A gay couple at a crossroads; an individual faced with questions of identity; artists seeking inspiration; a ball­ room filled with ghosts; a dank basement where strange visions come to life — these are but some of the charac­ters and settings of Ballroom, the atmospheric debut film by a collective of three French artists and writers, two of whom co-star as well.

René is a multimedia artist who runs an Internet webcam site depicting bears in their many forms. He is working on his next full-blown gallery installation, his own bearish frame perpetually surrounded by countless props, devices, and cameras. He lives in the ballroom of an abandoned dance hall, sharing the space and a bed with his partner Patrick, a scriptwriter of comparable bulk and similar outlook. What begins as a realistic examination of two people as committed to their art as they are to their relationship, soon turns slightly stranger. With the help of an ever-multiplying hoard of men in pinafores, the film eventually moves from reality to fan­tasy, and from fantasy to nightmare.

Building a sense of darkness into a palpable feeling of dread, Ballroom merges its many genres with a distinct economy of vision. Relationship drama, fantasy film, psychological thriller, even hardcore pornography­ all are explored, yet never rushed. Brilliant cinematogra­phy contributes to the film's assured tone, with painterly compositions lending a sense of controlled grace to a world on the brink of nightmare.