- Network: Prime Video
- Series Premiere Date: Apr 24, 2025
Critic Reviews
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"Etoile" (which means "star" in French) wants to be more high-brow than it should. The dances are beautiful, but the characters shouldn't have to walk in others' toe shoes. We've seen the petulance, the bickering, the histrionics before. .... And the cast? It's too large for something that's already unwieldy. Eliminating the side stories (did we need Jack's sister in this?) could put the focus where it needs to be: creating art in a bankrupt society.
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We’re giving Étoile a recommendation more on hope and the Palladinos’ reputation than anything we saw in the first episode, which moved slowly and felt a bit too insular for our comfort.
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Étoile (Prime Video) will not bore you stiff, although it may occasionally make you roll your eyes at the sheer amount of whimsy involved.
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Étoile is … fine. It passes the time. But every person seems to be acting in a slightly different show from everyone else, and tonally it falls between any and every possible stool.
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There is so much going on in Étoile (the recalcitrant daughter returning to France, the chauvinist dancer desperate for his shot at the big time, the family legacy being unravelled by corporate interference) that, at times, it might be better served played at a slower tempo, with more focus on the humanity. When it has room to breathe, Étoile can be quite beautiful.
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For six or seven episodes, the hour-long series is likably light-on-its-feet, infused with its creators’ love and admiration for this world and boasting strong lead performances. .... Some of the things that happen in the Étoile homestretch are so pointlessly dumb they soured me on a show that I’d mostly been enjoying.
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When Étoile stops trying too hard and gives itself up to that sort of starry-eyed euphoria, it’s a terpsichorean treasure.
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Despite its budget and resources (much of the New York story takes place in and around Lincoln Center), the series feels like it’s told by ballet patrons, for ballet patrons — people who like watching pretty people glide across a stage, but lack the curiosity to ask why or how they do it, let alone share the answers with an audience without access to The Met.
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While the dancing is stunning, and some characters have a few amusing traits, “Étoile” is an exhausting show centering a slew of insufferable people obsessed with hearing themselves speak.