Hello! I’d like to hear your opinion on Rudolph…like seriously how old is this kid? He looks older than Felicie and Victor (I’d say around 13-15 at least)…plus, I didn’t even catch Rudolph’s full name! Felicie also mentioned that he was a prince?! What could he possibly be doing at a dance school in Paris?! I sorta wish he had more screen time as well...
I do have thoughts on our silly little Russian boy!
(look at that cute face!)
I seriously love his dancing. God he’sgood. I mean, if we’re looking for a passionate dancer I think he’s our guy.
Character-wise- he’s a bit all over.He’s stuck-up and snobby towards Félicie and disregarding of the othergirls, and it’s only when Félicie starts improving than he actually paysattention to her (I also don’t know why Félicie goes from meh to infatuation towards him so fast).
But it’s the scene on the Eiffel Tower that really irked me- he seemed decent enough untilthem, sure he was stuck up and gave bad advice to Félicie (and is a very bad poet) but it was when hepunched Victor that he became an unredeemable jerk in my eyes. Seriously, hecould have shaken hands with Victor and walked away and been much the betterfor it. I think it comes down to him being a foil for Victor, showing how meanand rude he is while Victor is a genuine, upstanding guy.
I also don’t know what his full nameis supposed to be, or why they made him a prince of all things, except that it’ssupposed to impress Félicie and further accentuate the difference between himand Victor. I mean, that’s his whole purpose in the movie, as a romantic rivaland Victor’s foil. Speaking of- these are children,maybe we didn’t need a romantic rival- or romance at all!
As for what he’s doing there-historically, it makes absolutely no sense.
The late 1800′s was when the ParisBallet was in decline and dancers – especiallymale dancers- were fleeing to Russia and other countries to perform. Male dancers were in lowdemand and poorly thought of by the Parisienne theater-going public, while elsewhere inthe world they were still well-respected. So why would Rudolf have travelled toParis to dance instead of staying inhis home country where people would have actually appreciated his talent?
On theother hand, I love his dancing and it certainly makes sense for a showing of The Nutcracker that does have importantroles for male leads. So in-movie, that’d be the reason. And in the movie we’re supposed tobelieve that Paris is still the world center of ballet, so of course he’d want to go to Paris. I’d argue his parents wereold-fashioned and truly thought that he’d do better in Paris than in Moscow.
(He kinda looks like a girl here… now that would have been interesting)
I also didn’t realize how tall he is compared to the other girls (who are 11!). However old he is, too old to be courting a child. Ugh. No. A lot of my personal issues with the movie would be fixed just by having them older, seriously.
I’d also like to throw out that I’m pretty sure he’s supposed to be (somewhat) inspired by the famous dancer Rudolf Nureyev, but that’s for another time.
What do you guys think of Russian boy?
