Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19641 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-10-24
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 157 minutes

DVD Description
Margot Fonteyn was the greatest dancer England has ever produced. In her life, she transcended the world of dance and became a tabloid darling second to none, a true celebrity.

She remains, fourteen years after her death, the most famous ballerina of our time, spectacular in roles such as Giselle, Aurora in ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, Odette in ‘Swan Lake’. And when, already in her 40s, she teamed up with Nureyev, one of the most brilliant and magical partnerships in all of ballet history was born.

The birth reached its climax 40 years ago with a production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’, choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan, with music by Prokofiev, and those who saw the performances will tell you that nothing like it had been seen before – or since. The artistic and sexual frenzy between Fonteyn and Nureyev electrified all those who were lucky enough to be present. Fortunately, there is film of those performances, as there is film of Fonteyn’s greatest roles. The archive, rarely seen, is a treasure house.

Synopsis
A celebration of the life of Margot Fonteyn commemorating the 40th anniversary year of Nureyev and Fonteyn's ROMEO AND JULIET. Fonteyn is widely considered to be the nation's greatest ever dancer, yet her life story is as tragic as it is inspiring. Tony Palmer's film uses archive performance footage and fascinating interviews to explore the myths and truths of her legacy.

From the Director
2005 if the 40th Anniversary of that Nureyev/Fonteyn ‘Romeo and Juliet’. There is a mountain of archive material, and enough people still alive who danced with her, knew her, loved her, and were her lovers. Without in any way diminishing her greatness, this film will be the first to try and understand the real woman, and the terrible sacrifices she made to achieve what she did – her ‘duty’, as she called it.

Among those taking part are the Arias family, Phoebe (Fonteyn’s sister-in-law), Patsy Lady Jellicoe, who knew Fonteyn in Shanghai 80 years ago, Pamela May, who joined the old ‘Vic-Wells’ ballet the same month as Fonteyn in 1933, Monica Mason, Director of the Royal Ballet, Beryl Grey, Antoinette Sibley, Georgina Parkinson & Lynn Seymour, Prima Ballerinas and stars of the Royal Ballet, Anthony Dowell, David Wall, Donald MacLeary & Desmond Kelly, her former dancing partners, John Tooley, General Director of Covent Garden 1970-88, Roland Petit her lover and choreographer, Peter Wright, former director of the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, Meredith Daneman & Keith Money, her biographers, Patricia Foy, the BBC producer of her famous television series ‘The Magic of Dance’, Clive Barnes the dance critic, Robert Gottlieb, the publisher of her autobiography, Joan Thring & Colette Clark, her longtime assistants, and Andrew Motion, the Poet Laureate, whose definitive biography of Constant! Lambert sheds much light on one of Fonteyn’s first lovers – as well as previously unseen archival interviews with Rudolf Nuruyev, Nintette de Valois (founder of The Royal Ballet), Robert Helpmann, her partner before World War II, Frederick Ashton, her greatest choreographer, and Fonteyn’s mother, known to everyone as ‘BQ’, The Black Queen.

Customer Reviews

margot
excellent documentary about the finest ballerina of the 20th century. It gives an inciteful glimpse into the character of margot fonteyn, her dancing and also who she really was as a person.