The Turning Point
by Herbert Ross
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anne Bancroft, Leslie Browne, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Shirley MacLaine, Tom SkerrittDirector: Herbert Ross
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 119 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-01-25
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Movie Reviews of The Turning Point
Movie Review: If not for the stunning performances of the two leads I would have certainly turned away from this one...
Summary: 2 Stars
I don't know if you can label this a `sports movie', but for the sake of my argument I'm going to. I mean, technically ballet is sort of a sport, right? Well, I guess not, but whatever. It'll have to be considered one for the time being. Okay, so my argument is this. Sometimes there are `sports movies' that can be enjoyed by any and everyone, regardless of your feelings on the sport itself. Other films rely on your personal appreciation of the sport to fuel your love for the movie. I happen to enjoy a good sports movie, when it's done right, but personally I'm not a sports kind of guy, and so the film has to work extra hard to grab my attention. The film has to be able to make me care about something I'm not too interested in. When I think of films like `Friday Night Lights' I get all warm inside, because while my interest in football is minimal, that film made me care about the game and the players. When a film fails to give you a personal reason to connect to the story then you find yourself uninterested and unmotivated.
`The Turning Point' is that kind of movie for me. It is really only enjoyable (in my opinion) for someone who is in love with the sport (the dance, the profession, the art...whatever you want to call it). I found myself almost bored stiff throughout large portions of this film, and so I have to conclude that the only way to appreciate this movie is to love ballet as much as it does.
I've seen other dance films and absolutely loved them, so this isn't just a genre thing, believe me.
The film casts Shirley MacLaine (love her) and Anne Bancroft as old friends who become reunited one's daughter joins a ballet company the other belongs to. Deedee Rogers and Emma Jacklin grew up dancing together, but when Deedee got pregnant she gave up her career to start a family. Years later Deedee's daughter Emilia joins the same ballet company Emma belongs to and the two friends become locked in a subtle yet powerful war for the soul of Emilia so-to-speak. While they struggle to hold on the Emilia they also struggle with their affections for one another. They both have what the other wants so desperately and so their love is bittersweet.
The acting is very good from both Bancroft and MacLaine, but elsewhere it is lacking. MacLaine is sublime as the conflicted mother, giving her character so many emotional layers; while Bancroft simmers as Emma, keeping her guard up so as to maintain her pleasant fa?ade. The two actresses give performances that are far and away superior to the film they happen to star in. I was not impressed with much else. I felt that the dancing, while beautiful, was too prominent (especially in the end) and took away from the `film'. The gritty style in which the film was shot is also a slight deterrence, for it doesn't match the films tone at all. I thought that Mikhail Baryshnikov and Leslie Browne deliver decent yet very rudimentary performances, neither shining bright enough to deserve the Oscar nominations they received.
In fact, how this movie was nominated for anything aside from MacLaine (very deserved) and Bancroft (also excellent) is beyond me, yet it managed to rack up ELEVEN nominations. Well, I guess people really liked this movie, but it the flimsy script (there is not enough depth here, really) and the poor pacing make this a film I'm not too keen on at all.
Summary of The Turning Point
As young dancers, they were best friends and fierce rivals. Deedee (Shirley MacLaine) left the stage for marriage and motherhood, while Emma (Anne Bancroft) would become an international ballet icon. But when Deedee's teenage daughter (Leslie Browne in her film debut) is invited to join Emma's dance company and begins an affair with a young Russian star (Mikhail Baryshnikov in his film debut), the two women are forced to confront the choices they've made, the resentments they've hidden, and the emotional truths they must face at THE TURNING POINT.Tom Skerritt, Anthony Zerbe and the artists of The American Ballet Theatre co-star in this Oscar?-nominated classic written by Arthur Laurents (THE WAY WE WERE, WEST SIDE STORY) and directed by Herbert Ross (STEEL MAGNOLIAS, FOOTLOOSE) that became one of the most acclaimed dramas of the decade and remains among the most stunning dance films of all time.
Mikhail Baryshnikov made his film debut in this lightweight but entertaining drama about the relationship between a renowned ballerina (Anne Bancroft) and the woman (Shirley MacLaine) who had trained with her but had given up dance to become a wife, mother, and teacher. Between MacLaine's envy over her friend's career and the attention her own ballerina daughter (Leslie Browne) is getting, MacLaine's character goes through a complicated crisis. The two actresses carry the story very well and probably camouflage its thinness; they even make a somewhat condescending climax involving a catfight seem like a good idea. A subplot involving a developing romance between the virginal Browne and Baryshnikov's womanizer makes for pretty window dressing. More memorable are dance sequences featuring each in splendid performance. Baryshnikov's leaps are something to behold. --Tom Keogh
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