Night Sun
Original titleWhite Nights
Night Sun is an American film directed
by Taylor Hackford, released in November 1985.
Synopsis
Flying to Tokyo, a long-haul aircraft has to land urgently in Siberia.
On board, Nikolai "Kolya" Rodchenko (Baryshnikov), Ballet dancer who fled Russia
eight years earlier and, for this fact, convicted in absentia. Rodchenko, seriously injured is
transported to the hospital where he is recognized by the enraged and perverted Soviet KGB officer Colonel Chaiko (Jerzy Skolimowski). Chaiko then places the defector in the custody of a tap dancer Raymond Greenwood (Hines), African-American, convinced pacifist who has passed the iron curtain.
ten years earlier after his refusal to fight in Vietnam.
Chaiko wants Rodchenko to dance the season opener at the Kirov, marking the supremacy of Russian culture over American culture. Greenwood must convince Rodchenko. They soon arrive in Leningrad where Rodchenko finds his apartment, the Kirov of his debut and Galina Ivanova (Mirren),
his partner and first love. The ballerina who did not follow Rodchenko in the past and blames him for his abandonment, however, does not take long to become an accomplice in his escape plan. She herself alerts the American embassy and a rescue plan is set in motion.
Learning that his wife Darya (Rossellini) is pregnant, and refusing to let her child grow up in the USSR, Greenwood decides to flee too. The three friends will therefore escape together. At the last moment, Raymond Greenwood gets caught as he chooses to stay behind in order to delay Chaiko to allow Nikolai and Darya to arrive at the American Consulate. It will be narrowly, Chaïko having them
joined not being able to intervene in force in front of the cameras of the representatives of neutral countries.
Raymond will eventually be exchanged with another prisoner. He reunites with his wife and Nikolai.
Chaïko lost the game and the face.
Technical sheet
English title: Soleil de nuit
Original Title: White Nights
Director: Taylor Hackford
Screenplay: James Goldman and Eric Hughes
Choreography: Twyla Tharp and Roland Petit
Photography: David Watkin
Set design: Philip Harrison
Costumes: Evangeline Harrison
Editing: Fredric Steinkamp and William Steinkamp
Music: Michel COLOMBIER
Song: Separate Lives - Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin
Produced by: William S. Gilmore and Taylor Hackford
Production Company: New Visions, Delphi IV Productions
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Country of origin: USA
Release dates:
USA: November 22, 1985
France: January 15, 1986
Distribution
Mikhail Baryshnikov (VF: Edgar Givry): Nikolai "Kolya" Rodchenko
Gregory Hines (VF: Pascal Renwick): Raymond Greenwood
Helen Mirren (VF: Évelyn Séléna): Galina Ivanova
Isabella RosselliniDarya Greenwood
Jerzy Skolimowski (VF: Igor de Savitch): Colonel Chaiko
Geraldine Page (VF: Paule Emanuele): Anne Wyatt
John Glover (VF: Jean-Pierre Leroux): Wynn Scott
Stefan Gryff as Captain Kirigin
Maryam d'Abo: The French Girlfriend
William HootkinsChuck Malarek
Shane Rimmer (VF: Michel Derain): Ambassador Larry Smith
Daniel Benzali (VF: Jacques Deschamps (actor)): Dr Asher
David Savile (VF: Georges Berthomieu): the pilot
Ian Liston (VF: Jacques Brunet (actor)): the co-pilot
Benny Young (VF: Mario Santini): the flight engineer
Hilary Drake (VF: Jocelyne Darche): the hostess
Honors
Awards
Oscar for Best Original Song for Lionel Richie (Say You, Say Me)
Golden Globe for Best Original Song for Lionel Richie
Appointments
Oscar for Best Original Song for Stephen Bishop (Separate Lives)
Golden Globe for Best Film Score for Michel COLOMBIER
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Mikhail Baryshnikov
Born on 2January 7, 1948
star dancer
ballet director
Choreographer
Actor
dance teacher
Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov, born January 27, 1948 in Riga, is a dancer,
American-Latvian choreographer, ballet director and actor.
He is frequently quoted alongside Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev and Vladimir Vasiliev
as one of the most important dancers of the 20th century.
His success as an actor on stage, in film and on television has certainly contributed to his notoriety as a modern ballet dancer.
Mikhail Baryshnikov is one of the great names in dance.
Beginnings
Mikhail Baryshnikov was born to Russian parents on January 27, 1948 in Riga, Latvia.
then left the USSR, where he began studying classical dance in 1957 at the school of the Latvian National Opera.
