Laborious, but beautifully crafted 193 minute opus from the master of epic cinema, David Lean.
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:8
Fresh:6
Rotten:2
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: It may not be the best of David Lean's epics, but Dr. Zhivago is still brilliantly photographed and sweepingly romantic.
Runtime: 3 hrs 20 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: David Lean's DOCTOR ZHIVAGO is an exploration of the Russian Revolution as seen from the point of view of the intellectual, introspective title character (Omar Sharif). As the political landscape... David Lean's DOCTOR ZHIVAGO is an exploration of the Russian Revolution as seen from the point of view of the intellectual, introspective title character (Omar Sharif). As the political landscape changes, and the Czarist regime comes to an end, Dr. Zhivago's relationships reflect the political turmoil raging about him. Though he is married, the vagaries of war lead him to begin a love affair with the beautiful Lara (Julie Christie). But he cannot escape the machinations of a band of selfish and cruel characters: General Strelnikov (Tom Courtenay), a Bolshevik General; Komarovsky (Rod Steiger), Lara's former lover; and Yevgraf (Alec Guinness), Zhivago's sinister half-brother. This epic, sweeping romance, told in flashback, captures the lushness of Moscow before the war and the violent social upheaval that followed. The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Boris Pasternak. [More]
Starring: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Alec Guinness
Starring: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Alec Guinness, Tom Courtenay, Siobhan McKenna, Ralph Richardson, Rod Steiger, Rita Tushingham, Klaus Kinski, Adrienne Corri, Geoffrey Keen, Noel Willman
Director: David Lean
Director: David Lean
Producer: Carlo Ponti
Composer: Maurice Jarre
Reviews for Doctor Zhivago
Steiger and Courtenay excepted, all the performances are very uncomfortable.
Lean discovered, and fell in love with, Julie Christie, and knew straightaway that his audience would too.
Mr. Bolt has reduced the vast upheaval of the Russian Revolution to the banalities of a doomed romance.
Although its portentous historical drama evaporates once you return to the fresh air, watching it can be seductive.
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