'Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky' would be best left on the stage

"The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky" delivers exactly what its title promises - and meandering images to go with the ramblings of a madman.

Nijinsky, a man of Polish birth who was raised in Russia, was one of the most famous dancers of the 20th century. He took to the stage with modernist works that scandalized the ballet world - the erotic overtones and radical departure from tradition caused an outcry in 1912, when he first performed his version of L'Apres-midi d'un Faune in Paris.

By 1919, however, Nijinsky had crumbled into mental illness. That year, he began recording his thoughts and feelings - tortured and joyful - into a diary, Cahiers.

Paul Cox's filmed version of the diaries is the juxtaposition of a fine reading by the Tony Award-winning British stage and screen actor Derek Jacobi with a montage of images ranging from dancers to landscapes to still photographs and wildlife.

The diary is not intercut with explanatory narration of any kind - a brief written prologue and epilogue serve as frames for the reading of Nijinsky's musings and confessions about his wife and daughter, his mentor/lover, his love of Russia and all the people of the world, his hatred of war, his refusal to eat the flesh of animals.

This film is not for everyone. Even aficionados of art house films might find themselves a bit exasperated by the repetition, the lack of any narrative thread, the near-absence of context in which to make a kind of twisted sense of Nijinsky's writings.

Knowing the time period in which Nijinsky danced and wrote does help give meaning to his ramblings, which are, at times, surprising and sad. And there is room to appreciate the choreography of several dance pieces set to the reading. The attention to detail in the filmed phrases also is, at times, alluring.

The film seems almost as though it might have been better as a live performance - a gifted actor such as Jacobi reading onstage with the flow of filmed images projected behind him.

As it is presented, it is an interesting but not overwhelmingly compelling exercise in translating a written work onto film.

Director: Paul Cox
Stars: Voice of Derek Jacobi
MPAA Rating: Not rated, but R in nature for nudity