Even after knowing it would be stupid, the first thing I did after finishing Balestra was googling if this was actually based on a true story. Of course, it couldn’t be, because if it were real, the whole world (including me) would have known about it by now. I never really imagined I would write this, but Canadian director Nicole Dorsey’s film is like this strange, bastard child of Challengers and Inception that comes off as a two and a half hour long Black Mirror episode. It also reminds you of Black Swan. This is no negative criticism, by the way. Because in an age where human attention span is an extremely fragile thing, this two and a half-hour-long film that doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page successfully manages to keep you at the edge of your seat from start to finish. Well, at least that’s what happened for me, and if you’re reading this, then I guess it was the same for you as well. I have a fair bit of criticism, though. The editing here is choppy, and I’m not particularly a fan of Cush Jumbo’s lead performance. And I do wish Balestra had left us with a bit more ambiguity. I do realize you might not agree with me here, considering it’s not exactly cohesive either. Of course, I’m going to talk about Balestra’s ending extensively here and will also try to clear some of the other doubts you probably have with this one.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens in the Movie?
Let us talk about what happened four years ago, a dangling question that Balestra keeps throwing at us, first. I thought the lack of a clear reveal was quite pointless here, especially given this is an essential component in terms of establishing the nature of the relationship between our Olympics-bound fencer, Joanna, and her husband, cum coach, Raph. From what I could make out—after she was knocked out of the world championship in Cairo, Joanne attacked fellow fencer Breen without any provocation. Joanne was being touted as the bona fide winner there, who was set to make it to the Olympics. That loss was obviously heartbreaking, and she snapped when she couldn’t bear it. This would have ended her career, but Raph, being an Olympic medalist and a huge name in the fencing world, settled the whole thing by making Breen sign a non-disclosure agreement. That allowed Joanne to continue playing the sport and dreaming for that elusive Olympic gold.
Four years later, Joanne is thirty-four, and she’s no longer the player she used to be. Both her age and the guilt of carrying such a secret have clearly taken a toll on her. This becomes quite evident when she gets crushed in a friendly match by a whopping 15-4 margin, playing against the current talk of the town, Audie Zimmer. She gets further bothered upon knowing Audie is being personally trained by Raph, but her husband dismisses this by saying he does the same for other fencers as well. Raph does find Joanne a solution to her problem though—a cutting-edge technology called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, aka TMS, pioneered by one Dr. Sutro. In layman’s terms, Joanne has to sleep while wearing a modest coil on her head, which is called the Halo. The Halo will help her dream as per her wishes, which she’ll be able to remember. Naturally, the thing she has to dream about is getting trained by Raph. And the most important part about this is that time works differently inside the dream world—basically, hundreds of hours of dreams can fit into one night of sleep. There’s a safety catch; the Halo can be used only once in three nights, which sounds only logical.
What Happens When Joanne Puts On The Halo?
The process here is fairly simple: Joanne goes through a procedure where she’s asked to think about her husband and training with him, and the technicians transfer that data to her brain. It’s like planting the seed for the dream she’s destined to have. But when Joanne puts on the Halo, she doesn’t see Raph in the dreamscape. Instead, it’s Audie who gets stabbed in her neck by this other fencer, this young man who reveals himself as Elliot (Manny Jacinto, easily the best performer here). It doesn’t take long for us (and Joanne) to realize that Elliot is a representation of her own subconscious. However, what makes things exciting (again, for both the audience and Joanne) is that everything in this dreamland feels way too real. From taking a bath in the tub to eating cheeseburgers to the amazing sex with Elliot—yes, it evidently goes there—Joanne is significantly happier in her dreams. So much, that she wouldn’t hesitate to secretly hire a coder to take off the once in three nights restriction and use the Halo as desired. And it shows in her game as well, as she becomes much sharper, like the old days. At a second-tier competition in Denver, Joanne had no problem beating every single opponent in a very convincing manner and walking away with the gold in the end. Raph is understandably elated, but little does he know what’s really going on inside his wife’s dreams.
Does Joanne Really Kill Raph?
The whole arc of Raph’s death is unnecessarily complicated, and the approach doesn’t quite sit right with me. Because for the longest possible time, you keep wondering if Raph’s really dead or if that really only happened in Joanne’s dream world. This is definitely a fun thing Balestra gets to do, but the narrative sort of overdoes it. Anyway, even though Raph initially appears as this supportive husband doing everything possible to make Joanne’s dream come true, you slowly start to realize what a big red flag the guy is. He does want all the credit for Joanne’s success, and her winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics would also become a comeback story for the former bronze medal winner. For Raph, that bronze means nothing, and he considers himself a loser (which he is, but in a whole other context, if you know what I mean). Naturally he has a lot at stake here, and since he’s an entitled red flag, he believes Joanne owes him a gold medal. As the story progresses, it becomes quite clear that Joanne envisioned a very different life for herself until she walked into Raph’s salle. Inside the dreamland, we see her happy and carefree, which is the opposite of what she’s like under Raph’s thumb.
