Margot Fonteyn

A recent winner of a Blue Ribbon award at the American Film & Video Festival, this compelling documentary on one of the greatest ballerinas of all time will appeal to dance buffs and the general public alike. The hook is planted right away: we meet Margot Fonteyn, now in her 70s on her and her husband's cattle ranch in Panama. Somehow the image of the world class ballerina and the image of the casually dressed ranch woman don't exactly mesh--and we want to know the story. Director Patricia Foy has assembled an impressive range of materials--from the dramatic re-enactment of a four-year-old girl going off to her first dance lesson to the relaxed reminiscences of the contemporary Fonteyn--to draw a portrait of this interesting woman. Dance fans will appreciate the many historical clips of some of Fonteyn's greatest work, notably in Giselle, Ondine, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty, paired with such ballet greats as Robert Helpmann and Rudolf Nureyev. And then there is the private side of Fonteyn's life: at the center of which is a dangerous story of political intrigue involving her husband Tito, who was paralyzed in an assassination attempt. Margot Fonteyn is both the story of an arresting personality and a well made film which should appeal to a wide audience. Highly recommended. (See ATLANTIC REALM for availability.)