DeeDee Rodgers leaves an eminent New York ballet company after becoming pregnant by Wayne, another dancer in the company. They marry and later move to Oklahoma City to run a dance studio. Emma Jacklin stays with the company and eventually becomes a prima ballerina and well-known figure in the ballet community.
While the company is on tour and performs a show in Oklahoma City, DeeDee and the family go to see the show and then have an after-party for the company at their home. The reunion stirs up old memories and things begin to unravel.
At the party, DeeDee's daughter Emilia, an aspiring dancer who is also Emma's goddaughter, is invited to take class with the company the following day. Afterwards, Emilia is asked to join the company but she does not immediately accept the offer as she wants to think it over. DeeDee and Wayne decide that DeeDee should go to New York with Emilia, who is rather shy and does not make friends as easily as her younger sister. Meanwhile, their son, Ethan, gets a scholarship to the company's summer program while Wayne and their other daughter stay in Oklahoma City.
Once in New York, they rent several rooms in Carnegie Hall with Madame Dakharova, a ballet coach. Emilia soon starts a relationship with a Russian dancer in the company, Yuri. DeeDee runs into the former conductor of the company and has an affair with him, which causes conflict between Emilia and DeeDee. Meanwhile, Emma argues with Arnold, the choreographer, about giving her a better role in his new ballet, which he refuses and leads Emma to suggest Emilia for the role instead. It is also revealed Emma has been seeing a married man, Carter. During rehearsal, Emilia has an argument with Arnold and storms out, going to a bar and getting drunk. She then shows up for the performance that night still drunk and Emma takes care of her, angering DeeDee. Emilia suffers when she sees Yuri getting involved with another dancer, Carolyn.
Emma and DeeDee eventually have a major conflict. DeeDee resents that Emma dotes on Emilia, when she has criticized DeeDee for choosing family life over her career while Emma chose not to have children. DeeDee accuses Emma of telling her to get pregnant and have Wayne's baby so Emma could play the lead in Anna Karenina, which Emma later admits is true.
Eventually, misunderstandings are settled, with Emma and DeeDee working things out after a physical altercation. Emilia is announced as the star of the next season, and she and Yuri make up and agree to a professional partnership and nothing more. Deedee decides she is content with her life and the decision she made to leave professional ballet to have a family. Emma accepts that her performing days are numbered and she must embrace a different role within the company. DeeDee and Emma step onto the stage and reminisce together.
Bancroft had no previous dance experience, while MacLaine had started her career as a dancer of ballet and other types. She appeared on Broadway performing in the musicals Me and Juliet and The Pajama Game.
The title "The Turning Point" is a double entendre, meaning a big change in a person's life and being on pointe.
Isabel Mirrow Brown and Nora Kaye were childhood friends. Their parents had immigrated from Russia around the same time and they lived in the same New York City brownstone building. Kaye was a few years older than Mirrow and encouraged her to train. Nora Kaye was in a relationship with Jerome Robbins in the early 1950s, but they never married, focusing on their careers instead. Robbins was also a known bisexual.[3]
Isabel Mirrow danced with American Ballet Theatre from 1947 until 1953.[4] Nora was with the company from its inception in 1939 until 1951, and later returned in a leadership role. Unlike in the film, Isabel did not get pregnant while she was with the company; however, during this time Isabel married fellow dancer Kelly Brown, who was widely sought after. Lucia Chase was the head of the company when Isabel and Nora were there.
Kaye continued to dance in New York with other companies and became a more prominent figure in the ballet world, while Isabel had stopped performing to marry and have children. Her first child, Leslie Browne, born in 1957, was Nora Kaye's goddaughter. Kaye went on to marry director Herbert Ross in 1959. The two couples were close friends, along with Arthur Laurents. Kelly Brown, Ross, Kaye, and Laurents all worked together in the Broadway musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale in 1962.[5] In his autobiography, Laurents wrote that in the 1940s he had a sexual relationship with Nora Kaye.[6]
In 1965, an opportunity to run a dance studio opened up, and Kelly Brown decided to move his family to Phoenix, Arizona (changed to Oklahoma City in the film). By this time he and his wife had aged out of performing. Isabel Mirrow Brown was not thrilled to leave her native New York for Arizona, and the move caused strain in their marriage. When their daughter Leslie auditioned and was accepted to train back in New York in the School of American Ballet (SAB), Isabel moved back to New York to watch over Leslie, who was still a teenager. The film depicts Isabel's experience entering back into the dance world after living in Phoenix and having four children (three in the film). In real life she eventually divorced Kelly Brown, who died in 1981 at age 52.[7]
While in Arizona the Browns had kept in touch with their friends Nora and Herbert. Later in the mid 1970s, a script based on the Brown family was developed by Arthur Laurents. Ross directed the film and co-produced with his wife. Ross, Laurents, and Kaye never had children and took a special interest in Leslie Browne as she grew older.
