, and after a number of confusing, comedy situations, Alcibiade will appease his troubled feelings.

Giselle

A thrilling performance film featuring Cuba's greatest ballet dancer, Alicia Alonso in her acclaimed portrayal of Giselle, the ballet that made Alicia an international star. In this tale, Duke Albrecht disguises himself as a peasant to win the love of the beautiful Giselle.

Avatar: The Exchange of Souls

Count Olgierd Łabiński lives with his beloved wife in Paris in a beautiful palace. The Countess recalls her stay in Florence and her insistent admirer Octavius ​​de Saville. Soon, Octavius, arrives in Paris and calls for the famous Dr. Cherbonneau, suspected of being a charlatan. Citing the teachings of the East, Cherbonneau offers the patient an "avatar", a reincarnation of the soul, which takes a different body...

Captain Fracasse

A ruined Baron Philippe de baron, meets one day a troupe of traveling actors led by Herod. Attracted by the one who plays the role of the ingenue: Isabella, and by the dynamism and enthusiasm of his companions, he takes the place of the deceased poet of the troupe. And during performances, Philippe became the captain Sunder. For his part, Isabelle loves Philip, but does not consider marriage, nobility him missing, she refuses to harm the career of Baron. And one day, the Duke of Vallombrosa, seduced by Isabella, finds himself challenged to a duel by Philippe for touching the girl. Defeated, he launched his men against Sunder, then removes Isabelle. The actors throw themselves then to storm the castle where she is being held. This time Vallombrosa was seriously injured, and the duke's own father, rushed to the scene, Isabelle discovers the girl he had once been an actress. Nothing stands now the union of Sunder and Isabella, under the tender gaze of the actors Herod and Scapin.

Captain Fracasse

Out of love for an actress, Isabelle, the Baron de Sigognac joins a traveling troop en route to Paris. When an actor dies, he takes over his role: that of Captain Fracasse.

Avatar

Based on Théophile Gautier's novel of the same name, the film tells of the tragic love affair of Ottavio de Saville. He falls madly in love with Madame Prascovie Labinska, a woman very faithful to her husband, the Polish count Olaf Labinski. Alarmed by the growing physical and mental weariness of the desperate young man, his relatives and friends decide to turn to Doctor Balthazar, who has just returned from a trip to the Indies where he was initiated into the secrets of Brahman.

The Hallucinations of Baron Munchausen

After an evening of excessive wining and dining Baron Munchausen must be helped to bed by his servants. Once asleep, he has bizarre and frightening dreams.

La momie

A young English lord, who has been excavating in Egypt, finds a mummy of a beautiful Egyptian princess, more than 5,000 years old. So well has the Egyptian embalmer done his work that the face is perfect in all its beauty, and the susceptible young man falls deeply in love with this belle of old Egypt, takes the mummy home to his estate in England and there it occupies his whole mind, to the exclusion of all else. Even the proposed visit of a beautiful American girl does not arouse his interest.