Synopsis:
In this biographical interpretation of the life of Russian dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, one of the most influential performers of the early 20th Century, Australian director Paul Cox...
In this biographical interpretation of the life of Russian dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, one of the most influential performers of the early 20th Century, Australian director Paul Cox enlists the dramatic voice narration of Shakespearean actor Sir Derek Jacobi to read Nijinsky's diary. The segments included here were written around 1920 when Nijinsky had left the Russian Ballet and relocated to St. Moritz, Switzerland with his wife and young daughter because of his fading mental health. As the words of Nijinsky's diary are read, his madness and his passion for dance share equal time. "I am a dancer... I love Russia... I love the Ballet Russe... I know how to suffocate... I feel a piercing stare..." Images of nature accompany the reading--flowing water, snowy forests, flowers, herons, sheep, silhouettes, statues--along with shots of costumed dancers sneaking through the woods or performing abstract pieces in nature. There are two different clowns in the film, symbolic of Nijinsky's other selves. In addition, characters from Nijinsky's dances, such as Petrouchka, the Faun, Blue God, and Golden Slave, are represented by dancers, though there is no footage of Nijinsky dancing in the film. Nijinsky was born in 1889 in Kiev, Poland. He was raised in St. Petersburg, Russia. And he died April 8, 1950 in an asylum where he was confined for the last 30 years of his life.
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