What to Watch: This Nostalgic New Ballet Film Is a Glamorous Look at Paris at Night

A white tulle dress, time travel, the Eiffel Tower at night… these elements come together in Until Midnight, a new dance film by Christopher Alexander of Zen Film Works. This eight-minute long vignette opens with Louise (played by Louise Schirmer), a former ballerina now living alone in old age. Through the delivery of a mysterious letter and a wristwatch from her past, she returns briefly to her youthful self, danced by Brittany Cavaco, a freelance ballerina currently performing with English National Ballet. In a Cinderella-like twist, Louise has until midnight to find her beloved Jean Pierre (Sebastien Thill, former dancer with Paris Opera Ballet and Hamburg Ballet) for one last dance. According to Cavaco, all of the movement was improvised, created by herself and Alexander in each location.

Until Midnight
is a nostalgic sojourn through some of Paris’ most iconic locations, including the Louvre Pyramid and the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, which overlooks the Seine. “Getting to dance around Paris is one of my all time favorite memories,” says Cavaco. But the romance of dancing on old city streets has its downsides. “Pointe shoes never mix well with cobble stone,” she says. “It can make for a lot of tripping.” You can watch the film in full below—if anything, it will make you dream of hopping on the next plane to Paris.