Étoile Review
Director: Amy Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino and Scott Ellis
Date Created: 2025-04-24 15:50
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Étoile Review: The series is directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino and Scott Ellis, who have demonstrated their storytelling and charming powers already with TV shows like Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. With Scott Ellis coming on board to direct, I’d been cautiously optimistic for something to remember. The cast also looked impressive with names like Luke Kirby, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lou De Laâge, David Alvarez and others. The show has eight hourlong episodes, and it alternates between the worlds of the dancers and artistic teams at two American ballet companies, one in Paris and one in New York, who make the bold decision to exchange their best performers to inject some vigour into their struggling institutions.
The concept looks impressive on paper. A cultural and artistic exchange between two legendary cities, as seen through the lens of ballet, sounded like a novel approach. But having just done a marathon reading and viewing of all the episodes, I have mixed feelings about it: gratitude and regret.
Étoile Review
Visually, Prime Video’s Étoile is absolutely beautiful. The Paris and New York locations are beautifully photographed. And whether the series is playing out in the grandeur of an old European theatre or the lowbrow surfaces of a modern studio, the cinematography contributes atmosphere. The costumes that have been designed, particularly during the rehearsals and performances, really elevate and add a bit of class to the story. And yes, the ballet sequences are beautifully performed. If you’re not a balletomane, you’ll still marvel at the level of skill on view. And it’s obvious professionals worked up those scenes, and that effort pays off.
For a show that’s billed as a comedy as well as a drama, it’s astonishingly humourless. The humour just doesn’t land. It’s not witty or subtle, it’s largely missing. There are times when some of the characters attempt some levity, but the humour felt forced more than funny. Yet I expected a smattering of chuckles at least, considering its creators’ previous work, and a lot of the dialogue fell flat, too serious or just plain out of touch.
And I also didn’t feel emotionally attached to the characters. Introductions abounded, relationships came and went, but few of them made much of an impression. Sometimes it seemed as if the show was juggling too many story lines without diving all the way into any of them. The stage presence of some of the dancers was indelible, but the stories behind them had not yet been fully fleshed out. It made me want to see more of what motivates them, what terrifies them, or what even brings them joy outside the world of ballet. Many of the characters, instead, felt distant and cold, like we were simply looking at what they were doing, but not listening to their hearts.
And now let’s discuss the characters. They are good, but they don’t register very heavily. Lou De Laâge, who stars in one of the lead roles, clearly worked hard. You can tell she’s in it. Article Continued Below, but her character, aka destiny, never grows or changes in any significant fashion. She begins the show feeling trapped, and the show ends with her feeling trapped. There’s no journey there, no transformation. It’s as if you were riding a train that, rather than actually travelling, simply goes around the station.
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I particularly found one of the characters, Cheyenne, extremely annoying. He’s an arrogant, selfish person, and he remains such throughout the entire series. I was waiting for us to get some other side of him, or at least to be able to make better sense of why he was doing what he was doing. But no. He just remains a jerk. And the thing is, the characters are so unlikable, it’s difficult to care about their relationships or struggles.
One character who jumped out at me, though not necessarily in a good way, was one of the artistic directors. Instead of being inspiring and visionary, he sounded too rigid, too focused on control. I think the show blinked at exploring that sort of nuance more. Leadership in art is an interesting area, but here it was a little one-dimensional.
One more thing that put me off was that the Étoile series is quite slow. That’s not always bad, I love slow-burn storytelling when it’s contributing to something worthwhile. But here, I found myself often waiting for things to get moving … and they never really did. He doesn’t present a big moment, a twist that pulls you in entirely. All it does is slink from one scenario to the next.
Summing Up
That said, I don’t hate Prime Video’s Étoile series. It just didn’t connect with me the way I hoped it would. I think it might be more for people who really love ballet or classical arts, because there’s certainly beauty in the way those parts are visualised and a real dedication to them. The show is a good-looking series, I will say that, and I do appreciate the effort put into portraying the world of professional dance in a respectful, classy manner.
Étoile 2025 is now streaming on Prime Video.
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