Flesh and Boneisnt aBlack Swanrip-off.
IfBlack Swanwas a horror storyaboutwomen, thenFlesh and Boneis one madeforthem.
As Claire, Hay perfectly captures a ballet dancers impossible coming of age.
Credit: Patrick Harbron/Starz
Its fitting that Claire is obsessed with a glass dancer figurine that her brother gives her.
Shes a lot like that memento: delicate, but sharp enough to cut someone when shes broken.
Claires relationship with her roommate, Mia (Emily Tyra), is just as complicated.
Claire counters by lacing up the stilettos the benefactor gave her, right in front of Mias face.
Each woman is in charge of her own objectification, and its no accident that both experiment with self-harm.
All of this makesFlesh and Bonesound more serious than it is.
), and a hokey homeless guy with a heart of gold.
But the show is too thoughtful to be dismissed as kitschy fun.
Theres no pleasure in the dancers pain, just a deep compassion for their struggle for perfection.
They might be masochists, butFlesh and Bonerefuses to make sadists of the rest of us.B+
