For his third time behind the camera the two time Academy Award nominated actor Ralph Fiennes has tackled the story of the defection to the West of Rudolph Nureyev the Russian who was one of the greatest dancers of all time. With a script by two time Academy Award nominated writer David Hare, this lengthy biopic is the story of how this difficult but talented genius chose freedom over being controlled by the Soviet Authorities.
Fiennes successfully gambled in casting the Ukrainian dancer Oleg Ivenko as his star even though he had never acted before. Not only did he have an uncanny likeness to Nureyev, but he added such an authenticity to all the dance sequences which were most of the best parts of the film.
We see Nureyev as a very young student being accepted into th Leonard Conservatory and the first flashes on his fiery temper. For a young boy brought up in near poverty in small country town, he unexpectedly showed a great deal of arrogance and disdain for authority, He succeeded in demanding a change in tutor so that he could work with Leonard Pushkin (Ralph Fiennes) . Pushkin was a reserved soul who rarely shared his feelings, unlike his younger wife Xenia (Chulpan Khamatova), who took in Nureyev when he had broken his leg and seduced him whilst nursing him back to health.
He seemed constantly angry with the world at large, although we never got to learn why. When he was part of the Kirov Ballet Company he so irritated the bosses that would have preferred to have left him out when they undertook their first European Tour since the ending of WW2 some 16 years ago. However it was more important to the powers that be that the Kirov was seen as the world’s best ballet company and so that meant they had no choice to include. They still tried to keep him in line by denying him the lead role on Opening Night in Paris when all the critics would be there,
Nureyev’s sexuality was only touched on lightly when we see him in bed with Teja (Louis Hofmann) a German member of the Company. There was however no hint of the passion we know that he had for men, and it seemed like he was more interested in this as an opportunity to improve his English.
Nureyev took to Paris like a duck took to water leaving the Hotel at the crack of dawn to visit places like the Louvre to soak up as much culture as possible. At a reception given by their French Hosts, whilst the Company held back as it was forbidden to talk to foreigners, Nureyev broke ranks and befriended the choreographer Pierre Lacotte (Raphaël Personnaz).
He in turn introduced the Russian to his own circle of close friends including Clara Saint (Adèle Exarchopoulos) a Chilean heiress and socialite. They were all attracted to him for his exceptional talent and seem to adore him even though he lacked all the social graces that one expects from a close friendship. Despite his indifference and outright rudeness, they would be the ones that would save him at the end when he had to deal with the Russian authorities finally deciding to curtail his freedom.
The film really steps up a notch or two when after a rather languid pace when we finally come to all the excitement and exhilaration of the Airport scenes when Nureyev decides to ask for Political Asylum. Back home in Russia though Pushkin declares to the Authorities, that the reason was never ever political and it was just Nureyev’s way of ensuring he could always dance.
The cast actually includes Sergei Polunin the current bad boy of ballet, but this movie belongs to Ivanko for his wonderful performance at Nureyev The script didn’t allow him a chance to reveal much of the inner man, but he shone as the sacred monster on the outside that Fiennes/Hare seemed almost infatuated with.
