THE WHITE CROW (2019)

Written by David Hare



Directed by Ralph Fiennes



Where & When: Arclight Cinemas, Hollywood, CA. April 30, 2019 3:00 PM



For Rudolf Nureyev, the provocative Russian ballet dancer, dance was just as important to him as breathing. Fearful that his government was going to cut off his life support, he made the fateful decision to defect from his country while on tour in Paris in 1961. "The White Crow", the latest move behind the camera for actor Ralph Fiennes, covers this period in Nureyev's life and what lead up to this difficult moment. While the film is beautifully rendered with exquisite camerawork by Mike Eley, features outstanding performances and several thrilling dance sequences, "The White Crow" feels far too conventional in telling the story of the highly idiosyncratic performer.

This drama wisely doesn't try to cover the dancer's entire life and narrows it's focus on three key moments in Nureyev's life; his impoverished childhood, the training he received as a dancer at theVaganova Academy of Russian Ballet and his exposure to other possibilities while he was traveling with the Kirov Ballet outside of his country. Born on a train traveling to Siberia in 1938, Nureyev's family struggled to get by with very little when the country was known as the Soviet Union. After his mother took him and his sisters to a ballet performance, the young boy was mesmerized and determined to one day be on the stage himself.

Nureyev (played by Oleg Ivenko, a principal dancer with the Tartar State Ballet who had no previous acting experience) began dance lessons at the renowned school in St. Petersberg at the age of seventeen. While that was considered old to begin, the teachers recognized his raw talent but he was resistant to adhering to the classic techniques. The ballet master, Alexander Pushkin (played by Mr. Fiennes and performed impressively in Russian) took an interest in the hard-working Nureyev, offering to let the young student live with him and his wife, Xenia (Chulpan Khamatova) to help him out.

By the time he had reached Paris for the Kirov Ballet's first visit to the West since the end of the second World War, Nureyev had become known as an exceptional talent even outside of the Soviet Union. But his non-conformist behavior was a serious concern which lead to KGB agent, Strizhevsky (Aleksey Morozov) making sure he was watched and followed wherever he went outside of the tour. This didn't prevent Nureyev from socializing with French dancers and developing a close friendship with Clara Saint (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a young woman with a troubled past and would play an important part in his defection.

This is the third film directed by Mr. Fiennes with his first, "Coriolanus", a 2011 contemporary adaption of a Shakespeare tragedy, was an admirable yet modest debut. His follow-up, "The Invisible Woman" was a far more satisfying feature which had Fiennes playing Charles Dickens and involved his secret, thirteen year affair with a young actress (Felicity Jones). And "The White Crow" falls somewhere in between these two films.

Mr. Fiennes had become interested in Nureyev's story after reading Julie Kavanagh's biography on him almost twenty years ago. The actor/filmmaker attempts to avoid the pitfalls of the biopic by shuffling the story and connecting scenes through related themes. And while it's not entirely successful with several moments in this drama feeling mannered and restrained, the film still manages to offer some intriguing observations on the impact of art during the political tension of the Cold War.

With a solid script by playwright, David Hare, "The White Crow" does capture the unbridled passion, overbearing confidence and tempestuous charm of Nureyev. This is further aided by a riveting performance by Mr. Ivenko who brings to life these qualities that made the temperamental dancer appealing to people of both genders (and Nureyev was open to experience either in a friendly or romantic way) yet they also made their relationships with him complicated and challenging.

It has been over twenty-five years since Rudolf Nureyev passed away of complications from AIDS. Since much of his important work had been experienced before a live audience, the memory of this extraordinary artist has faded with time. While uneven, "The White Crow" puts a warm spotlight back on this enigmatic figure and serves as a reminder of how much Nureyev's artistic impulses had push the boundaries, particularly for male dancers, of the long-held traditions of ballet.