Le tournant de la vie

I had no knowledge or interest in ballet before viewing The Turning Point on HBO about a year after it was first released to theaters. The HBO promotions department concentrated more on the cat fight between Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft and less on the numerous ballet dances. I thought it was going to be an unintentional laugh riot. Boy, was I wrong.

MacLaine and Bancroft as former dance rivals do a great job separately and together. You sense the history of both characters and the issues that have colored the decisions they made. MacLaine's character, Deedee, getting pregnant and leaving the ballet company, while with Bancroft's character, Emma, the veteran prima ballerina who never married and struggles to stay a ballerina not knowing when or how to gracefully end her career.

Director Herbert Ross and screenwriter Arthur Laurents conceived an interesting, albeit thin, story within the backdrop of ballet. The lead actresses and the supporting cast, including James Mitchell, Anthony Zerbe, Tom Skerritt as MacLaine's husband and especially Martha Scott as the blunt, money-minded owner of the ballet company, do a very good job and, in some ways, improve on the material given to them.

As far as the ballet dancers in acting roles, well they are great dancers. To be fair, hiring anyone with little or no acting experience and expect them to act in a major movie for the first time would be a challenge for anyone. Leslie Browne, as Emilia, Deedee's oldest who is in the process of becoming the next prima ballerina, had a very tough task and, when it came to the dialog, I thought she did as good a job as she could. But when she was in her element, namely in the dance studio and on stage, she was wonderful. (It's a shame that actress/former ballerina Neve Campbell was only four years old when The Turning Point was first released. Acting-wise, Campbell would have been a more convincing Emilia. But I digress.)

Mikhail Baryshnikov fared much better as the main male ballet dancer/Lothario. He oozed charisma on screen and his jumps on stage are breathtaking. Years after The Turning Point, he has done some decent work in White Nights on screen and Sex and the City on television.

Interestingly, out of all of the non-professional actors, I thought Alexandra Danilova, who played Emilia's ballet teacher, gave the most natural and less stilted performance. She seemed very comfortable essentially playing herself. I have a feeling that it has a lot to do with her real ballet experience of over 50 years when the film was released in 1977.

The last time I viewed The Turning Point was in 2005. The material is still pretty thin but I do believe that if it wasn't for the strong performances (acting and dancing) the film would not hold up after all these years.

Loved this film. If you love all things dance (in particular ballet) this is a must see. I am too embarrassed to tell you how many times I have actually seen this film. It's Baryshinikov!

Emma and Didi shine in this memorable film looking at the world of ballet. Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook et al of "The Red Shoes" of 1948 would have certainly been proud of it.

The ballet sequences are marvelously staged and beautifully realized by the cast.

Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine received best actress nominations in their respective roles. It is when Leslie Browne, who was nominated for best supporting actress, becomes a ballerina, that her mother (MacLaine) looks back at the career she gave up for marriage and family. She meets her old friend and rival-Bancroft-who pursued her career at the expense of never marrying.

Mikhail Baryshnikov, the great Russian ballet dancer, is fabulous here and was even nominated for best supporting actor.

"The Turning Point" received 11 Oscar nominations. It walked away with no awards. Was Hollywood's lack of culture shown here?

As ballet movies go, this is one of the better ones. It really captures the essence of a company: the rising star, the oversexed male dancer, diva choreographers, budget-conscious artistic directors, and the unique sadness that is the aging ballerina. MacClain and Bancroft deliver their contrived dialog with expertise (even though it appears they did a lot of ADR because the dialog seems to be dubbed) and they handle their relative roles with ease. Bancroft plays the aging diva with perfect grandness and MacClaine is great as the regretful mother. I can overlook the fact that a summer-study student, no matter how brilliant she is (and the young lady here is a highly talented dancer) WOULD NOT get a lead, let alone a solo number in her first year, but the plot is a bit thin, yet it makes it's point: the grass is not always greener on the other side of the stage. The best part of this movie is the dancing, of course. Misha is poetry in tights, always exhilarating and breathtaking. Though the movie was made in the 70s, it still rings true today in the world of ballet.

After my 26th time watching The Turning Point I stopped counting my viewings. Some viewers might say it's not a tightly-written drama, and I don't care. For anyone who's ever enjoyed a dance performance, this is a must-see...or must-OWN. Mikhail Baryshnikov, recently-defected and at the absolute peak of his extrahuman abilities, is nothing short of breathtaking in this film. The first time he's shown dancing in the rehearsal studio invariably takes away my ability to breathe.

I also admit that I like the stories which provide the framework for the dance performances. When The Turning Point was originally released, I was about to turn 30. Now bumping my head on 60, I've seen the decisions, transitions, and forks in life's road which face all the film's characters, and have a much greater appreciation for the truth of the film. Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft, Tom Skerrit, and Anthony Zerbe are, as we'd expect, excellent. The 18-year-old Leslie Browne is lovely, and a fine dancer. I'm particularly fond of Alexandra Danilova, one of ballet's immortals, as the matriarchal Madame Dhakarova. In the scene where she's coaching a much-younger woman on the Don Quixote pas de deux, she performs the role not only more correctly, but also more playfully and flirtatiously than her student. It's a treat to see.

I love dance (see review of All That Jazz), and I admit my bias freely. In addition to spectacular dance performances, there are good, human stories behind the 70's clothing and hair styles, so watch this film at least once and decide for yourself whether you'll see it again.