Nijinsky (1980) Film Review C

DIRECTOR HERBERT ROSS

Director Herbert Ross is back again, showing us the power dynamics inside the Ballet Russes and the tragic story of the great ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. He is played by American ballet dancer George de la Pena, who is not quite up to the task, even if the ballet sequences are sometimes breathtaking. Alan Bates is shortchanged as his mentor Sergei Diaghilev, who was a genius, but in Hugh Wheeler’s script, he is pigeonholed into the role of a jealous lover.

Why does a great artist go crazy? Not a simple question to answer. Ross and Wheeler, however, take a reductive approach and blame everything on the woman, Rolola de Pulsky (Leslie Browne from “The Turning Point”), who steals him from Diaghilev. With Jeremy Irons, making his movie debut as the great ballet teacher and choreographer, Mikhail Fokine.

The movie was co-produced by Ross’s wife, the ballerina Nora Kaye.

Cinematography by Douglas Slocombe.

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After a series of mediocre but, in some cases, highly successful movies like “The Goodbye Girl” and “The Turning Point,” Herbert Ross delivered a masterpiece in 1981: his adaptation of Dennis Potter’s BBC series “Pennies from Heaven”. It was not a commercial success but it is thrilling, with some of the best musical numbers ever produced. Outside of the purview of this essay, it will be reviewed separately.

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