Uncle Vanya (1970 film)

For other uses, see Uncle Vanya (disambiguation).

Uncle Vanya
File:Uncle Vanya FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by	Andrey Konchalovskiy
Written by	Anton Chekhov (play Uncle Vanya) Andrey Konchalovskiy (screenplay)
Starring	Irina Anisimova-Wulf Sergei Bondarchuk Vladimir Butenko Irina Kupchenko Yekaterina Mazurova Irina Miroshnichenko Nikolai Pastukhov Innokenti Smoktunovsky Vladimir Zeldin
Music by	Alfred Shnitke
Cinematography	Yevgeni Guslinsky Georgi Rerberg
Edited by	L. Pokrovskoi
Distributed by	Mosfilm
Release dates	1970
Running time	104 minutes
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

Uncle Vanya (Russian: Дядя Ваня, translit. Dyadya Vanya) is a 1970 film adaptation of the 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, Yeléna, 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.

Cast

• Irina Anisimova-Wulf as Mariya Vasilievna Voinitskaya
• Sergei Bondarchuk as Dr. Mikhail Lvovich Astrov
• Irina Kupchenko as Sofya Aleksandrovna Serebryakova
• Yekaterina Mazurova as Marina
• Irina Miroshnichenko as Yelena Andreevna Serebryakova
• Nikolai Pastukhov as Iliya Ilich Telyegin
• Innokenti Smoktunovsky as Ivan "Uncle Vanya" Voinitsky
• Vladimir Udalov as A peasant
• Vladimir Zeldin as Professor Aleksandr Vladimirovich Serebryakov

Critical reception

• The New York Times 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 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, the eight-and-a-half-hour, $40 million epic version of Tolstoy's novel. This was the first US release for Andrei Konchalovsky, who would go on to work in the US on films such as Runaway Train; Shy People; and Tango and Cash.

External links

• Uncle Vanya at IMDb
• Uncle Vanya is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• Uncle Vanya at AllMovie