Time Doesn’t Stand Still

After meeting at a dinner one night about five years ago, director Asa Mader and current principal of the New York City Ballet Benjamin Millepied struck up a friendship. “We immediately had a connection,” says Mader. The duo subsequently holed up over a long weekend in the Hamptons (they stayed at the former residence of veteran NYC ballet choreographer Jerome Robbins) to brainstorm a collaboration. The results of that session finally come to fruition today in the premiere of the directors' edit of the evocative romantic short Time Doesn’t Stand Still, which will be released in its entirety in 2011. Featuring an original score by legendary David Lynch composer Angelo Badalamenti, the film's classic, timeless aesthetic is enhanced by stylist Aleksandra Woroniecka, who plundered Ralph Lauren’s current collections as well as the house’s archives. “There’s a universal language that we were trying to explore,” explains Mader of the spare French dialogue and intimate choreographed gestures. Millepied, who choreographed and stars in Darren Aronofsky’s latest film Black Swan, here plays opposite French actress Léa Seydoux (who had a memorable role in Inglourious Basterds and is set to star in the next installment of Mission Impossible) in a series of vignettes that serve as a window on their characters’ courtship. The pair’s late-night tango functions as a dramatic lynchpin of the film. “With a couple," says Mader, "there are things that don’t need to be spoken.” To read about the cinematic scenes Mader cites as influences, click here.