Amos Lassen wrote on 12/14/2011:

“Nijinsky” is a movie that came and went without much notice. Now we have it on DVD and we can judge for ourselves. It is set in the early 1900’s when Vaslav Nijinsky (George De La Pena) was young, brilliant and quite headstrong. His company’s manager, Sergei Diaghilev (Alan Bates), was controlling and possessive of his lead dancer and the two men were seemingly challenging each other as well as lustful. Things really came to a head when Romola de Pulsky, a young ballerina came between them. She tried very hard to woo Nijinsky away from Diaghilev.

The problem I have with the film is that it only deals with the end of Nijinsky life and career and his descent into madness. We see what happens when an older man exploits a young man’s genius and ambition (or maybe it was vice versa). However, in reading about Nijinsky, all evidence points to the fact that they indeed loved each other—one was not using the other. Of course, love stories of men for other men were taboo topics when the movie was made in 1980. It was the passion of the men that was transferred to Nijinsky’s passionate performances.

The actors give fine performances but they are hampered by a poor script. The fact that the love affair is played down hurt the film a great deal. The dance sequences are spectacular. Visually the film is beautiful but that is only the surface.

Nijinsky’s career was short—from 1906 until 1917. His performances were never filmed and he gave no interviews and all we have are a few photographs so the script really is only based on ideas. After he began his descent into madness, we did not hear about him and for 30 years he lives in seclusion until he died in 1950. De La Pena plays him as a mysterious and awkward boy and man. His sexual tensions are displayed in dance and we see that while his dancing was strong, his character was weak. But it is Alan Bates who owns this film and everyone else dwarfs in his company. The film raises questions but gives no answers. I have a feeling that this was done to challenge the audience to learn more by themselves.