In 1964, he joined the prestigious Vaganova Ballet Academy, formerly the Imperial Academy
of St. Petersburg (then called the Leningrad State Choreographic Institute), where he was a student of one of the greatest masters in the history of dance, Alexander Pushkin, who had,
previously trained Rudolf Nureyev.
In 1966, he won the gold medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition in Bulgaria.
and a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition in 1969.
At the ballet of the Kirov theater
In 1967, Mikhail Baryshnikov entered the ballet company of the Kirov Theater
where he dances Paysan, Giselle's pas de deux.
Named star in 1969, he is appreciated for his presence on the stage and the purity
of his technique, to the point that several Russian choreographers - including Oleg Vinogradov, Konstantin Sergeyev, Igor Tchernikov and Leonid Jacobson - created ballets especially for him.
Baryshnikov interprets the virtuoso title role of Jakobson's Vestris (1969) as well as the character of Albrecht in Giselle ou les Wilis.
Moving to Canada
During the Bolshoi Ballet's Canadian tour in 1974, Mikhail Baryshnikov disappeared for a few days. He takes advantage of this time to file a request for political asylum in Canada, which decides to accept it. Baryshnikov announces to the dance world that he will not return to Russia.
Principal Dancer of the American Ballet Theater
After Canada, where he danced with various companies as a free dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov joined the American Ballet Theater as a principal dancer from 1974 to 1978.
He began a career as a star dancer, interpreting Giselle
with Natalia Makarova as her partner.
Principal dancer of the New York City Ballet
In July 1978, Mikhail Baryshnikov left the American Ballet Theater after four years as
as prima ballerina for the benefit of the New York City Ballet.
It is there that he meets George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins with whom he will work.
There he learns the dynamics of the movements of George Balanchine.
Mikhail Baryshnikov left his freelance career to spend 15 months as a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet directed by the so-called "Mr. B.", the legendary George Balanchine.
The latter rarely opens the door of his company to new artists and has already refused to
working with Rudolf Nureyev and Alicia Markova. Baryshnikov's decision to give full attention to Balanchine's company amazes the dance world. Balanchine never choreographed a single ballet for Baryshnikov but directed the JEUNE dancer in the choreographer's own style. This is how Baryshnikov triumphed in title roles like Apollo, The Prodigal Son and Rubies.
On October 12, 1979, Mikhail Baryshnikov danced the role of the poet in George Balanchine's La Sonnambula with the New York City Ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington. This is his last performance with that company due to tendonitis and other injuries.
He underwent heart surgery in July 1979 following a heart attack.
Artistic Director of American Ballet Theater
After being its undisputed star, Mikhail Baryshnikov became artistic director of the American Ballet Theater on September 1, 1980, a position he held until 1989.
American citizen
On July 3, 1986, Mikhail Baryshnikov became a naturalized American citizen. He will be the artistic director of the White Oak Dance Project from 1990 to 2002, a traveling company
which he founded with Mark Morris.
During the summer, from 2003 to 2007, he notably taught the JEUNE Canadian ballerina Chloé St-Félix,
whom he leaves to study once mature, at the Superior School of Contemporary Ballets of Montreal.
He joined the Barychnikov Art Center in New York in 2004.
During the summer of 2006, the dancer toured the United States and Spain with the Hell's Kitchen Dance company, sponsored by the Baryshnikov Art Center, a dance encouragement and promotion program that he created in 2003. He performs works by Azsure Barton and Benjamin Millepied, residents of the Baryshnikov Art Center.
At the end of August 2007, Mikhaïl Barychnikov flew to Stockholm to perform Place (Ställe in Swedish), a ballet by Mats Ek with Ana Laguna as a partner.
Just before his 60th birthday, Mikhaïl Barychnikov appears in a series of four short scenes by Samuel Beckett choreographed by JO Anne Akalaitis, an avant-garde director.
Barychnikov has been the spokesperson for most of his own artistic projects as well as for the promotion of modern dance by creating several dozen premieres of new works, including several of his own. His success as an actor on stage, in film and on television has certainly contributed to his notoriety as a modern ballet dancer.
Private life
Mikhail Barychnikov has a daughter, Aleksandra Barychnikova, born in 1981
of his affair with the actress Jessica Lange.
With former American Ballet Theater ballerina Lisa Reinhart he had three children:
Peter Andrew, Anna Katerina, and Sofia-Luisa.
Baryshnikov was a friend of singer Barbara.
The talent of Mikhaïl Barichnikov is essential from an JEUNE age but, smaller than the
average dancer, he does not exceed in size a ballerina when she rises on pointe.
Also the communist system relegates him to secondary roles. At that time, the dance world adhered closely to traditions inherited from the 19th century and ignored the creative Western choreographies that Baryshnikov glimpsed on tours and in films.