The script was a fictionalized version of the Browns' life and the long friendship between Isabel and Nora. The fictional parts primarily concern the character Yuri, who was created as a love interest for Emilia. Originally, the ballerina Gelsey Kirkland, who was at the height of her fame at the time and dating Mikhail Baryshnikov (Yuri), was offered the role of Emilia.[8] She rejected the role as she was dealing with substance abuse issues at the time and she "wanted no part of Hollywood". Ross then decided that Leslie Browne, who was nineteen at the time, would be able to portray a fictionalized version of herself in the film. In real life, Leslie had just joined ABT in 1976 and was experiencing the same things she portrayed on screen. Leslie had added an "e" to her last name as her stage name to sound more feminine after being mistaken as a man in a playbill.
The script changed the family name from Brown to Rodgers, and all the first names except for their son Ethan Brown. The real-life Ethan Brown later became a soloist with American Ballet Theatre, retiring from performing in 2004; he now teaches.[9] In real life, the Browns had another son, Kelly Brown II, who danced as a child but did not train professionally like his siblings and later became a film producer. Their other daughter, Elizabeth Brown (born 1959), was also a dancer, unlike in the film, and was accepted into SAB a year after Leslie. Nora Kaye died of cancer in 1987 at age 67. After the film, Leslie Browne went on to become a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre in New York City from 1986 until 1993 and now teaches ballet. Her mother Isabel continued to be associated with New York ballet and died in August 2014 at the age of 86.[10][11]
Herbert Ross later directed two more dance-themed films, Nijinsky (1980) and Dancers (1987), both of which also feature Leslie Browne.
Arthur Laurents claimed an important subplot regarding Wayne's homosexuality in the original script was cut from the film by Herbert Ross and his wife. This was the reason why Wayne's character's development does not progress steadily throughout the film.[12]
Reception
Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film an "entertaining new movie, an old-fashioned backstage musical transplanted to the world of ballet by three people who not only know it but also love it, sentimental clichés and all."[13] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety declared it "one of the best films of this era. It's that rare example of synergy in which every key element is excellent and the ensemble is an absolute triumph."[14]Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "In a movie year that will be remembered as the year of the science-fiction special effect, it is refreshing to see a film such as 'The Turning Point,' which offers another kind of excitement: the pleasure of following a story you can't easily anticipate."[15]Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times stated, "The performances by Bancroft and MacLaine are stunning, and both are at Academy Award level ... 'The Turning Point' is a handsome, thoughtful, well-spoken and emotionally holding piece of stylish entertainment."[16] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called the film "enormously appealing" and "an authentic breakthrough-throwback: a vividly enacted depiction of the conflicts between strong, capable, conscious, willful women."[17]Pauline Kael of The New Yorker wrote, "As a device, the turning point (like that synthetic summer when adolescent heroes grow into men) is so mechanical it's an exposed construction ... [Laurents] writes sodden, expository dialogue in which people are forever revealing truths to each other and then explaining those truths—'The Turning Point' comes with its own footnotes."[18]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 63% of 27 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.2/10.The website's consensus reads: "The Turning Point is a handsomely-made resuscitation of Old Hollywood melodramas with a compelling duo at its center, but the formulaic script keeps this story from realizing its symphonic potential."[19] On Metacritic it has a score of 68% based on reviews from 10 critics.[20]
Accolades
The Turning Point was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, but failed to win any of them. It shares the record with The Color Purple for receiving the most Oscar nominations without a single win.[21][22]
In an episode of The Nanny, Fran references the film by saying: "This is like that movie The Turning Point, only they were dancers and one was the mother and they were old friends... [looks confused] I should really rent that again."
In the Judy Blume book Summer Sisters this film sparked a great discussion with the two main characters of the story, Vix and Caitlin, which showed how different the girls' priorities were.
In the episode of That '70s Show entitled "Fez Dates Donna", Eric, much to his delight, could not take Donna out to see the movie since Donna was pretending to be dating Fez.
In the opening episode of Bunheads, Sutton Foster responds to hearing her mother-in-law's life story by saying "How very Turning Point."
The film is mentioned in the final episode of Feud: Bette & Joan ("You Mean All This Time We Could Have Been Friends?"); while attending the 1978 Academy Awards ceremony, Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) praises the film to a bartender who asks her which of that year's "Best Picture" nominees she hopes wins. Davis speaks positively of the film and its feminist themes and calls the film (and Bancroft/MacLaine's rooftop fight) "the story of her life".
Related Research Articles
Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was the preeminent male classical dancer of the 1970s and 1980s. He subsequently became a noted dance director.
Some films feature recognizable dance forms, demonstrating them, shedding light on their origin, or being the base of a plot.
Erik Belton Evers Bruhn was a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, artistic director, actor, and author.
