The White Crow Flies!
Rudolph Nureyev’s Escape from the USSR
World-renowned Russian ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev’s defection to the West was big news when it happened in 1961. The Siberian star had been wowing Soviet audiences for years with his technical prowess and creative choreography and by the late 50s was the biggest sensation in Russian dance. But this was at the time of the repressive Cold War, and the flamboyant Nureyev had also caught the eye of the suspicious KGB for his rebellious behavior—he was a hot-to-trot queer man living in a gay-suppressed society—and his adventurous exploits when it came to sex.
Based on Julie Kavanagh’s biography, Rudolf Nureyev: The Life, actor-turned-director Ralph Fiennes (Harry Potter, The English Patient) tells the tale of Nureyev’s other-worldly talent and his great escape from Russia in the beautifully shot the film, The White Crow.
In his screen debut, the breathtaking dancer Oleg Ivenko stars as Nureyev AKA The White Crow, with Fiennes taking on the role of his faithful dance teacher Pushkin. Nureyev’s dissatisfaction with his homeland, along with his great admiration of cosmopolitan cities like New York, Paris, and London, sparks his desire to defect. With the help of Clara Sant (Adéle Exarchopoulos looking as lovely as she did in 2013’s Blue is the Warmest Color), he manages to narrowly escape his minders, turning this bio-pic about the world’s most famous dancer into a real Russian espionage thriller.
The White Crow opens April 26th.
