On April 6, the world premiere of the documentary “The Artist's Case. Serhiy Lifar” will take place at The European Festival in Stockholm. It tells the story of the life and journey of Serhiy Lifar, one of the most talented dancers of the 20th century, who became a legend of the Paris ballet. The author of the film's idea, journalist and researcher Anna Lodygina, told Vogue.ua about the work on the film, which was commissioned by the Public Broadcasting Service.
How did you decide to make a film about Lifar? What was the most difficult part?
I first filmed a short story about him three and a half years ago. Then, together with a television crew from the Polish public broadcaster, we were making an English-language travelogue about famous Ukrainians who influenced European culture. Of course, I was fascinated by Lifar's biography: as a 17-year-old boy, he escaped from Bolshevik-occupied Ukraine on his second attempt, became the leading soloist of a ballet troupe in two years without any choreographic education, and at 25 he headed the troupe of the Paris Opera and turned it into one of the most successful ballet companies in the world, collaborating with the legends of art of that time — from Coco Chanel to Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. In addition, he was extremely productive and managed to stage up to 10 performances a year.
During the filming, I was surprised by the absence of Lifar's ballets in the Paris Opera's repertoire. From the half-hints, it became clear that he was still treated with caution. For example, we were asked not to touch on political topics in the plot, so as not to stir up the past. At that time, I knew that during the Nazi occupation of Paris in World War II, Lifar remained in charge of the theater, but without details. In particular, about the complicated course of the post-war trial of collaborators, where he was also charged, but he did not receive a serious punishment. Instead, he received a ruined reputation, which he tried to restore for the rest of his life.
I wanted to understand this story. Everything was difficult: agreeing on locations for filming, convincing French experts to give interviews, working through the recently declassified materials of his case in French, and, ultimately, finding answers, at least for myself, about who Serhiy Lifar really was.
What main Lifar archives did you work with, which of the experts turned out to be the most valuable to you?
The most important person from the beginning was the director of the Serge Lifar Museum in Kyiv, Natalia Bilous. She is working on part of the archive, which, fortunately for us, the dancer's widow gave to the city in the 1990s. In the iron chests that arrived in Kyiv, together with other researchers, Ms. Natalia discovered Lifar's unpublished memoirs, which relate specifically to the period of World War II. This is what gave impetus to the entire story of our film.
Another researcher of Ukrainian origin, Olena Yashchuk-Kode, helped us obtain electronic copies of the declassified Lifar case file at the Paris police prefecture, which had been following him for decades. Working with these materials, my co-writer Nina Zakhozhenko and I felt like detectives. Especially when we compared the data with information from the “Artists' Case” about Lifar and his family, which was declassified more than 10 years ago in the archives of the Security Service of Ukraine.
The collaboration with the American dance researcher Mark Frank was valuable. Although his opinion on Lifar does not coincide with the position of most other experts, he is the only one who has studied his archive in Berlin. Some of the documents he discovered have become important for our work.
How long did it take to work on the film, and where exactly did you film it?
Every project has a deadline, so it was not possible to work at a comfortable pace. Only thanks to the fact that at the time of the start we already had several years of experience, we managed to fit the entire process — from development to final editing — into a year and a half. We filmed in two key cities for Serhiy Lifar — Kyiv and Paris.
It was interesting to watch ourselves and the film crew: during the process, our attitude towards him was constantly changing, and we kept asking each other: what do you think now – is he guilty or not? We probably all experienced emotional swings – from sympathy to rejection, from deep empathy to confusion and misunderstanding, how we would behave ourselves in the circumstances that befell him.
What is the most important myth about Lifar that you have debunked for yourself?
I quite often come across discussions about how Ukrainian Lifar was and whether it is worth returning his name at all, because he is called an imperialist, negative statements about Petliura and the lack of ties with the Ukrainian diaspora in Paris are criticized. I can't say that I had such doubts, because from the beginning I operated with a wider array of information, but it was important to collect as much evidence to the contrary as possible.
For example, Lifar initiated the invitation of the Ukrainian ballet troupe to Paris, where it was awarded the “Golden Star” of the French Academy of Dance. A photo from that trip is in the film: it shows Lifar in an embroidered shirt. The frame was kindly provided by Ukrainian ballet researcher Katya Yeletskykh. But unfortunately, it is impossible to fit everything into the film.
What new thing you learned about him that impressed you the most?
Lifar's legacy is today under threat of extinction. If a painting or a book can live for centuries under favorable circumstances, then dance is a unique moment that fades into the past every second. Therefore, it is important for any choreographer that his productions remain in the repertoire all the time – this is the only way they live. If, for example, Lifar is not staged for 10 years, this means that an entire generation of dancers does not know his choreography, and it becomes increasingly difficult to pass it on.
That is why the most valuable thing that happened to me while working on the project happened on the last day of filming. His student's student was performing a fragment of the ballet “Mirage” together with her ballerina in one of the classes of the Paris Opera with a view of the entire city. In an instant, what Lifar created over 70 years ago was being recreated right before our eyes. It literally came to life in every movement of the dancer.
Did you have unlimited access to Lifar's Parisian archives?
In an ideal world, it would be worth living in Paris for at least a few months to process the entire archive – because we have access to it. But we did not have that luxury, so we were only able to research it partially – we focused on key documents. I hope we will still have such an opportunity – and not only in Paris, because the Lifar archive is also kept in Lausanne and Berlin.
In general, was it easy for the French side to contact you as a researcher?
Everyone made contact, but not everyone was ready to act in films. However, they became important sources of information. The most disappointing thing is that we were unable to film Lifar's student, Claude Bessy, who was 92 years old at the time. She agreed to give an interview, show photos with Lifar from her archive, and some things that he had given her. Mykola Popelus, who was searching for video archives, even managed to find a black-and-white recording of Bessy during her performance in Kyiv in 1958, when Lifar himself was not allowed on this tour. We wanted to give her this recording as a gift.
But, unfortunately, a few days before the filming, she was taken to the hospital by ambulance. Today, she is fine, but the filming, of course, had to be canceled then. This is the big problem: we, Ukrainian researchers, did not have time to catch those who knew Lifar, and they are leaving.
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We know that the Lifar Museum in Kyiv does not have its own physical space, and its collection has been partially evacuated. If we want to learn more about Lifar, what would you recommend?
From time to time, the Museum of the History of Kyiv holds exhibitions dedicated to Lifar. The last one took place this winter. For the next one, I recommend starting with the memoirs – “Years of Harvest” and “Memoirs of Icarus”. They will help you immerse yourself in Lifar's biography. Today, his ballets are rarely seen, but when such an opportunity arises, it is definitely worth going and watching. For example, in April, the Royal Opera in Stockholm will be showing one of his most famous ballets – “Suite in White”.