THE WHITE CROW
UK/France/Serbia, 2018, 127 minutes, Colour.
Oleg Ivenko, Ralph Fiennes, Louis Hoffmann, Adele Exarchopoulos, Sergei Polunin, Olivier Rabourdin, Raphael Personnaz.
Directed by Ralph Fiennes.
The White Crow might seem a strange title for a film about one of the best and best-known ballet dancers of the 20th century, Rudolf Nureyev. However, the film offers an immediate definition, of the unusual white crow which stands out, is different, even on the edge.
The screenplay for this film was written by celebrated playwright, David Hare. It focuses on several specific times, relying on the dramatic intercutting of these times, flashbacks, each time commenting on the other. For many, this will provide some difficulties, especially with the actor, Oleg Ivenko, looking very much the same for the sequences in the mid to late 1950s as well as the key sequences in 1961 (admitting that he would have looked much the same in real life but it does take an audience some time to work out in which period the narrative is taking place).
Speaking of Oleg Ivenko, this is his first screen performance and he acquits himself well even though he has to be somewhat one-dimensional in Nureyev’s actual life, the multi-dimensions emerging in his skill as a dancer – and the filmmakers have made the option of choosing a dancer to act rather than an actor to dance. The one dimension in Nureyev’s character is his absolute self-confidence, ambition, never plagued by self-doubt and treating people accordingly.
In fact, Nureyev was born in the Soviet Union on a train in 1938, the sequence included, and some, in black and white, of his early years with his family, devotion to his mother, and his skilful and precocious first steps in dancing. He moved to Moscow in the mid-1950s, determined to dance, asserting himself, clashing with his supervisors, changing his director, but making a significant impression. The glimpses of him at this time include many rehearsals, his injuring his leg, his recuperating at the home of his supervisor, the support of the supervisor’s wife, her sexual approaches – but, his being seen in a sexual relationship with another of the dancers, indicating his homosexual orientation and behaviour.
But, the central action of the film takes place in 1961, the Kirov’s ballet tour of Paris, the acclaim, Nureyev, at first prohibited from starring in the premiere performance, eventually making an enormous impact on the public and critics alike.
The screenplay shows how the Russian dancers, strictly supervised and controlled during the tour, respond to the attractions of Paris itself and of Western culture. This is very much the case for the anti-authoritarian Nureyev and, in an event which surprised the world, he defected while at the Paris airport.
The film enables its audience to understand how Nureyev was attracted to the west, the drama of his decision, the help that he received, advice from a friend Clara Saint (Adele Exarchopoulos).
He lived and worked in the West for over three decades, at the Paris Opera Ballet, in London, in Denmark, a celebrated partnership with Margot Fonteyn, dancing and directing (Don Quixote with Robert Helpmann, filmed in a hangar at Essendon airport), a worldwide celebrity. He died in 1993.
The film was directed by actor Ralph Fiennes who plays a significant but unassuming role as Nureyev’s trainer (impressively speaking much of his dialogue in Russian).
1. The title? The explanation? The anomaly of the White Crow? A description for Rudolf Nureyev, his courage, life, career?
2. Audience knowledge of Nureyec? His background in Russia, his defection to the West, his subsequent career? Significant in 20th-century ballet?
3. Audience appreciation of ballet, the various excerpts, rehearsals, performances? The musical score?
4. Memories of the Soviet Union, restrictions, control, spies and supervision, the West and its perspective on the restrictions of the Soviet Union?
5. The contribution of Ralph Fiennes, as director, his performance, speaking Russian?
6. The talent of Oleg Ivenko, his skill as a dancer, able to create an impression of Nureyev and his performances?
7. The structure: the situation in Paris in 1961, going back to the birth on the train in 1938, the subsequent years in Russia, ballet training in the mid-to-late 50s, his achievement, dancing in Paris? The interconnections of the time eras? Their commenting on each other?
8. The film as the dancer’s biography, his origins, poverty, the 1930s in Russia, his mother, his ambitions, seeing him dance as a little boy, his trainer? Poverty, going to study, strong-minded and insisting on his talent? His background as an explanation for his character?
9. Going to Moscow, study, self-assertion, accepted, rehearsals, the other dancers, clashing with the authorities? Transferring trainers? Pushkin and his silent presence, encouraging, but not articulating it? Pushkin’s wife, the dancer’s injury, inviting him into the house, feeding him, his staying on the couch, the sexual advances and the effect on him? The silent husband? The fellow dancers, the homosexual encounters? Going to the Kirov, the older ballerina inviting him to dance with her? His success? The authorities suspicious?
10. Going to Paris, the group and the arrival, the excitement of Paris in the 1960s, yet the restrictions from their supervisors? Nureyev and his status, clash with the authorities, his not being invited to dance in the premiere? His being humiliated, yet his continued assertion? His particular supervisor and the interaction with him, permissions, prohibitions? His going out, the parties, the clubs, the encounter with the French, Pierre and his friendship? Sharing with them? Going out, the clubs, the singers, the atmosphere, gay presence in the 1960s? The effect on him?
11. His dancing, success, acclaim, the effect on the fellow dancers, the critics?
12. The character of Clara Saiint, background from Chile, Andre Malraux and his position in French culture, her relationship with his son? The friendship with Nureyev, sharing? His behaviour towards her, callous and self-centred?
13. The end of the tour, the orders from Moscow, to dance at the Kremlin, that his mother’s dying? The drama at the airport, the situation, his not wanting to go, the authorities changing his flight to Moscow, his supervisors watching him? Pierre, trying to help, the phone calls, contacting Clara, her arrival, her whispered advice to Nureyev?
14. His going to the French authorities, seeking asylum, the reaction of the Russian supervisors, the conflict with the French authorities, going to the room, his being left by himself to make his decision, the two doors, one to go back to Russia, the other to freedom? The weight? Re-entry into the room and his having made his choice?
15. The details of his subsequent success and career, the Paris Opera Ballet, dancing with Margot Fonteyn, Robert Helpmann, Denmark, performance, films? His sexuality – and his death in 1993, AIDS-related?
