AllMovie

By any standard, Soviet dancer Maya Plisétskaya (b. 1925) qualifies as one of the most vitally important ballerinas of the 20th century. She largely built her reputation on the basis of her ability to look beyond the scope of dance movements per se and invest each assignment with a characterization specific to that role. Legendary productions in which Plisétskaya appeared included Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Bolero, and Romeo and Juliet. This documentary portrait from director Dominique Delouche presents Plisétskaya as a woman riddled with a series of contradictions that often gained synchronicity onstage. It also touches on her successful attempt to invest her art form with a heightened modernity beginning with her collaborations with Maurice Béjart.