Kiera Knightly is a much better Lara. Julie's Christie was much too pure. Kiera's Lara is complex, and better. Julie Christie never was believable as a young teenager.
Hans Matheson is no Omar Sharif, of course, but he is closer to the appropriate age.
Sam Neill was born to play Komarovsky. So full of cruel, cold ambition and self-absorption.
Tonia is so much better too.
In total, the entire film is broader, and a much more cohesive story. There is no doubt in this film about what drives the characters. There is still no room for the novel's mourning for the death of the individual life, of nobility of spirit, of poetry. But at least here we understand better why Yuri chooses Lara, and why Pasha abandons Lara, and how little Yuri sees his mother vanish.
Hans Matheson is no Omar Sharif, of course, but he is closer to the appropriate age.
Sam Neill was born to play Komarovsky. So full of cruel, cold ambition and self-absorption.
Tonia is so much better too.
In total, the entire film is broader, and a much more cohesive story. There is no doubt in this film about what drives the characters. There is still no room for the novel's mourning for the death of the individual life, of nobility of spirit, of poetry. But at least here we understand better why Yuri chooses Lara, and why Pasha abandons Lara, and how little Yuri sees his mother vanish.