His main objective in leaving the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was to work
with these innovators. During the first two years after his defection,
he dances for 13 choreographers including Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham,
Jerome Robbins, Glen Tetley, Alvin Ailey and Twyla Tharp.
"It doesn't matter whether each ballet is a success or not," he told Anna Kisselgoff in 1976.
then a dance critic for the New York Times, "this new experience brings me a lot".
He tells her of his fascination with the way Ailey uses both classical and modern techniques and the discomfort he felt at first when Tharp insisted on incorporating eccentric movements into the dance.
Robbins creates Opus 19: The Dreamer for him and the prima ballerina
of the New York City Ballet, Patricia McBride.
Either way, his fascination with novelty keeps him in shape.
While his technique has lost its brilliance, the mastery of his movements
and his stage presence remain irresistible.
In June 2016, he played solo in the show Letter to a man according to Vaclav Nijinski's diary,
staged by Bob Wilson at the Maison de la danse, as part of the Nuits de Fourvière, in Lyon.
This is a world creation which will then be performed in Monte-Carlo, New York, then in Paris, from December 15, 2016 to January 21, 2017 at the Espace Pierre Cardin (Théâtre de la Ville).
White Oak Dance Project
Mikhaïl Barychnikov founds with Mark Morris the White Oak Dance Project, a company of which he will be a dancer and choreographer and whose goal is to create original works for older dancers.
It is his love for contemporary dance that pushes him to create his own
company which he will lead until 2002.
The actor
Movie theater
Mikhail Baryshnikov made his film debut in 1977, shortly after arriving in New York
with The Turning Point, a feature film by Herbert Ross where he plays the role of Yuri Kopeikine, a famous Russian dancer. He forms a remarkable couple there, both lovers and dancers, with the talented ballerina Leslie Browne, who plays the role of Shirley MacLaine's daughter in the film.
The film was nominated 11 times for the 1977 Cinema Oscar, including a nomination for Barychnikov as best actor in a supporting role.
He is still alongside Gregory Hines and Isabella Rossellini in the film Soleil de nuit (White Nights) (1985) known for the famous song by Lionel Richie Say You, Say Me which will win the Oscar for best original music and choreographed by Twyla Tharp.
He also appears in the credits of Dancers (1987) with Julie Kent in the role of Lisa, and the prima ballerina Alessandra Ferri; he is Gene Hackman's partner in Company Business. Finally, he made an appearance in 2014 in "The Ryan Initiative".
Television
Mikhail Baryshnikov began a television career in early 1976 on the American public television network, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), in the program In Performance Live from Wolf Trap. In 1977 he appeared in the lead role - alongside Gelsey Kirkland, Alexander Minz and many other dancers from the company - in a film version of the Nutcracker ballet performed
for television by the American Ballet Theater and broadcast with great success on occasion
Christmas celebrations. After being featured twice on the CBS channel, this ballet was picked up every Christmas by PBS for several years and still appears to air on a few PBS stations. The recording of this show was originally released on video in Canada.
It is one of the most watched products at Christmas time. This version with Barychnikov is one of only two nominated for the Emmy, the other being the satirical one directed by Mark Morris.
Barychnikov is the interpreter of two television programs, each of which won an Emmy.
One, broadcast by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), shows Baryshnikov dancing to Broadway tunes. The other, diffused by the antennas of Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS ) reveals it on musics of Hollywood. He performed several times with the American Ballet Theater in the Live from Lincoln Center and Great Performances programs throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
He has also been seen on several Kennedy Center Honors television shows.
In 1992, he joined the actor's project Oleg Vidov, which acquired the projection rights to the collection of cartoons from Soyuzmultfilm Studio (1936-1989), restored them and had them dubbed into English by
American movie stars like Charlton Heston, Bill Murray,
Timothy Dalton or Kathleen Turner.
Barychnikov titles the series Stories From My Childhood.
On November 2, 2006, Mikhail Baryshnikov and chef Alice Waters meet
in an episode of Iconoclasts, a television series on Sundance Channel. Both become friends. They discuss their ways of life, their respective sources of inspiration and their projects. Alice Waters came to visit the Barychnikov Art center in New York during the performances and Barychnikov did not fail to return the favor by visiting Chez Panisse, Alice Waters' restaurant in Berkeley during a tour of the company Hell's Kitchen Dance.
Barychnikov still plays the role of a Russian artist, Aleksandr Petrovsky,
in love with Carrie Bradshaw in the latest episodes of Sex and the City,
an American television series (season 6, episodes 12 to 20).