Romeo and Juliet (1968)

Buy a copy! Don't worry about the age difference.
Dame Margot bounces onto the stage like a ten year old in her first scene. Since her agility, energy and acting permit her to perform the entrance with that elan, you believe in her Juliet right away. Sometimes Fonteyn flutters like a leaf, sometimes she floats, sometimes she rushes toward her love. It's been said that she's older here and past her prime. I can't see any flaw in her performance. She pirouettes, she jumps, she's always in the right place for lifts, and she stays on point endlessly and effortlessly. In one place just the movement of her hand and arm is a dance.

Nureyev is wonderful to watch. I'm not a balletomane, but his jumps with flashing footwork are fabulous. I can't help wondering if he could have turned in the air. He dances with every bit of his body, not forgetting that his hands and feet are a part of his performance. In one place especially, he and Fonteyn use their hands so expressively that I don't even remember what else they were doing. I have never seen the change from Rosalind to Juliet so convincingly demonstrated.

Like opera singers, ballet dancers sometimes do and sometimes don't act. Fonteyn and Nureyev act as if they had studied drama as well as ballet. Their chemistry is so convincing that you forget that there can have been no romance between them offstage. The romance between their characters sometimes yearns, sometimes blazes, and sometimes explodes in rapture.

That's all the more convincing because in filming, while the camera does move in and out in ways that make sense, the distances are well chosen. (This is a studio recording.) Whoever filmed this avoided tight closeups, but moved in close enough for the moment to be touching. That bit of good judgment avoided the jarring notes that sometimes mar a filmed performance when the best woman for the role is not only older than the character, but also older than the man who is playing the romantic lead. I had seen that recently in a different situation, and was worried about it here, but the performance is delightful throughout, and I was never bounced out of the story by a badly chosen closeup.

In the curtain calls you do see for yourself that Fonteyn is materially older than Nureyev, but at that point they are themselves, so it's appropriate.

I thought I had enough versions of Romeo and Juliet, and I was a little nervous about buying this. I'm very glad I did!

Nureyev and Fonteyn dancing Romeo and Juliet is a great performance of a great ballet. Don't JUST get it to see two of the most famous ballet dancers in history dance with their most effective partner: get it because you'll love to watch it. Get it because here, the movement really does tell the story without words, which is what ballet is about.

The brand name of fame is immaterial, but that's because it's this performance and others like it that created the fame to begin with.

Not a high quality transcription
I found the transcription to be pretty low quality. There are pops in the audio and snow in the video. There is another version on Amazon which is almost double the cost ... maybe I should have chosen that one.
Of course, the music and the dancing are marvelous, but what did I expect.
I did appreciate written scene synopses and bios of Prokofiev and the dancers.

A sensual joy
This is an extraordinarily enjoyable spectacle, a true feast for the senses. First of all, the sets and costumes are beautifully formed and colored. Then, the music by Prokofiev is perfect, exquisiely toned to evoke love, excitement, sorrow; it's as excellent as the play or the ballet. And the protagonists are perfectly cast, with an added poignancy coming from what one knows of their tragic personal lives, doomed lovers indeed: Nureyev dying from AIDS, Fonteyn descending into poverty and loneliness (see Tony Palmer's excellent bio), David Blair (the perfect Mercutio) dying suddenly at 43.

There are many truly memorable moments: the formal stepping out of the males and then the females at the grand ball, the High Renaissance itself; the duel between Tybalt and Mercutio, and the latter's dying moments; the exuberant mass dances in the marketplace. I especially liked the three harlots for their devil-may-care elan..