WHEN Rudolf Nureyev arrived in Paris in 1961 he visited The Louvre. Nothing unusual in that, every tourist does it, but there was only one painting he wanted to spend hours with, and it was not the Mona Lisa.
The Raft of the Medusa, by Theodore Gericault, depicts the aftermath of a French ship running aground off Mauritania in 1816. Some 147 survivors clambered on board the raft; 13 days later only 15 were still alive, the rest lost to dehydration, hunger, and cannibalism.
One can see how the tale of survival would have appealed to Nureyev. There was nothing about his life which suggested he was destined for greatness. Born on a train in Siberia to desperately poor parents, he was late to training as a dancer and he fought the Soviet authorities, who could have ended his career at any time, all the way. Yet he survived. The White Crow, a captivating if overlong look at Nureyev’s life up to his defection to the West, shows how and why.
This is Ralph Fiennes’ third film as director after the equally impressive Coriolanus and The Invisible Woman. Also deserving of admiration is his performance in front of the cameras as Alexander Pushkin, the ballet master who helped marshal Nureyev’s talent. No fake Russki accents for Fiennes – it is fluent Russian all the way.
The White Crow, which takes its title from the nickname classmates gave the skinny, solitary, young Rudi, opens as the Kirov Ballet arrives in Paris. Nureyev, played by the Ukrainian dancer Oleg Ivenko, already speaks English, having learned it on his own initiative. Western audiences have heard reports of his genius and he lives up to his billing and more.
Weeks later, and much to his KGB minders’ relief, the visit is coming to an end. Fiennes, working from a screenplay by David Hare, shows his skill as a director in the film’s final third as the Russian dancers arrive at the airport in Paris to take a flight to London. Not for Nureyev, though, who is told he has been called back to Russia.
Though most will know how the confrontation between the Soviet authorities and the dancer played out, Fiennes paces his finish like the best of thrillers, the air crackling with tension. It is just a pity one too many flashbacks to Nureyev’s childhood and youth mean it takes such a long time to get to this point.
Fiennes and Adele Exarchopoulos, playing Nureyev’s French girlfriend, turn in fine performances, but roses and raptures, please, for Ivenko, who is not only as beautiful as Nureyev, and dances sublimely, he can act, besides.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here