A ballet dancer struggles with his homosexuality and the increasing allure of a young ballerina who seeks to draw him away from his domineering lover.
Acting
Alan Bates devours every scene as possessive impresario Diaghilev.
Direction
Ross stages ballet sequences with genuine reverence, not camp.
Costume
Ballets Russes glamour recreated in obsessive detail.
Director
Herbert Ross
Alan Bates
Sergei Diaghilev
George De La Pena
Vaslav Nijinsky
Leslie Browne
Romola de Pulsky
Carla Fracci
Tamara Karsavina
Ronald Pickup
Igor Stravinsky
Ronald Lacey
Leon Bakst
Jeremy Irons
Mikhail Fokine
Vernon Dobtcheff
Sergei Grigoriev
Janet Suzman
Emilia Marcus
Colin Blakely
Vassili
Siân Phillips
Lady Ripon
Frederick Jaeger
Gabriel Astruc
Alan Badel
Baron de Gunzburg
Stephan Chase
Adolph Bolm
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Leslie Browne was an actual American Ballet Theatre dancer; this was her only major film role.
The real Nijinsky's diaries, published posthumously, revealed explicit homosexual content suppressed for decades—this 1980 film arrived just as queer history was being reclaimed.
US
