La cerisaie

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.

Cacoyannis began his career filming Greek tragedies five decades ago. Anyone seeing his production of Chekhov's wonderful play knows he adores this work: the discerning casting, the use of Tchaikovsky's little-known piano pieces. Best of all is the look of the production-- its costuming and lighting have the quality of delicate homage. Watch for scenes like the arrival of auction-bidders in a muddy street midway through the film-- a bit of period recreation on a par with Coppola and Scorsese. Chekhov's brilliant bits of stage-business are treasured here: Varya's clobbering her wished-for fiance with a door-slam, Epikhodov's goofs, Yasha's mother-problem, and especially the family's sitting gravely down together before their dispersal. These are lovingly done, and if citing them here is meaningless to those who haven't read the play, I'm afraid the film will mean as little to them, especially on videotape, where the exquisite visuals won't count for much. The acting can't sustain novices-- the cast, especially the males, show the effects of limited rehearsal time, sliding in and out of cohesion. The exceptions to that are Katrin Cartlidge (in a role that often stands-out in stage productions), Ian McNeice, and Michael Gough, delivering the finest performance I have seen from his 50+ years of movie-acting-- acting-teachers should march students to see CHERRY ORCHARD to hear how Gough reads a choice line like, "Now I can die." Cacoyannis nodded in spots: the weird accents affected by the lower-class characters add nothing, and the hammy Act II beggar-- one wants to thrash him. This is not a great film. But the play it serves may be the past century's greatest. At a time when American theaters cannot afford large-cast period plays, a Chekhov-fan feels special gratitude for this production.

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.

Chekhov's plays have generally resisted film and TV adaptations: Sidney Lumet's "Sea Gull" was lumpy and not well cast, and even the Russian film adaptations have been turgid affairs.

Michael Cacoyannis' version of "The Cherry Orchard" (originally titled "Varya" after one of the main characters), is better than Lumet's film largely because it's better acted in general. But the direction is sometimes fussy, sometimes leaden - the pacing becomes more and more turgid as the film progresses. The final 40 minutes or so become very tedious. Plus there's an unnecessary prologue in Paris - an obvious attempt to open up the play, but it goes on much too long.

Charlotte Rampling does very well as Madame Ranyevskaya, a near-penniless aristocrat who returns to her family estate as it is about to be auctioned after a default on the mortgage. Rampling clearly shows us a aging woman who is spoiled, charming, childish, delusional, sometimes haughty and condescending, and feckless - a person who never learned how to manage money because she never felt she had to. Her performance makes this woman less conventionally sympathetic than others in the role - which is fine. There are times when her performance is undercut by some jarring editing where her mood swings from one extreme to another.

The rest of the cast is quite fine: Alan Bates as Ranyevskaya's equally feckless and lazy brother Gayev shows us the man who knows full well his coming fate, yet goes through fits of denial to coddle his sister and the others; Michael Gough as the increasingly senile family servant Fiers; Tushka Bergen as Ranyevskaya's daughter Anya.

The best acting comes from Katrin Cartlidge as the hapless, lovesick, foster daughter Varya, a soul sister to Sonia of Uncle Vanya; and Owen Teale (who was superb with Janet McTeer onstage in "A Doll's House") as Lopahin, a former peasant whose family worked on Ranyevskaya's farm but who has now become a successful businessman. His efforts to convince the fading aristocrats to save themselves by selling the estate fall on deaf ears, so he decides on a different plan of action.

I would recommend seeing this only to people who are familiar with the play. First-timers would be better off seeking out a good stage production (lots of luck there) as Chekhov has always worked better there.