The Seagull is a play in two parts.
It is a wonderfully tragic love story written by Anton Chekov, adapted here for the screen by Yuli Karasik.
It begins with a group of people meeting at a cottage in the summertime.
An actress and her famous middlebrow writer of a husband. Her son, who is trying to establish himself as a symbolist playwright; and his girlfriend, who dreams of being a famous actress like his mother. Another young woman, who loves him, but is followed around by the school teacher like a puppy dog. The boy's grandfather, a, lonely, aging statesman. The doctor, who cares for him. And the landlord and his wife.
The secret here is that everyone loves someone who doesn't love them back. Making for a tangled web of intrigue, tragic love and despair.
The mother and her husband always fight. So he seeks attention elsewhere.
Her son feels he has failed in his artistic endeavours (that noone understands or appreciates), driving away his beloved girlfriend- who desires fame more than she does his adoration for her.
The other young woman who does truly love him, but is sought after by the school teacher, who she is resigned to marry to spite his lack of attention towards her.
His grandfather secretly loves his girlfriend. Though doesn't act on it due to his age.
The wife of the landlord loves the doctor, as her husband is loud and cruel, while he is gentle and kind.
While his girlfriend becomes enamoured by the fame of his mother's writer husband, and seeks to become his mistress.
All of this ends with a failed suicide attempt by the boy, who has lost all hope that he can attain true happiness.
Fast forward a number of years later, when the same group of people culminate under a single roof for a second time.
The landlord is still in a marriage with his unhappy wife.
The grandfather, now wheelchair bound, is retired from being a statesman, and remains alone, resigned for death.
The young woman, who did settle for the school teacher, remains unfulfilled by the arrangement.
His mother is still with the man whom she adores, despite the fact that he left her for another woman- only to return again later.
He has become an established writer who has found fame and appreciation, despite lacking the love and happiness he desperately seeks.
And the surprise return of his beloved former girlfriend, who was dropped as the mistress of his mother's husband, after bearing his child, which she later lost.
He wants to run away with her- two lovers on the lamb- but she is still caught up with her former dreams of becoming a famous actress. And leaves him high and dry.
Which leads to the story's explosive conclusion, that only Kurt Cobain could truly understand.
A femme fatale for the ages.
And a love story as tragic as Romeo and Juliet.
The film is designed as a straightforward middlebrow tale, with subtle symbolism playing out in the mise en scene.
Either way you approach it, however, the drama is consuming, and makes for a very immersing experience.
8.5 out of 10.
