Ballet

Runtime
2hrs 50mins
Directed by
Frederick Wiseman
Featuring
N/A
Body

Featuring a conversation between Frederick Wiseman and Free Solo director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.

Ballet is a profile of the American Ballet Theatre, an important classical ballet company. The film presents the company in rehearsal in their New York studio and on tour in Athens and Copenhagen. Choreographers, ballet masters and mistresses are shown at work with principal dancers, soloists and the corps de ballet. Other sequences involve the administration and fundraising aspects of the company.

watch now

Through our Virtual Screening Room, you can rent films curated by the Coolidge team, while helping to support the Coolidge during this unprecedented time.

Having technical issues? Visit our FAQ page here.

Reviews
Review Text

An eloquent statement about the crucial role of art in bringing extra dimensions to our lives.

Review Author
John J. O'Connor
Review Publication
New York Times
Review Text

Ballet, in its characteristic unadorned, unsentimentalized manner, remains unique, and its portrait of ballet dancers at work has no parallel.

Review Author
Alan M. Kriegsman
Review Publication
The Washington Post
Review Text

Wiseman remains transfixed by the rigorous and highly traditional notion of beauty that the workers are trying to honor.

Review Author
The New Yorker

Presented by

This Week

  • From director Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean) comes an irresistible new take on Jane Austen’s iconic novel. 

    Showtimes
  • From boundary-pushing directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim.

    Showtimes
  • A film by Cristian Mungiu, winner of the 2026 Palme d’Or. 

    Showtimes
  • Screening from a newly struck 35mm print of the 4K restoration of the film!

    Showtimes
  • An audacious comedic fable about sex, marriage, and the absurdities of social convention.

    Showtimes
  • Ganja & Hess

    With guests from The Theater Offensive!

    Showtimes
  • Mahershala Ali stars in the new film from writer-director Bassam Tariq.

    Showtimes
  • A new Coolidge seminar from MIT Professor of Film and Media Jessica Ruffin.

    Showtimes
  • Two thousand years ago his birth was foretold. He's now five years old and his time has come.

    Showtimes
  • Director Tobe Hooper joins super-natural forces with producer Steven Spielberg to create one of the most frightening haunted house stories ever!

    Showtimes
  • A film by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, winners of the Best Director award at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. 

    Showtimes
  • Harry Lehman is an aging pickpocket who plies his trade with diminishing returns in a drastically changed New York. 

    Showtimes
  • The electrifying dog is back from beyond the grave!

    Showtimes
  • A Woman With an Empty Heart... A Man With a Loaded Gun whose only chaperon was MURDER!

    Showtimes
  • network

    Television will never be the same!

    Showtimes
  • Boston's one and only open mic night for filmmakers!

    Showtimes