Joanne would still not have considered killing Raph if he hadn’t threatened to take the Halo away from her and also tell the world her secret. Of course, Raph does get to know about Elliot—something that you see coming from a mile away—and he’s not happy about it at all. What he doesn’t understand is he can’t control Joanne anymore. Thanks to the Halo, she has become much more confident. There’s this scene where she curtly tells her therapist to call her “Joanne” (instead of Jo) and also about her decision about cutting down on the season. This is a clear example of her brimming confidence, which has become possible only thanks to the Halo. So when Raph sneakily takes away the Halo and returns it to Dr. Sutro, Joanne has no other choice but to listen to her subconscious. The man does break the news over piping hot cassoulet that he has cooked all by himself, but quite ironically, he chokes on it and starts vomiting blood. Too bad he doesn’t know Joanne had already tampered with the medicine that prevents him from having blood clots and purposefully poked him with her epee during a fight, only aggravating the situation. Joanne getting shocked is a genuine reaction, because it was her subconscious acting out. That doesn’t mean Joanne didn’t want Raph to die or that she wouldn’t skillfully cover it up. Not to mention, she also goes to Dr. Sutro and convinces the doctor to give her the Halo back. I thought it was pretty smart for her to tell the truth—that Raph was getting jealous of her success, putting him in the bracket of those kinds of men who just can’t accept their wives achieving more than them. One might argue here about Raph genuinely wanting Joanne to be a gold medalist, but with the Halo (and Eliot), he would know for a fact that he just couldn’t take the credit, which would have been absolutely unacceptable. So the conclusion here is that Raph indeed dies by the hand of his wife, and Joanne moves on.
Does Joanne Get Caught?
Even though Elliot suggests Joanne quit fencing at one point, she realizes she absolutely can’t let it go without winning that medal. Also, Audie Zimmer has been getting on her nerves since the beginning of the film. From the friendly match at the beginning to the round of sixteen of the Cincinnati NAC, Joanne can’t win it against Audie, and it bothers her so much. Deep down, Joanne also suspects something is going on between Raph and Audie, and no matter how she feels about her husband, that does make her insecure. The reason behind that is her growing concern behind Raph choosing someone younger and better, who has more chances than Joanne at getting him what he wants. In her defense, Audie’s affection towards Raph does hint at that as well, although I believe there was nothing romantic (or sexual) going on. That aside, Audie has been nothing but nice to Joanne and shown her support. They’re both competing at the Olympics for the same country after all.
Even though she does an impeccable job when it comes to covering up Raph’s death, including properly burying the body and everything, the guilt and anxiety around it keeps eating at her. Elliot doesn’t help the situation either; in fact, he puts Joanne through various drills where she’s just about to get caught—case in point, the scene where police come to her house investigating Raph’s death and show her the photo that pretty much convicts her. That’s a trick Balestra also plays on the audience, very convincingly. However, Joanne’s game doesn’t get affected by all this. In fact, it reaches such an excellent level that Elliot warns her to tone it down a bit in order to not make people suspicious. Joanne fails to content herself and wins it all at Mexico, but she gets away without raising any suspicion. People do get concerned about the sudden disappearance of Raph, though. From USA team coach Owen to Audie, everyone keeps asking her about Raph. She initially says Raph’s dealing with some family stuff, but before the Olympic games, she breaks the big news to Audie—that her marriage is not okay and Raph and her are separated. Not only does that earn her some sympathy, it also clears Audie’s doubts. Or so she thought!
I feel Audie sensed something was off at some point seeing Joanne’s meteoric rise in the rankings. Raph going missing only made her suspicion stronger. The final nail in the coffin for Joanne was her blocking Audie from Raph’s phone (which she had with her all along). That leads to Audie looking into the matter and finding out about the coder. We can all argue that Audie still wouldn’t have known anything had Joanne not gone out of her room in the middle of the night to talk to the coder from a payphone outside. That only allows Audie to get inside Joanne’s room (getting her teammate’s keys from the reception is an easy-peasy thing) and find out about the rest. And what better time to reveal it to Joanne than just before the gold medal match?
Now, the thing here is—Joanne still could have escaped. She had her fake passport ready. Audie had not gone to the police yet (I suppose she only did before the finale). Upon knowing Joanne was using technology to get better, Audie wanted to beat her. It was a matter of prestige for her, which is totally understandable. But it was the same for Joanne as well. That’s why she chooses to not leave, ignoring Elliot, and decides to play the final match. If she hadn’t, she would have got away, at least for the time being. But what’s the point if she doesn’t win the Olympic gold, beating Audie Zimmer? So she steps on the slip and wins the nail-biter of a finale by a 15-14 margin. Her reaction after winning it only proves how much it means to her. For Audie, it’s not a defeat either, as the world will soon know what Joanne did in order to win. Balestra ends with Joanne getting on the podium and receiving the medal. We don’t see her getting caught on screen, but with the police outside, it’s a given. She will have to pay for her sin, although men like Raph only deserve that kind of fate.
Note: In case you didn’t notice, the title Balestra is a fencing term, which basically means surprising the audience.
