The White Crow

Last updated
The White Crow
The White Crow film poster.png
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ralph Fiennes
Screenplay by David Hare
Based onRudolf Nureyev: The Life
by Julie Kavanagh
Produced by Carolyn Marks Blackwood
François Ivernel
Andrew Levitas
Gabrielle Tana
Ralph Fiennes
Starring Oleg Ivenko
Adèle Exarchopoulos
Chulpan Khamatova
Ralph Fiennes
Aleksey Morozov
Raphaël Personnaz
Olivier Rabourdin
Ravshana Kurkova
Louis Hofmann
Sergei Polunin
Maksimilian Grigoriyev
CinematographyMike Eley
Edited by Barney Pilling
Music by Ilan Eshkeri
Production
companies
BBC Films
HanWay Films
Metalwork Pictures
Lonely Dragon
Magnolia Mae Films
Montebello Productions
Work in Progress
Globus Films
Distributed by StudioCanal (United Kingdom)
Rezo Films (France) [1]
Discovery Films (Croatia) [1]
MCF (Serbia) [1]
Release date
Running time
127 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
France
Croatia
Serbia
LanguagesEnglish
Russian
French
Box officeUS$7.3 million

The White Crow is a 2018 biographical drama film written by David Hare and directed by Ralph Fiennes. It chronicles the life and dance career of ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, played by Oleg Ivenko. [2]

Contents

It is inspired by the book Rudolf Nureyev: The Life by Julie Kavanagh. The title is a reference to his childhood nickname of white crow (with a somewhat similar meaning to "black sheep" in English), because he was unusual. [3]

Principal photography was completed in October 2017. [2] It premiered at the 2018 Telluride Film Festival and the 2018 BFI London Film Festival. [4] It also screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival, Cinemania (Bulgaria) and Febiofest (Czech Republic). Ralph Fiennes received the Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the Tokyo International Film Festival, with the film receiving a Tokyo Grand Prix nomination. The White Crow was released on 22 March 2019 in the UK (StudioCanal) and on 26 April 2019 in the US (Sony Pictures Classics).

Plot

The film shuffles through three time periods: the present (1961) in Paris, his childhood, and the beginning of Nureyev's ballet career six years earlier.

The present day in Paris: Rudi has travelled to Paris as part of the Kirov ballet company. During an arranged meeting, he befriends French dancers he read about in a magazine. During one of his dance performances, he befriends Clara Saint.

Cast

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a positive rating of 67% based on 135 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The White Crow lacks the nimble grace of its subject, but as a reasonably diverting primer on a pivotal period in the life of a brilliant artist, it just about sticks the landing." [5] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating to reviews, gives the film a normalized score of 54 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [6]

The New York Times wrote, "The White Crow is a portrait of the artist as a young man, an attempt to show the complex array of factors — biographical, psychological, social, political — that led to the moment when the 23-year-old dancer made a decision that would change the history of ballet: Nureyev became Nureyev by defecting from Russia to the West at Le Bourget airport in France in June 1961 ... Throughout [the film], Fiennes and Hare suggest the extraordinary will and curiosity that drove Nureyev to dance, and to seek out art and culture wherever he could." [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Fiennes</span> English actor (born 1962)

Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor, film producer, and director. A Shakespeare interpreter, he excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before having further success at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Widely regarded as one of Britain’s most well-known and popular actors, he has received various accolades including a BAFTA Award and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and an Emmy Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudolf Nureyev</span> Soviet-born ballet dancer (1938–1993)

Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Soviet-born ballet dancer and choreographer. Nureyev is regarded by some as the greatest male ballet dancer of his generation.

<i>Spider</i> (2002 film) 2002 film

Spider is a 2002 psychological thriller film produced and directed by David Cronenberg and based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Patrick McGrath, who also wrote the screenplay.

<i>Onegin</i> (film) 1999 film

Onegin is a 1999 British-American romantic drama film based on Alexander Pushkin's 1833 novel in verse Eugene Onegin, co-produced by British and American companies and shot mostly in the United Kingdom. Onegin is Martha Fiennes' directorial debut and stars her brother Ralph Fiennes in the role of Yevgeny (Eugene) Onegin, Liv Tyler as Tatiana and Toby Stephens as Lensky. Two other Fiennes siblings were involved in the project: Magnus Fiennes wrote the music and Sophie Fiennes appeared in a minor role.

Andrew Levitas is an American painter, sculptor, filmmaker, writer, producer, photographer, and restaurateur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johan Kobborg</span> Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, director and visual artist

Johan Kobborg is a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, director and visual artist. He is most noted as a ballet dancer, having been a principal dancer with both the Royal Danish Ballet and the Royal Ballet in London, as well as making guest appearances with other ballet companies. Following his departure from the Royal Ballet in 2013, he was the artistic director of the Romanian National Ballet Company until 2016.

<i>The Duchess</i> (film) 2008 historical drama film directed by Saul Dibb

The Duchess is a 2008 historical drama film directed by Saul Dibb, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jeffrey Hatcher and Anders Thomas Jensen, based on the 1998 book Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman, about the late 18th-century English aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. She was an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales, where the quote "There were three people in her marriage" in the promotional poster comes from.

