ant501 This work of art is just stunningly beautiful and powerful; I saw it performed on stage in London and bought the DVD version the next day. The soundtrack is excellent, the orchestra is well balanced and well conducted. The on-stage performances are breathtaking and moving. My only complaints relate to the vision mixing; a few dodgy camera angles and the rapidity of some of the cuts. This is ballet and although TV directors have a golden opportunity to enhance the experience by showing far more than a square-on proscenium arch shot, they should only rarely cut to anything closer than a mid-shot; certainly not for just one second, it is disorientating and it ruins the flow. Despite the fact that I think the editing leaves a lot to be desired I still give it 10 for sheer mastery in every other area.

didi-5 Matthew Bourne's Adventures in Motion Pictures company produced this version of the classic ballet, using an almost all-male cast, first as s stage show and then immortalised in this filmed version: Adam Cooper and Scott Ambler head the group of excellent dancers.This version has the prince enthralled by a male swan which eventually leads to a far bloodier destruction than in the well-loved version - the choreography is powerful and the settings are reminiscent of 30s and 40s movie sets. This company - now known as New Adventures - are clever and with their later productions The Car Man (a version of Carmen) and Nutcracker! (a version of The Nutcracker) have continued to add a great deal to the modern dance movement.

the_monkeys_raincoat I saw 'Swan Lake' when I was 18 years old (a million years ago). I thought the music was pretty and the dancers were pretty and I might have wished in passing that I knew how to dance. But I never gave it or dance another thought. Fast forward to a few years ago when I was plopped down on a couch and told to watch this new all male version with a friend who had seen it in person. WOW!!!! It truly grieves me I have never seen it in person. Matthew Bourne is one cool dude and his swans are nothing short of spectacular. Adam Cooper drips a sexual tension you can feel even through the television screen. The band of carousing swans filter throughout the production sometimes in movements of dreamy poetry, sometimes in a furious fluttered heat, sometimes disturbingly aggressive - but always ethereally beautiful. The story has many facets and encompasses a lot of emotion - something I am learning Bourne and his dancers are quite keen at communicating vividly to the audience with just the slightest movement. So if you are ready to try something different...I highly recommend you try this on for size. Let go of your reservations, willingly suspend your preconceptions of what it is you think you are going to see and settle in for the ruffled feather experience of your life. These swans are hot and they really do rock. (Also see 'The Car Man' - another provocative work from the creative genius Matthew Bourne).

GMeleJr Never have ballet, the theatre, and film come together to produce such a masterpiece. Even if you hate ballet (I usually don't care for it), you'll enjoy this. What can no longer be denied in spite of all the critics', and even my own best efforts (to hide it from children) is the Prince's obvious homosexuality. The Swan in its two incarnations, and the swans in general are not, not at all. In fact, that "allure of the forbidden" undoubtedly adds to the attraction the Prince feels for the Swan. I feel I must say this because every article, comment or review I have read about this ground-breaking production vehemently denies its link with homosexuality. I've gone along with the very complicated explanations since this is really not a gay ballet. In fact, I didn't know ballet dancing could come off as classically masculine as it does in this production of SWAN LAKE. However, when eight and nine year old kids I saw it with last, saw right through the Prince's enchantment with the SWAN(s) in spite of my over-wrought explanations, it's time to cut the lines. The kids just wouldn't buy my explanations, and it was left at that: the Prince was gay, no big deal. The depiction of the Prince from his infancy right through to the end is that of the supreme wimp which kids are used to seeing. He has nocturnal dreams about a strong and virile male (animal or human). His mother is domineering, hyper-feminine, and competes with him even in his sex life. I don't think a 'gayer' male stereotype could be created? As I said, the Swan is definitely not gay, in either of his incarnations: good or bad. He's just appealing to all; I generally mean heterosexual women and gay men, but really to all who find him appealing. I think it's time somebody other than a child recognized this without resorting to the cerebral rationalizations usually given . He's good, he's powerful, he's tender, he can be evil, and can even get into S & M and incest. And so what? It sounds like something out the latest Christina Ricci movie. This production of SWAN LAKE is so full of wonderful details, pokes so much fun at the reigning British royals, and is just so thoroughly accessible to all, that if this plot adjustment was necessary to achieve this grand "whole", so be it. Never has this so-tirelessly and often-played ballet been so riveting. Indeed never have ballet, theatre, modern dance, and contemporary life been so well mixed together in one great film!