I am a huge Chekhov fan. I became one during Scene Study class with the legendary acting teacher Stella Adler, who was the only American teacher who actually studied with the creator of "the method"--Stanislavski.
I was watching a couple of wonderful actors find their way through a scene from Chekhov's play UNCLE VANYA when I had a kind of epiphany. I saw at last Chekhov's humanity, his breathtakingly beautiful, comic and pathetic view of the human struggle: full of irreconcilable differences, unrequited love and sad loveliness.
In the meanwhile, I have seen many productions of his plays both on stage and in the cinema. Sadly Chekhov is often done wrong. His plays tend to read more darkly on the page than they ought to be played. Remember, he insisted they were comedies despite tragic elements including suicide.
This beautiful version of THE DUEL is easily one of the finest interpretations of Chekhov's work that I have ever seen. I imagine all of ten or twenty people even know it exists! What a shame! Because it deserves an audience.
Although it is based on a long story (or novella)and not one of Chekhov's wonderful plays, it contains all the elements that touch me so deeply. I was delighted from the opening sequences to the final shot. The actors, one and all, were marvelous and the photography just spectacular.
It is mature and rich, full of humor, sadness, drama, sex, love and redemption. Please track it down and check it out. I just watched it for the third time.
I was watching a couple of wonderful actors find their way through a scene from Chekhov's play UNCLE VANYA when I had a kind of epiphany. I saw at last Chekhov's humanity, his breathtakingly beautiful, comic and pathetic view of the human struggle: full of irreconcilable differences, unrequited love and sad loveliness.
In the meanwhile, I have seen many productions of his plays both on stage and in the cinema. Sadly Chekhov is often done wrong. His plays tend to read more darkly on the page than they ought to be played. Remember, he insisted they were comedies despite tragic elements including suicide.
This beautiful version of THE DUEL is easily one of the finest interpretations of Chekhov's work that I have ever seen. I imagine all of ten or twenty people even know it exists! What a shame! Because it deserves an audience.
Although it is based on a long story (or novella)and not one of Chekhov's wonderful plays, it contains all the elements that touch me so deeply. I was delighted from the opening sequences to the final shot. The actors, one and all, were marvelous and the photography just spectacular.
It is mature and rich, full of humor, sadness, drama, sex, love and redemption. Please track it down and check it out. I just watched it for the third time.