SPOILERS
This Russian movie has some of the most beautiful pictures I've seen in a black and white movie.Sometimes the black and white has some sort of pink or brown shade which makes it really pretty.It looks a lot like on of those good old silent movies.
In English the title is pronounced "The Lady with the little dog" and it is originally a story written by the legendary Russian writer Anton Chekhov,one of the best Russian writers together with Tolstoj,Nabokov and of course Dostojevski. The story is centered around a married man called Dimitri (played by a very powerful Aleksei Batalov) who meets a woman called Anna (played by Iya Savvina) during his holiday in Yalta,south Russia.This woman walks along the boulevard with a little white dog.This woman is also married and like Dimitri unhappily.They start an affair which cannot last forever but they hang on until Anna decides to go back to St. Petersburg.Dimitri returns to Moscow and stays until he decides to see her once more in St. Petersburg.There the affair goes on and Anna tells Dimitri that she'll come to Moscow once.This will be their last meeting as Dimitri decides that it is not right to go on and leaves Anna behind at the hotel.
Like I already said,the use of black and white is really spectacular in this movie.The acting is of the same quality.Batalov is very convincing as a desolate man whose marriage doesn't work.Savvina resembles quite a lot one of those silent movie actresses,especially with her facial expressions. The best part of the movie though is the sublime score by Nadezhda Simonyan.The music is absolutely brilliant and very romantic at times.There is a great waltz and a beautiful composition when Dimitri and Anna are sitting on a rock looking down at the sea.
Still,the movie is very slow and therefore looks too long while it only lasts 85 minutes.This takes away the strength of the movie,which is a little bit of a shame. 7/10
This Russian movie has some of the most beautiful pictures I've seen in a black and white movie.Sometimes the black and white has some sort of pink or brown shade which makes it really pretty.It looks a lot like on of those good old silent movies.
In English the title is pronounced "The Lady with the little dog" and it is originally a story written by the legendary Russian writer Anton Chekhov,one of the best Russian writers together with Tolstoj,Nabokov and of course Dostojevski. The story is centered around a married man called Dimitri (played by a very powerful Aleksei Batalov) who meets a woman called Anna (played by Iya Savvina) during his holiday in Yalta,south Russia.This woman walks along the boulevard with a little white dog.This woman is also married and like Dimitri unhappily.They start an affair which cannot last forever but they hang on until Anna decides to go back to St. Petersburg.Dimitri returns to Moscow and stays until he decides to see her once more in St. Petersburg.There the affair goes on and Anna tells Dimitri that she'll come to Moscow once.This will be their last meeting as Dimitri decides that it is not right to go on and leaves Anna behind at the hotel.
Like I already said,the use of black and white is really spectacular in this movie.The acting is of the same quality.Batalov is very convincing as a desolate man whose marriage doesn't work.Savvina resembles quite a lot one of those silent movie actresses,especially with her facial expressions. The best part of the movie though is the sublime score by Nadezhda Simonyan.The music is absolutely brilliant and very romantic at times.There is a great waltz and a beautiful composition when Dimitri and Anna are sitting on a rock looking down at the sea.
Still,the movie is very slow and therefore looks too long while it only lasts 85 minutes.This takes away the strength of the movie,which is a little bit of a shame. 7/10