In a sudden shift, bodies moving across the screen hold a new weight: Each attitude turn and pirouette may determine who gets the scholarship into a prestigious ballet school in Paris, France. For Kate Sanders (Diana Silvers) it would be a dream come true. For Marine Elise Durand (Kristine Froseth) it is expected to be hers for the taking. 

Traveling from psychedelic sequences in bird masks to intense and brutal dance rehearsals, the two fight amongst a larger class of dancers for the spot. Through the process, they develop a strong bond that unveils unexpected truths about their past and their ambitions. Birds of Paradise depicts dancers willing to do whatever it takes to make the cut. 

Writer and director Sarah Adina Smith loosely based the film on A.K. Small’s book titled Bright Burning Stars. Smith said what really attracted her to the book was the tone and the space it had to be told on screen. 

“It's fun to write an adaptation because rather than starting with just a totally blank canvas, you're kind of given this tone or this prompt — and sometimes that can be even more freeing as a writer,” she says. 

The dance aspects of the film opened up new opportunities for Smith to tell the story. She says what interested her was the contrast between control and determinism as people try to find true freedom. 

“Ballet is a very rigorous, controlled craft striving for perfection, but in contrast to that, we are all incredibly messy, chaotic beings and humans trying to achieve that perfection." 

The presence and symbolism of birds in the film came alongside dance. Looking back at the origins of dance, Smith noticed that there is a lot of rituals involved in movement. 

“When I started thinking about ballet and watching some ballet, I just kept thinking about the nature shows that showcase birds of paradise doing these mating dances for each other, about the origin of dance, and [it] as a kind of primal way we would communicate,” Smith explains. 

Smith, who does not identify as a dancer, turned to choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall to share her words in the script through movement, after laying out the groundwork for what movement she wanted to see in the film. 

“I try to write in such a way where the reader feels like they're watching a movie,” she says. 

Rowlson-Hall, best known for her work on Girls and for various musical artists like Alicia Keys, shares the same vision as Smith. As a result, it was easy for Smith to communicate what each dance felt and looked like. 

“I knew I wanted someone who doesn't necessarily think about dance from the outside in, but works from the inside out,” Smith says. “I think Celia and I both are people who channel from the inside out.”

Together, they portrayed Smith’s examination of class, power and money through the film. 

“I was really thinking about, like, can one achieve ones goals or achieve greatness at the highest level and still be good, or do you compromise yourself along the way?” Smith asks. 

Filming right as the pandemic started added a layer to her examination of priorities and goals. As everyone felt the impending pandemic settle in with only about seven days remaining to shoot, Smith, along with the rest of the team, had time to look inward like the characters do in Birds of Paradise.

“I feel like all of us had this huge awakening about our priorities,” she reveals. “I think because of the pandemic in a way, we had a new relationship with ambition and what's really important.”

Smith says it also became a real-life writing exercise to film the rest of the production safely. She said it felt like she was trying to “solve a puzzle.” Some iterations were more psychedelic, allowing dance to open up portals between worlds, but she also learned to focus on the emotional core of the movie. 

“There are so many different versions of this,” Smith says. “I had to really get things down to their essentials because we really could only shoot what was absolutely necessary. That's a great exercise as a storyteller in a way, because it ended up getting me to the most emotional core of the movie.”

The film features various nuggets of information that slowly unravel into a darker or more surprising truth about each of the characters. The use of these seeds packs in many layers into each scene and sequence. 

“I'm kind of a maximalist writer for better and for worse,” Smith admits. “I want the story to be very giving for there to be layers that you can unpack on multiple watches."

One of her inspirations for the story was The Talented Mr. Ripley, where there is an outsider who struggles to rise in the ranks. However, Smith also wanted to look at the other aspects of privilege and power through Birds of Paradise.

“It's one thing to look at somebody else who has privilege, and there's truth to that power imbalance, but then also on the other side of that, just because you didn't come from privilege doesn't mean you're entitled to success either or that you're somehow just going to get it just because you weren't born with that stuff,” she says. 

This is best portrayed through Kate, whose bond with Marine blinds her from the realities of privilege. No amount of dancing, exertion or drive will help in her favor. 

“I think you really feel for her in that regard — this notion that no matter how hard you work, it doesn't matter,” Smith says. “That somehow the game will always be stacked against you.” 

Birds of Paradise is now streaming on Amazon Prime.