Russian Ballet: Swan Lake
Dance • 2h 10m
Documentary • With Maya Plisetskaya, Alexander Bogatyrev
• 1976 • 130 minutes
Please note that this film starts with 3 minutes of black while the overture plays. Also, since this was recorded for television in the late 70s, some sections are quite dark.
No ballet has such deathless appeal as Swan Lake, a haunting fable of a young man’s naivety and a beautiful girl’s entrapment in swan’s feathers, all swept up in Tchaikovsky’s emotional music. Prince Siegfried, celebrating his birthday, is told by his mother the Queen that he must marry. He runs to the lake unhappily to hunt swans, but they turn into girls, led by Odette, a wonderful Swan Queen. The Evil Genius, a powerful sorcerer, has trapped them in a spell. Siegfried swears to release Odette by his love. The Bolshoi prima ballerina Maya Plisetskaya became a world legend in the iconic dual role of Odette/Odile, and her unique strength and dramatic charisma are captured in this digitally restored and remastered 1976 recording of a historic Bolshoi performance marking the centenary of the rst ballet made on Tchaikovsky’s score. With Alexander Bogatyrev as Siegfried and Algis Zhyuraytis conducting the unforgettable score, this is an atmospheric record of Yuri Grigorovich’s intense production.
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