The Turning Point

One of a cycle of '70s post-Women's Liberation "women's pictures," Herbert Ross's drama uses the ballet world to examine the conflict between family and career. Former dance colleagues Deedee (Shirley MacLaine) and Emma (Anne Bancroft) are reunited when Emma's New York ballet company stops in Oklahoma City for a performance. Having dropped her career for marriage and motherhood, Deedee envies prima ballerina Emma's limelight life; aging Emma, realizing that her days as a star are numbered, wishes that she had the fulfillment of a family like Deedee's. Tensions simmer when Deedee's talented teenage daughter, Emilia (Leslie Browne), moves to New York to join Emma's company. As Emma maternally bonds with Emilia, and Emilia falls in love with womanizing dancer Yuri (Mikhail Baryshnikov), Deedee feels that she's losing her place even as a mother. After Emilia's triumphant debut, Deedee's and Emma's resentments boil over into an all-out catfight that ends when they realize they can unite in happiness for Emilia's future. Splitting the desires to nest and to work between two characters, Ross and writer Arthur Laurents reveal the difficulty faced by women in a world of expanding options. As in Michael Powell's and Emeric Pressburger's seminal ballet film The Red Shoes (1948), dancing and a personal life don't mix, even as the films display ballet's seductive power here in the gracefully integrated numbers by dance stars Browne and Baryshnikov. Despite reservations about its melodramatic aspects, The Turning Point earned box-office success and eleven Oscar nominations (but no wins). Even if its wife/work struggle seems a bit old-fashioned, Deedee's and Emma's final bond suggests that the next generation may not have the same regrets. — Lucia Bozzola

Greatly acclaimed upon its initial release (and scoring an amazing eleven Academy Award nominations), time has dulled much of the appeal of The Turning Point. The melodramatic aspects of the plot, slightly commented upon but generally dismissed in 1977, are the main culprits, but much of writer Arthur Laurents' dialogue is also to blame. It's a bit too obvious in the big scenes, and it sometimes seems to be trying too hard to present its feminist credentials. That said, the script does allow two talented actresses to strut their considerable stuff, and Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine grab the opportunity and run with it, especially in the made-to-order catfight that climaxes the film. Equally as important as the stars' performance are the ballet sequences, which are among the best ever captured on film. Mikhail Baryshnikov and Leslie Browne are acceptable in their dialogue scenes, but they are incandescent and amazing when dancing, especially as captured by Robert Surtees' delicate and perceptive cinematography. Sensitively directed and sporting a lovely design, Turning Point has enough plusses to make up for its soap opera underpinnings. — Craig Butler