This is a nice little production that essentially constitutes an autobiographical retrospective of Dame Fonteyn's career; as well as some parts of her "private" life (it really was not very private nor is it very likely that a person as well known as her could have much privacy). Most of what is shown was already pretty well known though it was quite interesting to see the old film clip showing her marriage to Arias. Some new tidbits of information is mentioned such as how she met her husband initially in the late 1930s at Cambridge. Which is somewhat ironic as she dropped out of school at age 14! Also interesting is the fact that when she and Arias finally got around to marrying 15 years and a World War after they first met! he had been married in the interim period and had 3 children by that first marriage. Which may explain why she never had any kids. On a related note: Other than her romance with Arias no mention is made with her other affairs or romances (even the ones before her marriage) though they are well known. To be fair, she did take care of her paralyzed husband during the last 25 years of his life so she was definitely devoted to him (if not always faithful and one cannot really blame her if did have an affair after her husbands shooting); and could not talk about his shooting even 25 years later without breaking up emotionally in front of the camera. Rudolph Nureyev is shown dancing with Fonteyn in a number of 1960s film clips of their performances. He is also interviewed later in his life (about age 50) concerning his early career with her. It is interesting to see the change in his demeanor as well as appearance in the intervening 20 years as I do not believe he gave many interviews after he discovered that he was HIV positive. An interesting retrospective done late in the life of the ballerina assoluta.
When this was filmed Arias was alive
When this was filmed Arias was alive
