Many of the dance scenes are fantastic and really sell the feeling that the dancers are floating in the air. This illusion is reinforced by having a professional dancer play the lead role of Nureyev. First time Ukrainian actor Oleg Ivenko inhabits the role with substantial effect and even looks the part.

Nureyev was one of Ballet’s true greats and he is played here as the pampered and egotistical rock star he was. He bucked the system and was unafraid to taunt his oppressors. This was always going to lead to trouble and in Fiennes’ hands the defection scene is very tense. Sweaty palms stuff.

Rudolf Nureyev, who died in 1993 led a most extraordinary life during a period of enormous change for both Russia and the world at large. The White Crow is an intriguing example of one life that contributed a lot to the multifaceted mosaic of the times.

Rob Hudson
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A young man of just 22, dressed in a black beret and a dark narrow suit, is on an aeroplane flying from St Petersburg to Paris. It is 1961 and Rudolf Nureyev, not yet the imperious figure of legend, is a member of the world-renowned Kirov Ballet Company, travelling for the first time outside the Soviet Union.

Parisian life delights Nureyev and the young dancer is eager to consume all the culture, art and music the dazzling city has to offer. But the KGB officers who watch his every move become increasingly suspicious of his behaviour and his friendship with the young Parisienne Clara Saint. When they finally confront Nureyev with a shocking demand, he is forced to make a heart-breaking decision, one that may change the course of his life forever and put his family and friends in terrible danger.

From Nureyev’s poverty-stricken childhood in the Soviet city of Ufa, to his blossoming as a student dancer in Leningrad, to his arrival at the epicentre of western culture in Paris in the early 1960s and a nail-biting stand-off at the Le Bourget airport, “THE WHITE CROW” is the true story of an incredible journey by a unique artist who transformed the world of ballet forever.

The White Crow will be released in Australian cinemas July 18!
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