American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House in the spring and a shorter season at the David H. Koch Theater in the fall; the company tours around the world the rest of the year. The company was scheduled to have a 5-week spring season at the MET preceded by a 2-week season at the Koch Theater beginning in 2020. ABT is the parent company of the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, and was recognized as "America's National Ballet Company" in 2006 by the United States Congress.
Herbert David Ross was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award.
Gelsey Kirkland is an American ballerina. She received early ballet training at the School of American Ballet. Kirkland joined the New York City Ballet in 1968 at age 15, at the invitation of George Balanchine. She was promoted to soloist in 1969, and principal in 1972. She went on to create leading roles in many of the great twentieth century ballets by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Antony Tudor, including Balanchine's revival of The Firebird, Robbins' Goldberg Variations, and Tudor's The Leaves are Fading.
Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress. In post-Soviet times, she held both Lithuanian and Spanish citizenship. She danced during the Soviet era at the Bolshoi Theatre under the directorships of Leonid Lavrovsky, then of Yury Grigorovich; later she moved into direct confrontation with him. In 1960, when famed Russian ballerina Galina Ulanova retired, Plisetskaya became prima ballerina assoluta of the company.
Violette Verdy was a French ballerina, choreographer, teacher, and writer who worked as a dance company director with the Paris Opera Ballet in France and the Boston Ballet in the United States. From 1958 to 1977 she was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet where she performed in the world premieres of several works created specifically for her by choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. She was Distinguished Professor of Music (Ballet) at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, in Bloomington, and the recipient of two medals from the French government.
Julie Kent is an American ballet dancer; she was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre from 1993 to June 2015. In 2016, she was named the artistic director of The Washington Ballet. She became co-artistic director at the Houston Ballet in July 2023.
Natalia Romanovna Makarova is a Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. The History of Dance, published in 1981, notes that "her performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her as the finest ballerina of her generation in the West."
Nora Kaye-Ross was an American prima-ballerina known for her ability to perform dramatic roles. Called the Duse of Dance after the acclaimed actress Eleonora Duse, she also worked in films as a choreographer and producer and performed on Broadway.
Leslie Browne is an American prima ballerina and actress. She was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre in New York City from 1986 until 1993. She was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as a Golden Globe Award at age 20, for portraying a young dancer invited to join a large New York ballet company in The Turning Point (1977).
Alessandra Ferri OMRI is an Italian prima ballerina. She danced with the Royal Ballet (1980–1984), American Ballet Theatre (1985–2007) and La Scala Theatre Ballet (1992–2007) and as an international guest artist, before temporally retiring on 10 August 2007, aged 44, then returning in 2013. She was eventually granted the rank of prima ballerina assoluta.
Nijinsky is a 1980 American biographical film directed by Herbert Ross. Hugh Wheeler wrote a screenplay that explores the later life and career of Vaslav Nijinsky; it was based largely on the premier danseur's personal diaries, and her 1934 biography of Nijinsky, largely ghostwritten by Lincoln Kirstein, who later co-founded the New York City Ballet.
Patricia McBride is a ballerina who spent nearly 30 years dancing with the New York City Ballet. McBride joined the New York City Ballet in 1959. She became a principal in 1961, becoming the company's youngest principal. She danced with the company for 30 years, including roles created for her by choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.
The Cage is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to Stravinsky's Concerto in D. The ballet depicts a tribe of female insects that preys on their male counterparts, in which the Novice falls in love with a male intruder, before being overcome by her animal instincts to kill him. The Cage was made for the New York City Ballet, and premiered on June 10, 1951, at the City Center of Music and Drama, with Nora Kaye as the Novice.
Nora Koito Kimball-Mentzos or simply Nora Kimball is a ballet teacher and former American ballerina, who is often overlooked for being one of the first African American female soloists—the second -- [at American Ballet Theatre (ABT). She danced with the ABT in the mid-1980s and as an African American who is also Asian American, preceded Misty Copeland, who is often credited as the first. ABT has been described as one of the three great American-style classical ballet companies on the world stage today.
Who Cares? is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to songs by George Gershwin that were orchestrated by Hershy Kay. The ballet is split in two parts, the first danced by an ensemble, and the second focuses on four principal dancers. Who Cares? premiered on February 5, 1970, at the New York State Theater, danced by the New York City Ballet.
Georgina Parkinson was an English ballet dancer and ballet mistress. She joined The Royal Ballet in 1957 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1962. Best known for dancing 20th-century works, she was a frequent collaborator of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, and had also created roles for Frederick Ashton. In 1978, she accepted the invitation to become a ballet mistress at the American Ballet Theatre for a year, before assuming the position permanently in 1980. She also performed character roles with the American Ballet Theatre.
Isabel Mirrow Brown was an American ballerina. A fictionalized version of her life was documented in the 1977 film The Turning Point, in which she was portrayed by Shirley MacLaine, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
