Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 70 192m
Director: David Lean
Cast: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Tom Courtenay, Alec Guinness, Rod Steiger, Geraldine Chaplin, Ralph Richardson, Siobhan McKenna, Klaus Kinski
Synopsis:
A Soviet general seeks out the daughter of his half-brother, a doctor-poet, and Larissa Antipov, the dedicatee of some of his poetry. During the dying days of the Russian monarchy and the Revolution and Civil War that followed, their doomed love affair shone out like a beacon of personal fulfilment amid the tumultuous and brutal history of the early days of Communism.
Review:
Lean attempted to reconfigure Lawrence somehow amongst the snowy wastes of Russia, with his out-of-place hero, passionately uncompromising, humane and loyal to his earth. Zhivago is both the focus and still centre of the film, condemned to observe mutely for much of it and relegated frequently to the shadows by Lean's grandiloquent mise en scène; Sharif is left with little to do except look benevolent and dewy eyed. Christie on the other hand is all warmth and light, after an awkward start establishing her character, and Young spotlights her pearly blues whenever opportunity arises; her voice throbs with emotion and rings with truth. The real tentpole performance of the movie, though, in having a part to play which is genuinely interesting in its magnetic/repellent aspects, is Steiger's, and he really goes to town. Guinness and Courtenay, Box and Jarre also contribute memorably, but it is Lean's film again.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 70 192m
Director: David Lean
Cast: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Tom Courtenay, Alec Guinness, Rod Steiger, Geraldine Chaplin, Ralph Richardson, Siobhan McKenna, Klaus Kinski
Synopsis:
A Soviet general seeks out the daughter of his half-brother, a doctor-poet, and Larissa Antipov, the dedicatee of some of his poetry. During the dying days of the Russian monarchy and the Revolution and Civil War that followed, their doomed love affair shone out like a beacon of personal fulfilment amid the tumultuous and brutal history of the early days of Communism.
Review:
Lean attempted to reconfigure Lawrence somehow amongst the snowy wastes of Russia, with his out-of-place hero, passionately uncompromising, humane and loyal to his earth. Zhivago is both the focus and still centre of the film, condemned to observe mutely for much of it and relegated frequently to the shadows by Lean's grandiloquent mise en scène; Sharif is left with little to do except look benevolent and dewy eyed. Christie on the other hand is all warmth and light, after an awkward start establishing her character, and Young spotlights her pearly blues whenever opportunity arises; her voice throbs with emotion and rings with truth. The real tentpole performance of the movie, though, in having a part to play which is genuinely interesting in its magnetic/repellent aspects, is Steiger's, and he really goes to town. Guinness and Courtenay, Box and Jarre also contribute memorably, but it is Lean's film again.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 70 192m
Director: David Lean
Cast: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Tom Courtenay, Alec Guinness, Rod Steiger, Geraldine Chaplin, Ralph Richardson, Siobhan McKenna, Klaus Kinski
Synopsis:
A Soviet general seeks out the daughter of his half-brother, a doctor-poet, and Larissa Antipov, the dedicatee of some of his poetry. During the dying days of the Russian monarchy and the Revolution and Civil War that followed, their doomed love affair shone out like a beacon of personal fulfilment amid the tumultuous and brutal history of the early days of Communism.
Review:
Lean attempted to reconfigure Lawrence somehow amongst the snowy wastes of Russia, with his out-of-place hero, passionately uncompromising, humane and loyal to his earth. Zhivago is both the focus and still centre of the film, condemned to observe mutely for much of it and relegated frequently to the shadows by Lean's grandiloquent mise en scène; Sharif is left with little to do except look benevolent and dewy eyed. Christie on the other hand is all warmth and light, after an awkward start establishing her character, and Young spotlights her pearly blues whenever opportunity arises; her voice throbs with emotion and rings with truth. The real tentpole performance of the movie, though, in having a part to play which is genuinely interesting in its magnetic/repellent aspects, is Steiger's, and he really goes to town. Guinness and Courtenay, Box and Jarre also contribute memorably, but it is Lean's film again.