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Uncle Vanya

Screening on Film
Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky.
With Innokenti Smoktunovsky, Sergei Bondarchuk, Yekaterina Mazurova.
USSR, 1970, 35mm, color and b&w, 104 min.
Russian with English subtitles.

Cited by both Woody Allen and Charlie Chaplin as one of the best film versions of Chekhov’s work, Andrei Konchalovsky’s interpretation focuses on the unique space of a decaying dacha that serves as a clear metaphor for the sense of loss contemplated by each of the characters. The first-rate cast includes War and Peace director Sergei Bonardchuk as Astrov. The film inspired scholars Mira and Antonin Liehm to declare that "the sorrow, the nostalgia and the hopelessness of the Russian intelligentsia had found a true poet."

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Treasures from the Harvard Film Archive: A–Z