La Danse The Paris Opera Ballet, directed by Frederick Wiseman

Sunday, Southside Theatre at 12.30 p.m. and Thursday, Speciality Cinema at 8.45 p.m.

Understanding just how a performer does what he or she does can help one appreciate better the performance, and "La Danse" The Paris Opera Ballet, directed by Frederick Wiseman, shows one in minute detail how a ballet is created for opening night.

In fact, there's just a little too much detail, and running over two and a half hours, the film is overly long.

There is no narration, no identification of individuals, no indication that you are in fact witnessing the preparation of eight completely different works from choreographer's conception to dancers' realisation. It was only after about an hour that I worked out that the woman with the short red hair was the artistic director Brigitte (Lefèvre I looked it up on the Internet).

Perhaps in dance circles she is so well-known that she is instantly recognisable, and therefore needs no introduction, but it would have helped me understand better what was going on if I knew whom (and what) I was watching.

The film starts with a series of atmospheric shots of the corridors of what one presumes is the Palais Garnier, and you follow the camera up the stairs and into the studios where choreographers and ballet masters work with the dancers to learn the steps, perfect the moves, convey precisely the characters and mood of the story through movement. The camera moves from studio to studio with no indication that you are not watching different aspects of the preparation of one ballet.

In fact you witness elements of eight in rehearsal and performance: Roméo et Juliette, Paquita, Orphée et Eurydice, La Maison de Bernarda, Genus, Casse Noisette (The Nutcracker), Le Songe de Médée (The Dream of Medea) and Chagall Ceiling. You are shown just how much time, trouble and thought is given to each movement, and come to appreciate the concentration, astonishing athleticism and impeccable sense of timing required to complete a ballet.

Between the clips of the rehearsals and ultimately the performances, you are allowed in on conferences with choreographers and dancers, programme planning sessions, union meetings, cafeteria meals, costume and lighting design, all the minutiae of the daily life of the troupe. You learn something of the philosophy of the company and what motivates the members of the troupe to expend such effort on creating a work of art. In fact, you're given a little too much detail, as you are also shown the beekeeper (presumably on the roof of the building) and the maintenance men patching and painting the ceiling of a corridor. There are also interspersed through out the film a series of shots of the Paris skyline taken at different seasons and time of day perhaps to indicate the passage of time?

While it's fascinating to see how a ballet is formed, the film doesn't follow any one dancer or even one ballet, so you don't develop empathy for the people you are watching on the screen. It's very academic, esoteric, and as you jump from studio to studio with no indication of what you're seeing, a little incoherent. I was never entirely sure what was going on … perhaps those with a more intimate knowledge of the ballet world and the individual works would have been less confused than I.