Lady with the Dog (1960)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This Movie was by far the greatest Russian Movie I have ever seen. I have been awake for over 72 hours rewatching the movie over and over in the hopes of finding all the greater meanings. My wife has been watching this movie with me as well and this has really spiced up our relationship. If you are also a true fan i would highly recommend watching this movie in reverse because it causes your view to change about all the characters in the movie. If you are looking for a movie that will make you laugh, Cry, and scream this is the movie for you.(P.s. the Grey Fence in the movie is very cheaply made you can see the metal support beams sticking from the sides)

gentle, fragile, delicate. Tchekov spirit in an impressive adaptation of a very well short story. a show of nuances in which Iya Savvina is fabulous. for the measure of gestures, for the force of words, for the translation of a profound drama without any cure or limit. a film of nuances about shadow of happiness. a man, a woman, a husband, a wife, Ialta. and few walks. entire flavor of a time is recreated. entire charm of a great writer creation is exposed in magnificent mode. like an old song," Dama s sobachkoj " is a kind of time travel. in heart of lost world. in middle of bitter circle. in fact, only continuous present far from every mask.

I enjoyed this beautifully filmed tale of forbidden love in Yalta.What made the movie for me was the performance of Aleksey Batalov as Dimitri. I never tired of looking at his face. The sensitivity Batalov showed in almost every scene made him unusual yet believable.It was interesting to read on Wikipedia that the beautiful Iva Savvina wasn't even a professional actress until her breakout performance in this role. Her neurotic portrayal was credible but not nearly as interesting.The scenes in Yalta were far better than the rest of the film. I felt the story descended into something more conventional afterward, with Batalov pining for the excitement he had experienced during a short respite from his marriage of convenience.I found the somewhat ambiguous ending to be rather flat. So they'll try to figure something out. OK. The denouement didn't live up to the rest of the film but this was still well worth watching.

Watching "Dama s sobachkoy" (called "Lady with a Dog" in English), you almost wonder if it's going to turn into "Fatal Attraction". I mean, a story about a man and woman having a brief fling, and then he follows her home. What would anyone in the 21st century expect? Just because it's based on an Anton Chekhov novel, doesn't mean we can't make fun of it (especially given its overstuffed sense of itself). The truth is, if Dr. Forrester had made Mike, Servo and Crow watch this, they could have come up with some great comments; they could have even preceded it with an "educational" (read: propaganda) film for Soviet children. But so many movies from the Soviet Union are "Mystery Science Theater 3000"-worthy; "Father Frost" for example. On other notes, the movie has everything that we expect in Russian stories, namely misery and fatalism.