''Uncle Vanya'' (russian: Дядя Ваня, Dyadya Vanya) is a 1970
film adaptation of the 1899
Anton Chekhov play of the same title and directed by
Andrey Konchalovskiy.
Plot summary
Serebryakov, a retired professor and his beautiful, much younger second wife, Yelena, visit their country estate, which funds their urban lifestyle. Vanya, brother of the Professor's first wife, who manages the farm estate, and the local Doctor Astrov, both fall under Yelena's spell, while complaining of the endless ennui of their provincial existence. Astrov is an experienced physician who performs his job conscientiously, but has lost all idealism and spends much of his time drinking. Sofya, the Professor's daughter by his first wife, who works to keep the estate going with her uncle Vanya, meanwhile suffers from lack of esteem over what she sees as her own lack of beauty, and from an unrequited love for Dr. Astrov. Matters are brought to a head when the Professor announces his intention to sell the estate, Vanya and Sofya's home, to achieve a higher income for himself and his wife.
Differences from play
Cast
*
Innokenti Smoktunovsky
Innokenty Mikhailovich Smoktunovsky (russian: Иннокентий Михайлович Смоктуновский; born ''Smoktunovich'', 28 March 19253 August 1994) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He was named a People's Artist ...
as Ivan "Uncle Vanya" Voinitsky
*
Sergei Bondarchuk as Dr. Mikhail Lvovich Astrov
*
Irina Kupchenko
Irina Petrovna Kupchenko (russian: Ирина Петровна Купченко; born 1 March 1948 in Vienna) is a Soviet and Russian stage and film actress. She rose to prominence after acting in Andrei Konchalovsky's 1969 movie adaptation of '' ...
as Sofia "Sonya" Aleksandrovna Serebryakova
*
Irina Miroshnichenko
Irina Petrovna Miroshnichenko (russian: Иpина Пeтpoвна Миpoшничeнкo; born 24 July 1942) is a Soviet and Russian film and theatre actress. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1988).
Selected filmography
*1964 – Walking the Streets o ...
as Helena (Yelena) Andreevna Serebryakova
*
Irina Anisimova-Wulf as Mariya Vasilievna Voinitskaya
*
Yekaterina Mazurova as Marina Timofeyevna
*
Nikolai Pastukhov
Nikolai Isaakovich Pastukhov (russian: Николай Исаакович Пастухов;[Vladimir Zeldin
Vladimir Mikhailovich Zeldin (russian: Владимир Михайлович Зельдин; 10 February 1915 – 31 October 2016) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. A centenarian, he was among the longest-serving stage performers a ...](_blank)
as Professor Aleksandr Vladimirovich Serebryakov
Critical reception
*
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
wrote, "this "Uncle Vanya" is an exceedingly graceful, beautifully acted production that manages to respect Chekhov as a man of his own time, as well as what I would assume to be the Soviet view of Chekhov as Russia's saddest, gentlest, funniest and most compassionate revolutionary playwright...For the most part, the film proceeds at Chekhov's own pace as the camera, which has the presence of a household intimate, follows the action in close-up, sometimes overhearing scenes from adjoining rooms, sometimes, as if by chance, becoming so involved in the action that it doesn't remember to give us an establishing shot until a scene is almost completed...Because there have been so few screen adaptations of Chekhov's plays seen here, it doesn't mean as much as I wish it did to say that the new Russian film version of "Uncle Vanya," which opened yesterday at the Regency Theater, is probably the best filmed Chekhov I've ever seen."
*
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corpora ...
noted "a slow but insightful version of Chekhov... The film is wordy and somewhat claustrophobic in its near-exclusive use of indoor locations. Bondarchuk is not only one of the top post-WW II Russian actors but also a respected director, who directed
War and Peace
''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...
, the eight-and-a-half-hour, $40 million epic version of
Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
's novel. This was the first US release for
Andrei Konchalovsky
Andrei Sergeyevich Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky (russian: link=no, Андрей Сергеевич Михалков-Кончаловский; born 20 August 1937) is a Russian filmmaker. He has worked in Soviet, Hollywood, and contemporary Russian ...
, who would go on to work in the US on films such as
''Runaway Train'';
Shy People
''Shy People'' is a 1987 American drama about two branches of a family that reunite, with tragic results. It stars Barbara Hershey, Jill Clayburgh, and Martha Plimpton. It was directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, written by Konchalovsky, Marjorie Dav ...
; and
Tango and Cash
''Tango & Cash'' is a 1989 American buddy cop action comedy film starring Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Jack Palance and Teri Hatcher. Stallone and Russell star as Raymond Tango and Gabriel Cash respectively, two rival LAPD narcotics detectiv ...
.
Soundtrack
References
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External links
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1970 films
1970 drama films
Soviet drama films
Russian drama films
1970s Russian-language films
Soviet black-and-white films
Films based on Uncle Vanya
Mosfilm films
Films directed by Andrei Konchalovsky
Russian black-and-white films
{{1970s-drama-film-stub