La súplica del amante

All Forgotten is a period drama, set in 1900's Russia and starring Kirsten Dunst and Nick Stahl. Stahl's character falls in love with next door neighbor Dunst, but she's too busy toying with much older suitors. The men fall at her feet and she loves it, teasing them endlessly and without shame. Stahl as Vladimir loves his dear Zinaida (Dunst) but is emotionally hindered.

There's a second story in the film concerning a young woman with a small son whose husband is away in the war.

I could not tell where this film was supposed to be set for a while because although the names were Russian, everyone spoke with a British accent. The costumes were lovely, and the landscapes beautiful (filmed entirely in the Czech Republic), but Dunst and Stahl, and everyone else is essentially wasted.

None of the vibrancy Stahl brought to his role in Man Without A Face was evident here in his Vladimir. It was almost as if he were simply walking from mark to mark, delivering his lines woodenly and moving on. He looked very preoccupied. Dunst conveyed the airs of a spoiled young girl who had been given too much too soon, but I found it difficult to really care about her. Although Vladimir is is love with Zinaida, there is no chemistry whatsoever between the actors so the characters are always distanced emotionally.

This is a nice film to watch on a very rainy day, but overall it's a disappointment. The plot never really took off, and I found myself at the end of the film still waiting for the film's point to be made.

The only comment I have read thus far that encapsulated this film was by a Russian woman from Moscow. Everthing in this film evokes Russia in Summer for the period intended. There is a quality of innocence that is captured by the characters and lost in metaphor. The father represents Europe seducing a young capricious Russian female. Her young lover is the true Russian unable to save his love from her fate until in the end he stands as witness to her ruin and death. Turgenev felt very strongly, as do all Russian writers, that Russians must look to themselves for the future and they felt a duty to warn their country of the temptations that would lead to Russia's downfall. Kirsten Dunst does a very good job of portraying Zinaida as a young woman desperate to grow up and at the same time hold onto her past, much like Russia. Her older lover, Valdemar's father (Europe) cannot understand her devotion to him and abandons her to her fate. He doesn't have the endurance her real lover (Valdemar)has - or the patience.

Visually beautiful with pretty characterisations and some fine acting particularly from Julie Walters. But I had more interest in the love triangle of the serf's that I did of the aristrocracy. It really doesn't come together, but could have been quite a compelling drama if the story had peaked and resolved itself a little more poignantly. I wouldn't spend the two hours of viewing time to sit through this again because it seem's to have been directed by someone with the emotions of granite. Pity because it's so pretty and romantic in a visual sense. Too few scene's from Ms Walters. The character portrayed by Ms Dunst (Zinaida) irritated the hell out of me. Pity I had to wait until the end for her exit !!!!!!!

During the 1800's Britain, a somewhat younger boy finds love with a girl who, as a young princess, manipulates her older suitors. But he finds, instead, a game of deceit played by the most shocking suitors of all.

Nick Stahl and Kirsten Dunst hold their own very well in this film. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a fan of time pieces such as this, but once I gave the plot a chance (I had to re-start the movie twice), I found myself wanting to see the end of it and find out what happens to the main characters. Based on two other short stories, the two are combined by the director to keep one's interest, as long as they're in the mood for a film such as this.

5 out of 10 stars.

In the film based on an Ivan Turgenev ("First Love"), the college bound (Nick Stahl) is spending the last summer before he goes away to school outside Moscow, in the country. He soon becomes smitten with the neighbors' beautiful daughter, Zinaida (Kirsten Dunst). It's not long, though, before Vladimir realizes that he's just one member of a long line of suitors vying for Zinaida's heart---including his own father.

At first I thought this movie would be something I would enjoy. I've always been a fool for a costume drama. However, the horrible dialogue makes this movie hard to watch. Generally, I love watching both Dunst and Stahl, but not in this movie. I applaud not forcing bad accents, but why did they bring in crusty British accents? I found this movie completely void of any real plot. I rented this movie in hopes of seeing a romance, and through the slow beginning I continued to watch the film in hopes that it would speed up. I found it irritating that the entire movie was narrated. Although, the narrative did provide most of the plot! The acting was OK, but the character's actions were silly to me. In the end, I would not recommend this movie to anyone,