<i>Coriolanus</i> (film) 2011 film directed by Ralph Fiennes

Coriolanus is a 2011 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy Coriolanus. It is directed by and stars Ralph Fiennes as the title character, with Gerard Butler as Tullus Aufidius, Vanessa Redgrave as Volumnia, and Brian Cox as Menenius. This is Fiennes' directorial debut. It places Shakespeare's original text and plot into a contemporary, pseudo-Balkan setting, reminiscent of the Yugoslav Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergei Polunin</span> Russian ballet dancer, actor and model (born 1989)

Sergei Vladimirovich Polunin is a Russian ballet dancer, actor and model. He has Ukrainian, Russian, and Serbian citizenships, but has "always regarded himself as Russian".

<i>The Invisible Woman</i> (2013 film) 2013 British film

The Invisible Woman is a 2013 British biographical drama film directed by Ralph Fiennes and starring Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas and Tom Hollander. Written by Abi Morgan, and based on the book of the same name by Claire Tomalin, the film is about the secret love affair between Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan, which lasted for thirteen years until his death in 1870. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on 31 August 2013, and was released in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2014. The film received a Best Costume Design nomination at the 86th Academy Awards.

<i>Frances Ha</i> 2012 film by Noah Baumbach

Frances Ha is a 2012 American black-and-white comedy-drama film directed by Noah Baumbach. It is written by Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, who also stars as Frances Halladay, a struggling 27-year-old dancer. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2012, and was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on May 17, 2013, by IFC Films.

<i>Seymour: An Introduction</i> (film) 2014 American film

Seymour: An Introduction is a 2014 American documentary film. Directed by Ethan Hawke, the film documents the career of Seymour Bernstein, a classical pianist who abandoned his rising career as a concert pianist at age 50 to retreat to a more modest, private life as a music educator and composer. The film premiered at the 2014 Telluride Film Festival, and was released on March 13, 2015, by IFC Films. As of May 2023, it has a 100% rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

<i>Two Women</i> (2014 film) 2014 film by Vera Glagoleva

Two Women is a 2014 Russian drama film directed by Vera Glagoleva, starring Ralph Fiennes and Sylvie Testud. It is based on Ivan Turgenev's 1872 play A Month in the Country. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

<i>Ballerina</i> (2016 film) 2016 animated musical adventure comedy film

Ballerina is a 2016 3D animated musical adventure comedy film co-directed by Éric Summer and Éric Warin and written by Summer, Carol Noble and Laurent Zeitoun. A co-production between Canadian and French companies, the film takes place in 1880s France and follows a poor orphan girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina and gets a chance to audition for the celebrated school of the Paris Opera Ballet.

<i>Spielberg</i> (film) 2017 documentary film

Spielberg is a 2017 American documentary film directed by Susan Lacy, and is centered on the career of film director Steven Spielberg. It premiered at the 2017 New York Film Festival and aired on HBO on October 7, 2017.

Oleg Ivenko is a Ukrainian ballet dancer and actor, known for his portrayal of Rudolph Nureyev in the film The White Crow. He is a principal dancer with the Tatar State Opera in Kazan.

<i>Trial by Fire</i> (2018 film) 2018 American film

Trial by Fire is a 2018 American biographical drama film directed by Edward Zwick. The story is based upon David Grann's article "Trial by Fire" that appeared in The New Yorker in 2009. The film stars Jack O'Connell, Laura Dern, Emily Meade, Jeff Perry and Jade Pettyjohn.

<i>Theyll Love Me When Im Dead</i> 2018 American film

They'll Love Me When I'm Dead is a 2018 American documentary film, directed by Morgan Neville. It documents the ill-fated production of The Other Side of the Wind, directed by Orson Welles. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 30, 2018. It was released on November 2, 2018, by Netflix.

<i>Meeting Gorbachev</i> 2018 film

Meeting Gorbachev is a 2018 biographical documentary film directed by Werner Herzog and André Singer about the life of Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union. The film features three interviews between Herzog and Gorbachev, conducted over the span of six months, and had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2018.

<i>The Way I See It</i> (film) 2020 American documentary film

The Way I See It is a 2020 American documentary film directed and produced by Dawn Porter, revolving around Pete Souza, the former Chief Official White House Photographer. Laura Dern serves as producer under her Jaywalker Pictures banner.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The White Crow". Box Office Mojo .
  2. 1 2 "Shooting Wraps On Ralph Fiennes' The White Crow - Filmoria". www.filmoria.co.uk. 30 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  3. Roache, Madeline (26 April 2019). "The True Story Behind the Rudolf Nureyev Movie The White Crow". Time. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  4. Erbland, Kate (2018-08-30). "Telluride Reveals 2018 Full Lineup: 'Destroyer,' 'White Boy Rick,' and 'The Old Man & the Gun' Set for World Premieres". IndieWire. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
  5. "The White Crow (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  6. "The White Crow". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved April 20, 2019.
  7. Sulcas, Roslyn (2019-04-28). "Trying to Pinpoint the Moment Nureyev Became Nureyev". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-10-09.