
The casting is the thing here: Alan
Bates is perfect as the autocratic impresario, with that silver streak in his
hair, and nobody wears an astrakhan coat and top hat better. La Pena and Leslie
Browne fare less well in the dramatic stakes, he as Nijinsky descending into
madness as he cracks from the pressure of trying to be brilliant all the time,
while she essays the cunning woman who was determined to get him away from
Diaghilev when the lovers have a misunderstanding and part and the dancer impulsively marries her, He spent his last years in an asylum, not really covered here apart from a closing title..
Sterling support from Alan Badel as the effete Baron who finances
ballet, Jeremy Irons (in his debut, below right) as petulant choreographer Fokine, Janet
Suzman, Sian Phillips (barely seen), Colin Blakely, Ronald Pickup as
Stravinsky. It all looks great too with great costumes and sets, an obviously
expensive production, but this was made in 1980, when CRUISING was typical of
how gays were represented in the cinema. Here our lovers kiss just once and
through a handkerchief, as they are afraid of catching germs! Nijinksy also
appears in VALENTINO, as played by English ballet star Anthony Dowell whom we
see in a rather good scene dancing with Nureyev's Valentino!
One line will make you laugh, as Diagheliv stops Nijinsky from eating
chocolate: "Nobody loves a fat faun"!
More period Alan Bates in 102 BOULEVARD HAUSSMANN, a 1991 BBC production, written by Alan Bennett where Alan is writer Marcel Proust, who in 1916 is leading a reclusive life in Paris. He hires a quartet of musicians and befriends one of them, a wounded serviceman, with Paul Rhys and Janet McTeer as his housekeeper. I missed this at the time, but the BBC has kindly repeated it this summer so I have the recording waiting for when I am in the mood! (Now if they would only repeat those Lee Remick and Dirk Bogarde productions I have been banging on about .... as per labels)!
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Jeremy Irons in NIJINSKY |

My friend Jorge in Sao Paulo adds:
ReplyDelete"I have a great fondness for Ross's 'Nijinsky' (often screen it to the students), I think it captures the frenzied creativity of the Ballets Russes with great charm, intelligence and beauty, the recreation of the key dancing pieces are evocative and often stunning (as you noted George De La Pena's take on the Faun is beyond exquisite, but I also love the threesome in "Jeu", and the rehearsals for the madly, incredibly difficult choreography for "The Rites of Spring"), and the cast is perfection (particularly Bates and Badel).
I very much love Russell's 'Valentino' if only to have the opportunity to see Nureyev and Antony Dowell doing the tango, one of my favorite dancing moments on film. (Oh, 'Mahler' and 'Savage Messiah' are two of my favorite Russell, I'm sure you'll love them!)."