Word: film
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...dances that helped lay the foundation for modern ballet; a young George Ballanchine honed his craft with this troupe. Under the direction of Russian impresario Diaghilev, the Ballets Russes featured the avant-garde: music by Stravinsky and Debussy, sets by Picasso and Matisse, choreography by Fokine and Nijinsky. The film opens in 1912, with Nijinsky (George de la Pena) at the height of his distinguished dancing career, and beginning to design his own ballets, encouraged by mentor and lover Diaghilev (Alan Bates). But as Nijinsky's innovative ballets meet with hostile receptions, the relationship deteriorates. Convinced of Diaghilev's rejection...
...film waxes ambiguous: Does Diaghilev's action depend on Nijinsky's choreographic incompetence--is he dropped "for the good of the company," as the previous choreographer was? Oris Diaghilev merely prone to the pangs of lost love? Unfortunately, any depiction of the company proves incidental; Nijinsky fails to convey much sense of excitement, or even of the life-style, of the Ballets Russes. Ross and screenwriter Hugh Wheeler seem determined not to tell a story about people who dance, but a love story about people who just happen to dance...
Irritatingly active during the ballets, the camera becomes curiously fixed on the stage after the ballets--a few cheers off-screen (so feeble they sound as if supplied by the film crew) indicates a warm ovation. The sole exception, and the sole excitement, occurs during a disastrous premiere, Shocked by the unorthodox choreography, a raucous audience tosses programs at the stage; as the catcalls drown out the music, Nijinsky shouts the beats to dancers from the wings, while Diaghilev tries to calm the crowd out front...
Bates offers a modicum of relief. His performance not only provides the film with something that moves, but also contains the proper amounts of overt prissiness and veiled menace. He projects a well-rounded portrayal of the man who opts to be "the old monster" to his troupe, declaring "If I listened to my heart, it would break." Without resorting to flaming mannerisms, Bates suggests perfectly the character's homosexuality; he touches women, even when affectionate, with a reserved disinterest. Admittedly, Diaghilev has all the good lines; chiding Nijinsky for eating too much candy, he warns, "Nobody loves...
Serial's only attempts at contemporaneity are buzz words and phrases of the '60s and '70s. Whenever possible, "mellow" or "hot tub" or "finding my space" are worked into the dialogue. Most of the major gags, however, betray the film's true sensibility by ridiculing big-breasted women and homosexuals. No actors or director could save this material. The cast and crew of Serial, largely recruited from television, do not even...