
Rudolf Nureyev

Clara Saint

Yuri Soloviev

Vitaly Strizhevsky

Pierre Lacotte

Konstantin Sergeyev
Alla Osipenko
Natalia Dudinskaya
Tamara Zakrzhevskaya
Claire Motte
Gregor Alexinski

Ghislaine Thesmar

In the spring of 1913, Parisian businessman Gabriel Astruc opens a new theater on the Champs Elysées. The first performance is the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring', danced by the Ballet Russes. The rehearsal process is extremely fraught: the orchestra dislike Stravinsky's harsh, atonal music; the dancers dislike the 'ugly' choreography of Vaslav Nijinsky. The volatile, bisexual Nijinsky is in a strained relationship with the much older Sergei Diaghilev, the Ballet Russes' charismatic but manipulative impresario. Public expectation is extremely high after Nijinsky's success in 'L'apres-midi d'un faune'. Finally, 'The Rite of Spring' premieres to a gossip-loving, febrile, fashion-conscious Parisian audience sharply divided as to its merits.

Georgian director Otar Iosseliani prepares his film Jardins en Automne. Nothing is conventional in the filmmaker's system: Julie Bertuccelli portrays the gestation and production of a film that seems to follow the freest and most unpredictable poetic intuitions of its creator. The constant and hilarious arguments with the producer, Martine Marignac, a Michel Piccoli transformed into an old woman, and the director's peculiar filming system, in which he signals his actors to start with a whistle, paint a picture of one of the most unclassifiable cinematic experiences in contemporary cinema.

Historical evocation of Ludwig, king of Bavaria, from his crowning in 1864 until his death in 1886, as a romantic hero. Fan of Richard Wagner, betrayed by him, in love with his cousin Elisabeth of Austria, abandoned by her, tormented by his homosexuality, he will little by little slip towards madness.