The Cherry Orchard

Anton Chekhov's last play 'The Cherry Orchard' is one of his best. Other favourites being 'Three Sisters' and 'Uncle Vanya'. It is a masterclass of complex characterisation and mood, while Chekhov's characters were not what one considers "likeable" they are complex and real and he was a master at creating vivid atmosphere. There are plenty of fantastic moments in Chekhov's text, his writing style was heavily criticised and scorned at in his day but it is not a problem with me, other than taking a bit of time initially to get used to the wordiness.

To me, any film or television adaptation that dares go near Chekhov (incredibly difficult to adapt and has been adapted and performed to variable effect) deserves some kind of pat on the back. This version of 'The Cherry Orchard' has a good deal going for it, such as the lead cast and the production values, but doesn't quite come together due to primarily the pacing and that the tone of the film didn't feel right with too much of one tone and not enough of the other.

It does succeed in quite a lot of areas. The lead cast are very good, Alan Bates is very well cast in the kind of role he did so well and does intensely fierce and tortured incredibly well in a way that isn't overwrought. Charlotte Rampling also gives a thoughtful, committed performance that has fire, poignancy and elegance without being melodramatic. Michael Gough and Katrina Cartridge stand out, particularly Cartridge.

Visually, this version of 'The Cherry Orchard' is beautiful. The costumes and settings are truly sumptuous and the photography doesn't come over as static and is just as elegant. While having issues with how it was used, the music itself is hauntingly melancholic and fits very well with the tragic aspect of the story. It does help that Tchaikovsky, which it is heavy in, is one of my favourite composers and with him being a very troubled man in real life which is reflected in a lot of his music he was an ideal fit. The ending is also very moving, the play's ending itself is one of the most moving there is and it takes a lot for it to be ruined, something that none of the versions seen of 'The Cherry Orchard' have done.

However, 'The Cherry Orchard' is an example of a film that finishes a lot more strongly than it starts. Quite a lot of the pacing for my tastes is very dull, especially the truly tedious prologue that doesn't really say anything. Sometimes one sees a film etc that has a scene that comes over as neither interesting or necessary, and the prologue here is one of those films. It also suffers from the opposite issue the generally quite impressive National Theatre Live production had, which succeeded brilliantly in the comedic elements but under cooked some of the drama. Here the dramatic moments have moments where it is very moving and melancholic, but as an adaptation no matter how faithful it is in detail it comes over as over-serious from the satire being pretty much missing.

Did find a lot of the supporting cast to be too hammy, that is including the usually fun to watch Frances De La Tour (one of the worst offenders in my view actually). While the music is beautiful, it perhaps could have been used less and not emphasised the mood as much as it does. It is stodgy in direction too, especially in the early stages, and even for a wordy play the film feels too much so because of the momentum not being there.

In conclusion, watchable but underwhelming considering the source material and the cast. 5/10.

In this era of gratuitous special effects and uneven, even shoddy, production, one cannot depend on Hollywood to successfully transfer a stage play to the screen. This movie is partially the exception, as the movie amazingly pulls itself together in midstream to become a commendable work of art. The first part of this movie is a cinematic disaster. It's boring, slow, and muddled, with a terrible first ten minutes which is supposed to provide some background information about some of the main characters but which is totally disconnected from the main body of the story itself which takes place in a completely different venue. Then as this movie is heading toward a complete cinematic breakdown it amazingly recovers its strength and vitality and becomes crisp, sharp, focused and coherent, conveying a poignant story about torment and suffering in time of change. From that point on all the performances are great, especially that of Michael Gough, Alan Bates and the beautiful Charlotte Rampling who succeeds in capturing the essence of the woman whose whole world is being turned upside down. But despite the strong finish, that one first has to endure a truly bad start before getting to the good part makes this movie a tedious cinematic experience.

How should one live? This is the fundamental question in most of Chekhov's works. Here it's openly exposed and discussed. Should the declining aristocratic family attach themselves to the possession of their cherry orchard (a symbolic representative of the grand ornaments of the Russian aristocracy) or should they give in to modern commercialization in order to survive? What is the value of tradition and how many trees should each one os us have? Chekhov does not answer. But he formulates the questions in the most fascinating way. In addition to scholarly speeches about such fundamental dilemmas, the author also takes pleasure in a witty verve, offering us a 'veduta' of high culture and life in style in 19th century Russia. But, as the critic Pierce Inverarity summed up, this is not just a typical nineteenth-century play; its potential topics, questions and answers are relevant to any individual dealing with society and history, anywhere and anytime. However, as universal and moving as it can be on stage, Chekhov's play isn't the stuff of a great movie -- there's simply nothing filmic about it.

I have to say I hated this movie. I don't like to say that because Gerard Butler is in it. About a half an hour of boring conversation, sorry to all who actually care about the plot, I started fast-forwarding to Gerry's scenes. I really don't know the ending, I was that bored with it. If Gerry wasn't in it, I probably either done one of two things: fell asleep or turned it off, but Gerry is the bright light of this movie, as he is with most of his earlier movies. If you're a fan of Gerry's don't worry, he's as adorable and precious as he always is, but if you actually want to watch the movie for the plot, good luck because you'll need it, either that or lots of coffee or soda to keep you awake!

4/10...and that's just because the casting director had the sense to put Gerry in this movie, even though they had no idea of how to spell his name!

People leave rooms, enter rooms. Peep through windows. Hide behind doors. Everyone behaves as if they've just lost their best friend. It's all so melodramatic. There's a piano score by Tchaikovsky that plays relentlessly on the soundtrack so as to cue us to the perpetual state of melancholy. A real cheerless meandering stagey bore of a movie. Charlotte Rampling tries hard and Alan Bates looks like he wandered in from another movie.