The Turning Point Trivia Quiz

Answer: Anna Karenina

Emma was competing with Deedee for the role of Anna Karenina in a new ballet the company was putting together. The film deals with the lingering doubts both women have in their present lives that relate back to this 20-year-old competition.

Anne Bancroft was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in "The Turning Point". She won an Academy Award for her 1962 performance as Annie Sullivan, the determined, innovative teacher of Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker". After many happy years of marriage to filmmaker Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft died in 2005.

Answer: He runs a ballet school.

Deedee's husband, Wayne, is played by Tom Skerritt. In "The Turning Point" he was also a dancer with Emma and Deedee's company and was involved romantically with Deedee at the time she and Emma were competing for their big role. Deedee discovered she was pregnant and left the company to marry Wayne and raise their child.

After a career filled with memorable roles and five Academy Award nominations for Best Actress, including one for "The Turning Point", Shirley MacLaine won for her 1983 perfomance as Aurora, the plain-talking, critical-but-eternally-devoted mother in "Terms of Endearment". Famous as the big sister of acclaimed actor/filmmaker Warren Beatty, MacLaine was a Broadway dancer and actress before taking her talents to the silver screen.

Answer: Oklahoma City

The signs outside the Oklahoma City concert hall announce the company's performance on its tour. The Rodgers family engages in a frenzy of activity, getting ready to go to the performance and for their house party afterwards. They talk about how long it's taken for the ballet company to put Oklahoma City on its tour itinerary.

After the performance, at which Emma receives an ovation, Deedee is surprisingly reluctant to go backstage and meet her old friends and colleagues. Her reluctance is contrasted with Wayne's easy self-assurance and with Emma's smooth lady-bountiful diva-ness.

At the Rodgers' party she regales the Rodgers kids with stories about her life as a ballerina. The company's ever-mercenary Director, Adelaide, provides comic relief as she interrogates Deedee about whether she knows any Oklahoma City millionaires who would be willing to donate to the company.

Answer: False

Of the three Rodgers children, Emilia is not just enthusiastic about ballet, she's considering making it her life's work and has already danced professionally in nearby productions. Ethan is also wild about ballet, but he's also just as heavily into sports, especially baseball. Only Janina, the 14-year-old middle child, shows no interest in ballet.

She's become a skilled cook and homemaker, a role she seems to enjoy. Guests at the family's post-ballet party rave about her cooking, especially the ham! Deedee tells Wayne in wonderment that it's a miracle they managed to have one "normal" child.

Answer: Carnegie Hall

The retired ballerina, Madame Dahkarova, whom Emma replaced as she rose through the ranks in the company, led an eventful, even scandalous life. Emma and Deedee pay her deep respect. Now Madame tutors up-and-coming ballerinas in the finer points of the classic roles. Carnegie Hall, first opened in 1891, is a concert venue that has seen the likes of classical music giants Tchaikovsky, Van Cliburn, and Isaac Stern; jazz pioneers Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and Dave Brubeck; and even such pop icons as Judy Garland and the Beatles. Madame Dahkarova is played by Alexandra Danilova (1903-1997), one of many ballet greats who appear in the film, either as themselves or as characters in the story.

Answer: Mikhail Baryshnikov

Mikhail Baryshnikov, known as Misha, is considered one of the greatest male dancers of all time. Born in the former Soviet Union, he defected from there to Canada in 1974, when he was 26, for more artistic freedom. He appeared with all the great international ballet companies and spent most of his career based with the American Ballet Theatre. "The Turning Point" was his first film role, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Answer: True

As they come to regard Emilia as a rising star and potential box-office draw, the company's directors look for ways to exploit her talent and magnetism. They call in Emma for a conference, and when the subject of returning "Sleeping Beauty" to the repertoire for the coming season is raised, Emma is simultaneously flattered yet confused. "I couldn't possibly dance the role," she says. "Oh, no dearie, we don't want you to dance it," says the mercenary Director, Adelaide, "We want you to stage (direct) it." It's a shot through Emma's heart.

When the Artistic Director, Michael, later says, "This is a horrible time to bring this up to Emma;" Adelaide replies, "Just when is a good time to have this conversation?"

Answer: Duke Ellington

The ballet, "Ellingtonia", posed problems for Emma, a great ballerina-actress, because it had no "story" to which she could relate. It also poses problems for Emilia for the same reason, but also because its creator is an unreasonable task master who simply wants her to dance according to his counts.

The rehearsal process helps Emilia learn to assert herself; and in the end she and the ballet are a resounding success. Her accomplishment sets up the final confrontation between Deedee and Emma. The role of Emilia is played by Leslie Browne, a young ballerina who also received an Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress, for her performance in the film.

Answer: of trying to replace her as Emilia's mother because she will never have children of her own

It turns out the women have both been consumed by "what ifs". Deedee has constantly wondered what would have happened if she had not gotten pregnant by Wayne at the time she and Emma were both competing for the lead role in the new ballet 20 years before. Would the career-making role have gone to her or to Emma? Emma is wondering what she will have to show for her long career, as successful as it has been. What if Deedee had gotten the role instead of her? Perhaps she might still have had a major career; but maybe she could also have a loving husband and a family as well?

Answer: of using her pregnancy as an excuse because she knew she would fail if chosen for the new ballet

The women really do knock each other around a bit, shouting epithets, pulling each others' hair, and tearing their fancy dresses. However, in the middle of it all, they dissolve in laughter, wondering what they were fighting about in the first place. They realize that they each have a part to play in helping Emilia, but that ultimately Emilia will have to make the key decisions for herself, just as they did.

She must live her own life; the successes and failures will be hers alone.