I just want to comment upon the review by Chris Knipp. I saw this wonderful film to me as someone who is well versed in classical music and fascinated about what was going on musically in this period. The fact that there was a riot at the first public performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring comes as no surprise as this was music that forever changed classical music. Conventional Camille Saint-Saëns saw a rehearsal of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and stormed out saying that he had never been so offended in his life. I have never seen anyone do a performance of the original ballet The Rite of Spring and I wish that I could see performances of the original Stravisky ballets, particularly The Firebird, and I watched this recreation with great interest. People needed to know that the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky was the "toyboy" of Sergey Diaghilev at the time and that this is the reason why he got to do the choreography for Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Vaslav Nijinsky is only momentarily referred to in the film by his given name and you need to know this. I watched all of the first night of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring with great interest as I've read much about this and to see it recreated on the screen I found revelatory. Sergey Diaghilev stage managed this first night and I was mesmerised seeing it on the screen.
I feel that I should add what we saw in the film Mao's Last Dancer of Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring was nothing like the original ballet and I'm grateful for this film for seeing the original ballet.
I disagree with Chris Knipp on various things and I found the sex scenes between Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky to be intense and passionate, exactly as I would expect them from a passionate Russian.
There was much that I found interesting in this film apart from the first night of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, such as how Stravinsky composed. What I found initially very odd in this film was Stravinsky appearing to be composing The Rite of Spring at the piano seven years after its first performance and this should have some way been explained in the film. I researched this and what was going on was that Stravinsky moved to France in 1920, to work with the French piano manufacturer Pleyel. Stravinsky arranged (and to some extent re-composed) many of his early works including The Rite of Spring for the Pleyela, Pleyel's brand of player piano.
I watched this wonderful film with great interest and I want to thank the people who made this film for what they have done.
I feel that I should add what we saw in the film Mao's Last Dancer of Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring was nothing like the original ballet and I'm grateful for this film for seeing the original ballet.
I disagree with Chris Knipp on various things and I found the sex scenes between Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky to be intense and passionate, exactly as I would expect them from a passionate Russian.
There was much that I found interesting in this film apart from the first night of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, such as how Stravinsky composed. What I found initially very odd in this film was Stravinsky appearing to be composing The Rite of Spring at the piano seven years after its first performance and this should have some way been explained in the film. I researched this and what was going on was that Stravinsky moved to France in 1920, to work with the French piano manufacturer Pleyel. Stravinsky arranged (and to some extent re-composed) many of his early works including The Rite of Spring for the Pleyela, Pleyel's brand of player piano.
I watched this wonderful film with great interest and I want to thank the people who made this film for what they have done.